LOL!
(I'll still pass, thanks!)

I'm on my way to get groceries and must remember to buy borax. I heard its good for roses too...

See ya all later
kuzari princess

When you said 'eating ants' it reminded me of a story my maid of honor/best friend mentioned to me. For about 20 years she and her family were missionaries in Nigeria. It was a rare treat...once in a long while the flying ants would be so numerous...in swarms. They would do what the local people did and fry them up. Their kids just loved it. Somehow...just not so appealing to me. Then again, their kids did not grow up with apples and when they came back to Canada on a furlough their kids ate apples, seeds and all, and loved them.

Brenda

Tova, did you happen to notice this:

"From June 19th to the 23rd, Trey Rogers, Ph.D., one of America's top lawn care experts will answer questions from members on a new forum called Ask The Yard Doctor. He and his staff will answer questions and respond to posts each morning from 7am to 9am ET. So get your questions ready and add some to the forum over the weekend of the 17th. Click here to go to the forum."

It's at the top of the main page. Never noticed it there until last night. Maybe the "Yard Doctor" can give you some suggestions to get rid of the ants. Good Luck!

Cindy

Kuzari Princess,
I'm confused by your remark about borax being good for roses.
What did you mean?
I do know that it will kill the grass along with the ants if you're not careful how you use it.

north53

I was confusing borax with epsom salts, good thing I never used any!

I must have been having a 'Senior Moment'.

kuzari princess

Kuzari princess, my son mentioned diatomaceous earth last night, as we were sitting around the fire pit with ants crawling up our legs. I checked on the net, and it can be used for ant control. I know you can buy big bags of it at UFA or feed stores, I'm not sure if garden centres carry smaller bags. Just sprinkle it on the lawn. It'll kill insects, but doesn't hurt plants or animals.
Connie

We have had a huge increase in ants these last few years in Minneapolis. I have pretty much ignored them elsewhere until now. Even had huge mounds pop up in the grass. I am cleaning rock and lifting weed barrier from the foundation of my house because of ants making such a mess. They brought up soil from under the old barrier and it mixed into the landscape rock enough that weeds grow in the rocks and huge hills are along the foundation. I do not have them in the house. Before I put new barrier and rock, what could I use to make this area less desireable to ants. I have read about diatomeceous earth, borax & sugar? What is the purpose of sugar? Does the borax need to be watered in. Any other suggestions? This is not in a plant area.

You do have the ideal area. The rock will be warm and the ants will love that.

Sugar is sweet and will draw the ants to the solution you make up.

Borax... I found this quote in a site on the internet...

'It works because when the bugs walk though it, it sticks to their bodies. Then when they return to their nest they eat it off each other to clean each other. Then it turns into gas in their stomach. They can't pass gas like mammals can, so the gas builds up and "pop!" '

Someone in the Home Disasters forum in Garden Web had this to say...

'I use Borax that you can get in the laundry section of the super market. It has all the right stuff in it. Mix it 50/50 with your sugar. Just be very careful where you spread it as it will kill your lawn.'

Other suggestions from the same thread...

'Here are several solutions that work:
1. Sprinkle the area with Morton Salt and they'll be gone.
2. Cinnamon gets rid of ants.
3. Baking soda is a poison to them. Dust baking soda in cracks, corners and crevices.
4. Lysol kills ants faster than Raid.
5. Spray 'n Wash kills them.
6. Windex is better than any bug spray (suggestion from a pest control person)
7. Sprinkle raw Minute Rice where ants are a problem, they take the rice to the nest, eat it and the rice swells in their stomaches killing the whole next. Same thing happens with dry grits.'

They say to mix the Borax and sugar with a little water to make a sugary solution that they will in turn walk through and bring back to the nest. Apparently it takes a few days for it to work. You may want to set out shallow containers every few weeks/each month in case of other colonies of ants that may show up to take the place of the dead ant colony. Beware though, keep it out of reach of dogs and cats.

