Yes. And apparently it works. Just not on MY ants. They eat it but I never notice a decrease in populations for more than a couple weeks. it's easier to just buy the bait stations -- they're relatively cheap and the proportion of boric to sugar is right on. Two common brands are Terro and Amdro.

Flooding didn't work? It does for me in pots. Yet they always come back if the real reason why they're there isn't taken care of --- which, in most cases, means that there's a population of soft bodied insects(aphids, whiteflies, mites) that are sucking on the plant, providing the ants with the honeydew the ants are after.

Kevin

For boric acid to work, I think it has to be in powder form, to stick to the ants feet. I have tried it successfully indoors, many times. It is an age old roach treatment more than ants.
There is an ants granular that is claimed to kill the queen. What ants do take some if to their queen and she dies after eating it.

seysonn

Terro for me, as well. Works in 2 - 3 days.

Josh

I tried several home made recipes and a couple commercial brands that didn't work as fast or as good as Terro brand.
Also terro brand seems to last a long time.
Other brands turned brown and stopped working after I opened the bottle.

The night before you do this find a container large enough to put the infested pot in.

When you get up in the morning put the pot in the container and fill with water insuring the water level above the potting mix.

At the end of the day remove pot. Note: all ants in the pot are now dead or were swimming in the larger container.

Hope this helps!
NECM

This post was edited by northeast_chileman on Wed, Nov 19, 14 at 20:06

It doesn't work for fire ants. It works great for other ants, though. I don't know if it actually kills them all or if it sends a signal to the colony that the food supply is out/poisoned/etc, but either way the ants are gone after a few days.

For various colonies of red/black "regular" ants in my area (sorry I can't be more specific) a mixture of 2/3rd powdered sugar + 1/3rd Borax powder detergent along with a few drops of water makes a nice paste.

Add dry, add wet, stir, and apply the paste to pieces of 1-2 square inch chipboard (that thin cardboard-like stuff that a lot of mailing ads come on).

You can remove it when it's done it's job or before it's going to rain if you're worried about excessive boron in your potting soil. If you're planning on keeping the potted plants/soil for 1-2 seasons or less it's not of any concern to all but the most boron sensitive potted plants.

What about diotamaceous earth? I know it works to kill ants effectively but not sure how safe it is for plants. A pool guy told me it kills grass when dumped on a lawn and to me that doesn't sound safe for edible plants, but I am going by what he told me about it killing off plant life whereever you apply diomataceous earth

I grow my peppers with diatomaceous earth as a soil amendment, It contains silicon an essential micronutrient. if you use it, you don't have to add that micronutrient. But I don't use the powder form. I thought the powder was used to kill insects on plants? No? Silly me!

Please don't use boric acid in the soil or on the soil of your plants. Boron is an element essential to normal plant growth, but it is used in minute quantities ..... and the range between adequate and toxic levels of boron is extremely small. Almost any amount of boric acid, even 1/4 tsp per gallon of water applied to the plant, can cause severe symptoms of B toxicity.

Al

Aboy DE;

I also add DE (UltraSorb floor dry) to my potting mix. It is a fired DE and won't fall apart easily. A lot of people use it in potting mix in place of Turface. So it should not harm any plant.

Seysonn

DE does kill insects, all of them. It's also a good additive to your soil and can be beneficial to your plants. However, it is important to use food grade DE, not the stuff you use in your pool. The pool stuff is toxic to humans.

Tegan: you are correct. DE(food grade) will kill any crawling insect, even beneficials.

However, the DE that Seysonn is speaking of is granular and I'm not sure of it's effectiveness as a pesticide. The food grade stuff is a powder almost as fine as talc and uses the shard like edges to cut off insects' legs. I wouldn't think that floor dry DE can do this. Just a guess.

Kevin

The calcined DE isn't effective as an insecticide, and only effective as a soil amendment under certain conditions. The mechanism by which DE works as an insecticide is mechanical, not chemical. DE, when dry, absorbs the water-protecting fats and oils from the epicuticle (outer layer) of insects' exoskeleton, which destroys the ability of insects to maintain internal moisture and causes dehydration. The fact that DE is sharp and abrasive helps the dehydration process along, but the primary mechanism by which it kills insects is by absorbing the fats and oils that prevent water loss from the soft parts of insect bodies. Powdered DE loses nearly all its insecticidal effectiveness when mixed into soils and kept moist.

The calcined DE we use in soils is crystalline in form, and not water soluble, so it's a poor source of Si. If we want a soluble source of Si we would add a small amount of amorphous food grade DE to the soil, or use something like ProTeKt 0-0-3 or other supplements aimed at providing soluble Si.

Al