Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where that would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

"Dick" wrote:
Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the
last four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants?
I mixed some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where
that would eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

Try some Sevin, if you're looking for the safest chemical control. There
are more potent alternatives if that fails.

Thanks for the answer and what is sevin?

"Dick" wrote:
Thanks for the answer and what is sevin?

It's an insecticide that's available at any garden store.

http://www.bayercropscienceus.com/products/view:sevin/

"Steveo" wrote in message
...
"Dick" wrote:
Thanks for the answer and what is sevin?

It's an insecticide that's available at any garden store.

http://www.bayercropscienceus.com/products/view:sevin/

No. Sevin is scheduled to be removed from retail shelves this summer.
That's because it takes out too many things. It will be replaced by
"Eight".

However, the right thing to use on ordinary ants is boric acid, as in Boraxo
powdered detergent. Mix in a little sugar to make it attractive to the
ants. Cheap and effective.

Dick wrote:

Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where that would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.


http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/ento/mythconc.htm#ants

William W. Plummer wrote:



No. Sevin is scheduled to be removed from retail shelves this summer.
That's because it takes out too many things. It will be replaced by
"Eight".

However, the right thing to use on ordinary ants is boric acid, as in Boraxo
powdered detergent. Mix in a little sugar to make it attractive to the
ants. Cheap and effective.



There has to be one asshole in every group.

"Dick" wrote in message
...
Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the
last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I
mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where that
would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

The best way to get rid of ants inside the home or on your patio is to use
ant baits. They are safe for the environment, and for pets and children.

http://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_ab.asp

I live in Texas. Ants are worse here than anywhere else I've lived. We get
them inside our house during the summer quite often. I put out a bait as
soon as I see them and within 1-2 days they are gone.

It's a big claim that bait is "best". Boric acid is the active ingredient
in several "ant and roach" powders and it works fine for us. In fact, bait
traps have never seemed to wor here in New England. You probably have a
different kind of ant in TX.


"RoyDMercer" wrote in message
...
"Dick" wrote in message
...
Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the
last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I
mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where that
would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

The best way to get rid of ants inside the home or on your patio is to use
ant baits. They are safe for the environment, and for pets and children.

http://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_ab.asp

I live in Texas. Ants are worse here than anywhere else I've lived. We
get
them inside our house during the summer quite often. I put out a bait as
soon as I see them and within 1-2 days they are gone.

"William W. Plummer" wrote:
It's a big claim that bait is "best". Boric acid is the active
ingredient in several "ant and roach" powders and it works fine for us.
In fact, bait traps have never seemed to wor here in New England. You
probably have a different kind of ant in TX.

It's no bigger claim than your "borax is better than sevin" claim.


"RoyDMercer" wrote in message
...
"Dick" wrote in message
...
Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for
the
last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I
mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where
that
would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

The best way to get rid of ants inside the home or on your patio is to
use ant baits. They are safe for the environment, and for pets and
children.

http://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_ab.asp

I live in Texas. Ants are worse here than anywhere else I've lived.
We
get
them inside our house during the summer quite often. I put out a bait
as soon as I see them and within 1-2 days they are gone.

The home remedy you mention is essentially a bait trap. The difference
being your solution is in an open environment rather than a closed one.

I say they are best because for a number of reasons. The reason being when
you are mixing poison and sugar you have something which animals and small
children can get into. Generally speaking, when you are using a pesticide
that only targets the problem and not anything else, it is the best
solution. The problem with sprays and powders (including the home remedy
you mentioned) is usually the poison acts too quickly and you only kill the
forager ants. Killing forager ants often has the effect of stressing the
colony and causing it to split into sub colonies which multiplies the
original problem.

If you haven't used ant bait traps in the last few years, you should
probably give them another try because they have greatly improved lately.
There are also different types of baits that target different types of ants.
There are also different types of baits for different areas, both inside and
outside. Here in Texas, we have a much more diverse and pervasive problem
with ants than you have in New England (I've lived in New England also).
There are a few species of ants which don't respond well to baits, but these
types of ants generally don't go near homes and these types of ants wouldn't
respond to your home remedy either.

"William W. Plummer" wrote in message
news:YNQfc.152821$K91.401837@attbi_s02...
It's a big claim that bait is "best". Boric acid is the active
ingredient
in several "ant and roach" powders and it works fine for us. In fact,
bait
traps have never seemed to wor here in New England. You probably have a
different kind of ant in TX.


"RoyDMercer" wrote in message
...
"Dick" wrote in message
...
Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the
last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I
mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where that
would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

The best way to get rid of ants inside the home or on your patio is to
use
ant baits. They are safe for the environment, and for pets and
children.

http://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_ab.asp

I live in Texas. Ants are worse here than anywhere else I've lived. We
get
them inside our house during the summer quite often. I put out a bait
as
soon as I see them and within 1-2 days they are gone.

We use this:
http://www.terro.com/


It's amazing...they line up for it, and tell all their friends about
it. Within hours you'll see one line coming and one line going.
They take it back to their colony and spread it around, and within a
couple of days, they're all dead.

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 19:51:39 -0700, "Dick" wrote:

Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where that would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

curious to why you want to mix up a concoction for them and not just
use something designed and tested to rid them. The baits will be
probably less toxic than the cleanser you will use and since you will
be using a cleanser, being a man made product mustn't be an issue.



Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

"Lar" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 19:51:39 -0700, "Dick" wrote:

Me and my wife live in an apt and have a patio. We are in southern
california. Anyway we have had a garden in the back of our apt for the
last
four or five years. What kind of home remedy could get rid of ants? I
mixed
some cleanser with sugar and put it out by the ants. I read where that
would
eventually kill the queen. Any infor I would appreciate.

curious to why you want to mix up a concoction for them and not just
use something designed and tested to rid them. The baits will be
probably less toxic than the cleanser you will use and since you will
be using a cleanser, being a man made product mustn't be an issue.

You need to use Borax, boric acid, to be effective. Just any "cleanser"
will not do.