I still have some Diazonon so that is what I have been using on my acreage to kill the ants as they make their way out of the valley below us, into my yard. I sprinkle this where my cat and the dogs can not get at it. Here it is still too early for the ants to be out. The snow just left last week.

Good luck...

Brenda

Instead of borax you can also use a bait made of baking soda, dry active yeast and sugar in equal parts, with similar effect.

I can deal with the ants in my yard but they are also taking over my potted plants. I water and they swarm my patio and porchy

My lawn had a lot of ants in it and here is how I got rid of them. It was pretty easy and they are all gone now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kill the Queen Ant

So as much as I love all of the hippy 'dont poison our earth' junk... I have two children with a third on the way. The children cannot play in their own yard due to the major ant infestation. Anything that allows them to get back outside whenever they wish is A.O.K. with me. They love playing outside, and killing the ants is a better alternative to them being stuck inside playing video games like the fat kids with bad parents.

Sorry regulars, but I can't resist this.

I'm not a hippy but I don't poison this earth as I want my grandchildren to be able to live here, my kids played outside and I have ants, my kids play video games, they're not fat, and I'm not a bad parent.

You're welcome to join this forum, but please don't start by bashing us all.

Buy those round ant bait things. They're just Borax with some yummy stuff.

The ant traps don't seem to work in the house, not for us, anyway, but we put out borax and icing sugar in lids and they eventually worked (until next spring).

I also have loads of ants. Anyone want them? I have tried diamataceous? earth and it doesn't work, they just walk right over it and they're still here. I read on another forum that using dried soap powder works. I guess it has to do with the phosphorous. Anyway, I'm going to try it. If it doesn't work, at least I'll end up with a clean garden. LOL Marg

Sorry Nutsaboutflowers, but I think you're taking Leah's comment a little too personally. Ordinarily, ants in a garden aren't a problem, but I think I've got the same problem as Leah. Our yard is covered in little ant hills, every couple feet, and the ants are extremely aggressive. If you step on or near a hill, they swarm up your feet and legs, biting painfully. My kids absolutely refuse to go in the yard, and even the dog doesn't seem to spend any time outdoors anymore. I've decided it's time to do something about them, up until now I had just let them be, but they're just too nasty!

I too am over run with ants in my yard, and plz no rude comments saying get used to outdoors, my grandaughter was bit bad by the ants on the weekend and i need help

I had to go nuclear and went with the foam pyrethrin spray. I had two anthills next to each other that were so big you could actually tell they were anthills from a distance.

An interesting discussion about my most unfavorite insect. Time to try some more natural remedies since I really want to keep my beautiful plants and not poison the animlas including my pets and the ones belonging to my neighbours that sometimes come to visit.

Tobacco tea is something I haven't tried. I wonder what is would do to the grass?

Ginny

Nicotine was a very popular insecticide back in the day. It's rather poisonous to even large mammals in large quantities.

You might as well use something pyrethrin based then. It's a hell of a lot less harmful.

I use a hot pepper tea or cayenne pepper. Ant's hate hot peppers. Go buy some hot peppers, puree and add boiling water. pour on ant hills. This works.

Sometimes I just sprinkle ant hills with cayene pepper.
Safe. Side effect? Dogs & cats seems to get upset when they wash thier paws if they've walk through the pepper.

I also have an ant infestation, but to complicate matters they are in my two 8x8 raised vegetable garden boxes. Ordinarily I wouldn't care that we have ants as they seem to ignore the veggies for the most part. What they don't ignore is the aphids. Because I have ants, my vegetables have been overrun with aphids every year. To the point where there is no saving them. I can't keep up. I would be spraying insecticidal spray (soap) on them every day to try and control the aphids which not only killed most of the veggies but also made them not very desirable for eating.

So I need to get rid of aphids, and in order to do this I need to get rid of the ants, who farm aphids for their sticky sap. Clearly anything that would make my garden inhospitable for veggie plants is a no go (such as poison!).

Any suggestions?

What about stapling fly paper around the top of your raised beds or if the ants are living in the wood of your raised beds change it for new wood or brick.

Apparently garlic repels aphids. Bonus - no vampires!

If you mix borax with sugar (50/50) the ants will pack it to the colony eat it and expire. This has worked on any infestation I have had and is environmentally friendly, especially when you have kids and animals.

Good luck.

I refuse to use chemicals in the garden so any ant issues I have in the garden I use DE (diatomaceous earth) for. It does work but it needs to be reapplied often.

Don't waste your money on the stuff you can buy in garden stores, go to a Live Stock Feed Store (UFA) and buy a big bag. Farmers feed it to their cattle so its readily available. A few years ago we bought a 50 lb bag for $26 at UFA while a garden store wanted $23 for 1 kg.

My husband doesn't have the patience to use DE on larger hills in the grass so he sprays them with Grub Be Gone - anything that has carbaryl in it will work.

If you have time, lots of water and don't mind having a dead spot in your grass for a while boiling water works extremely well. We had an massive ant hill once and the only thing that killed it was boiling water. One dose isn't enough though. You have to put pot after pot of boiling water into the hill so that it saturates deep down. Its a bit time consuming but its 100% environmentally friend and works!!!

I feel your pain...I have the same industrious ants farming away in my yard. As ashamed as I am of saying this, I ended up resorting to chemical warfare. It worked. By spraying all the aphids and killing them, they ants went back to being ants and now for 3 years I'm aphid-free(?) well, no but aphid-free-er.

Actually ants are great insectivores, as long as they remember that themselves. But if they forget and develope sweet teeth, their farming habits can ruin your crop.

This will sound cruel, but it works.....late at dusk,(after ants turn in for the night) ram a hollow pipe down the center of the ant hill. Squirt some lighter fluid down the pipe, and drop a match. Whooof! No more ant hill. Of the ants that do survive...they almost always look for a new apartment. Not sure if there is a society that you could be turned in to for this procedure or not.

I tried the powder sugar and borax. It really works. This year the one area of ants spread to 3 more in the lawn and one in the vegetable garden, Killing many carrots and beets. One application and they are gone.

I haven't read all the posts but 50/50 borax and sugar works well.

I live in arizona and my grass is pretty much one big ant hill, they are everywhere. They have been feeding off of the dog poo. My dogs wont step in the grass now because they keep getting bit, and we have the grass so the dogs can play in it.

What can I do to get rid of the ants safely for both dogs and the grass, but also that does not kill the ants? Is there something I can spray that will repel them like an essential oil? Spearmint, peppermint, etc. I do not know where the ant hills are, although I speculate there are many. Will flooding the grass with water and keeping it short help?

They are small and angry ants. Mowing the lawn today, I was bit several times and my ankles are now swollen :-(

Well, transgenesis, it sounds like you have Fire Ants. There are pesticides that quickly dissolve that you can spread over your entire yard and then you just water the grass. If you find an actual anthill, you can concentrate a bit more (3 or 4 tablespoons worth) right there and water it down really good to get it down the hole. I have fire ants all around my house, and got tired of the ant bites as well. I went to the local Wal-Mart and grabbed a bag of Spectricide for around 12 dollars.

Alternatively, you can do what this guy did in his youtube video ... I think he just doesn't like ants at all, but the art does look pretty interesting!

Here is a link that might be useful: Casting an Ant Hill in Aluminum

Thank you for the reply. I am looking for a more natural approach that will deter the ants and make them relocate somewhere. Something I can plant perhaps that will grow in the grass in the arizona heat, etc.

Fire ants are the hardest ones to get rid of ... they are nearly immune to things that drive away other ants. :( If you have them in your yard, your best resort is to kill them off. They may aerate your soil, but they'll kill plants and harm you and your family and pets with their poison. Fight fire with fire, I say.

I have used diatomaceous earth for years with good success to keep the ant population at a reasonable level here. I don't care if they live beyond my immediate garden and driveway on my large acreage but they cannot be within 50' of my house. I get the food grade diatomaceous earth and liberally sprinkle it where the ants are most active and where I see holes. Usually one treatment works but the current hill in my lawn must be deep as I've done it 4 times now but I didn't see any signs of life yesterday so perhaps that's it. There is no grass in that area as the ant activity has killed it.

I have not used synthetic chemicals in my garden for 14 years since I became a Grandmother. I want my Grandchildren to be able to play in an area that is healthy for them. There are many choices one can make in gardening without resorting to toxic carcinogenic chemicals. You may never know the harm you do to your loved ones as you will no longer be here when the effect of them takes place.

Choices, always choices.

I use D.E. as well since I have dogs and borax is toxic. I buy food grade from a feed store and sprinkle on the paving stones and grass. I had a huge ant hill in the grass and I sprinkled heavily and all the ants disappeared by the next day.

Ants can be a real problem and some don't know the extent of it. I ignored the many little ant hills until this year when everything went haywire! I have millions of ants, both tiny brown and black carpenter ants. There are roughly 10 hills in less than a 2 square foot area. I put bait traps, sprinkled Terro dust, hooked Bug be Gone to my hose & sprayed the entire lawn. The dust & traps seemed to work until a few days later when they showed up 2 fold in another area. They've spread to the entire side of my house and hills can be found on my entire property both front and back. I'm literally being taken over by ants! If they venture to my deck and/or home, I'm doomed. I need to get this under control now! I need quick fast acting results. Suggestions??

Our entire yard has ants, the side, back and all around garden. Tried using bug B gone and still have the ants -HELP!!!!

I have a problem in a couple of areas. I walk on the grass to water a plant and have ants crawling all up my feet and legs! Ugh. I don't see any hills, but they're under a dead tree stump and under the grass. I'll be trying the diatomaceous earth, as well as borax and confectioners sugar (this first as I have the ingredients already). Wish me luck.

Fortunately, I do not have many ants, but when I do have a mound that pops up, I open it up with a shovel and remove the entire top to leave a basin to which I pour in a with a weak solution of malathion ... I don't like using chemicals, though it sure does the trick.

The best thing to use is Martin's Ant killer it also kills house bugs too

I've used boiling water, bleach, bug spray and granules.. Because when 6 bites send you to the emergency room for a shot, then you don't give a donkey's butt how you get rid of them.. Any outdoor activity, I have to take my benadryl with me.. And the grits won't work, they won't swell and pop. and they will cross a chalk line.. Let you or your kids continue to get bit and eventually they'll be like I am now.. Get the Raid blue jug of spray, to spray in and out side your house, around the whole thing and you'll at least keep them from coming in

Huge Ant Problem:- My entire yard front and back is very spongy and has been for years. Neighbours had to cut a major tree down due to the green ants eating it until it became dangerous. my soil is a mixtures of 50:50 sand and dirt. Small ant nest. appear over the entire yard. Has made the yard look uneven, which doesn't worry me. But no one can enjoy the yard when you are getting bitten continually by green ants. Main biting occurs in summer but yard is always spongy. Any idea on how to get the ants to take a hike?

The ones who are "cringing" at polluting the earth with pesticides......you must be from California. I promise you the earth will not fall off its axis nor will it cause you another quake if you take the ants out with a chemical. You allow the government to pollute millions with a flu vaccine that contains harmful ingredients. You probably are first in line to get it. Your government produces radioactive materials and your worried about a chemical killing an aggravating pest. Your oceans are polluted with gas, oil, fecal matter dumped from heads on boats. Yet dont spray a chemical for ants? I'm so sick of tree hugger mentality. Show me action instead of reaction "words" to problems. How about you get out and plant trees to replenish what loggers have cut to build your table, couch, chair, doors, and house. Tell the gov to stop polluting your earth. OR ACCEPT THE FACT THAT THIS IS LIFE.we are the top of the food chain as long as we use materials that God gave us the intelligence to produce. I will never support your beliefs as long as you are the type of people who tell others ...you can't put a barrel to catch rainwater coming off your roof to be used as you wish! GOD MADE THAT WATER! I understand that aquifers need to be replenished. But does the rainwater caught by the few actually hurt the water supply? It's a 55 gallon barrel. And it doesn't catch 1/3 of that after a rain. So spray for your ants, put out granules to kill or run those pesky ants, termites,roaches,spiders,Grubbs,beetles,etc to your neighbors yards, who use natural deterrents(vinegar and water). Sorry I'm so harsh but by gosh sometimes you fight fire with fire. Death to ants...lol

do a google search on insects and agricultural molasses it is supposedly good for killing ants in the following manner spray it in the area where the ants are roaming around, they walk around through it, then try to get it off their feet/leggs, when they get it in their digestive systems, it forms gas and the ant cant get rid of the gas and explode i haven't tried this method yet but i have my gallon of molasses ready and just need to empty my sprayer......the molasses is supposed to be be great for soil/microbes too......

For those of you using malathion, diazinon, roundup, etc. - you might want to get checked out by an oncologist. Seriously. Why would you jeopardize your health, or your family's health, for the sake of some dahlias or lawn? If you must rid your yard of ants, then there are plenty of effective and natural remedies, including boiling water, borax, and even peppermint oil. SMH

choosewell.co

I think people underestimate the level of ant problem some of us are dealing with. I'm an extremely green gardener but this new residence I'm at poses quite a pest problem. In a broad strip of lawn approximately 90 feet by 50 feet there are black ant hills every 3 to 4 inches. I've never seen anything like it in my entire life. The number of ants makes it impossible to stand anywhere on that portion of the lawn and enjoy it without having ants crawling all over you. Now some of you might enjoy that but I certainly do not. I've never resorted to using pesticides of any kind at any time on my properties but this time I really believe I will have to make an exception. I will try this borax measure with confectionary sugar mix but not one of you has mentioned that you don't put this on your actual lawn. It will kill your grass. It's to be used as a bait trap in a container and you have to wait until the ants eat it and hope the entire hill perishes. Well I have literally thousands of hills. It seems to me that this is going to prove both a laborious and expensive proposition that in the end may not work. I am guessing that a one time use of pesticides on that strip will solve my problem but all of them seem to be dangerous to handle and so I may end up hiring someone to do the treatment that is needed. None of you seem to give a clue as to which product to use save for ones that may no longer be available to me. I had hoped to get some good solutions here but you all would rather argue over the merits of chemicals versus chemical free landscapes.

I've been attempting to tame five acres of land I bought in the country. My ant problem is not aesthetic in nature nor that the ants are disturbing foliage, flowers beds, or gardens. Everytime I work in the yard I unknowingly step where the ants are building a mound and get multiple bites. Likewise when I rake up leaves, pick up branches, clean up trimmed bushes and brush I am attacked. I look like a pin cushion. This has become a daily annoyance. I've tried ant granules and sprays but the property is over run with these biting ants. I need a solution for a large yard over run with these painful pest.

I agree with some of the posters here who commented that some don't realize how serious a problem a huge ant infestation of a yard can be. I say that because I have the same problem, literally thousands of ant hills all over the back yard lawn such that you can't even use the space which is where the patio is, etc. It has to be dealt with and no amount of sugar water, borax, cayenne pepper or diatomateous earth is going to take care of it either. You can't pour boiling water all over a third of an acre plot! Spectracide Once and Done is what I'm going to do. It's main active ingredient is pymethrin, not glysophate. Yes, it's bad for some beneficial insects but lesser of evils have to be chosen in some cases.