How do you get rid of ants?!

[DW]

I'm not talking those little mounds...we've always had them w/ our sandy soil. We planted around the huge mound in the garden and they just moved over and ate a whole mound of pumpkins! NO chemicals...we'll try everything else. THANKS!

If you don't want chemicals( as I did not ) you have to follow them to their colony and dig it up. I followed large black ants about twenty feet from my outdoor workbench, where they would constantly crawl up my legs and bite me, to their lair. On the surface I found maybe ten main entrances( larger sized openings ). So I took a shovel and circled the area, about five foot across, and had to dig three feet down. I then filled my giant hole with water. After a while I filled it in, a couple of days later I repeated the whole process. You can also play anteater with a shop-vac.

[Torch]

"NO chemicals"

I'm not sure how realistic that requirement is though I certainly will be standing by for a good answer. In my part of the country we have fire ants and I would love to have a non-chemical solution that works.

Standing by...

Michael

[BeckyW]

Try pouring pots of boiling water down the hole. Might take a couple of tries but it always works. Old Texas trick. You'll obviously damage plant roots that are directly in the "line of fire" -- however nearby plant roots probably will be fine -- soil tends to cool down the water temperature as it dispurses. Recently killed some by our front walkway with 24 inch diameter bush less than 2 feet away. The bush is still thriving -- didn't hurt the roots a bit. The ants are history.
Good luck.
BW

[moopups]

One local genius filled the bill by starting a fire ant terminating service - he did use a chenical though - water - heated to steam heat. Insert the nozzle, pull the trigger, good bye ants. :yeeha:

Its hard enough controlling fire ants WITH chemicals. GOOD LUCK!

[Ozarkguy]

.

I read this post a while back, and tried it on some pests out front by me, and it works.

And by the way, THANKS to Lynn in Houston for the excellent bug recipe she posted!

Ok... I live in Houston....

Tried and true method of removing ants.... in houston...

package of Instant Grits... MUST BE INSTANT
equal amount of powdered sugar...

pulverize together in a blender or food processor... then leave in a dish for the ants...

the ants eat it... then drink water and explode... destroying every ant that eats it... including the queen..

the reason that it must be instant grits, is that they expand with water

we use this "secret" recipe on all ants, including fire ants... and it works...

Lynn in Houston

gotta love those hills...

Ozarkguy

[Old John]

Hi Y'all,

Here's a thing I haven't tried but a lot of Folks swear by it.
It's supposed to kill off ANTS or most other insects.
It's even safe for people & pets.
And it can be used in your long-term grain storage to keep out insects.

You might TRY it;
Here's the Scoop.................

http://www.hydromall.com/happy_grower16.html

http://www.biconet.com/crawlers/DE.html

http://www1.shopping.com/xGS-Diatoma...kin_id-3058291

http://www.safesolutionsinc.com/de/d...ceousearth.htm

At least it's SAFE. Hope it helps.

[jerneeon]

I've heard that leaving piles of sugar eventually kills them. I don't know how long, but from what I understand is that sugar destroys their reproductive systems after several generations. Anybody know what an ant's life expectancy is?

[mary,tx]

I have heard of the grits in the past as well as the boiling water (though you have to be careful not to burn yourself) and have done both.

Another thing you can try is mint jelly mixed with (powdered) boric acid. Put this in a bottle cap or something and leave it where they can find it.

If they are fire ants, you will need to get aggressive--they play by a different set of rules.
Dale in TX (DH of Mary)

[Meg Z]

We've used the boiling water trick on fire ants with good success. We pound a pipe or piece of conduit down three or four feet, pop on a funnel, and pour in as much water as we can heat at one time.

Hubby stands on a stepstool and leans a bit to pound the pipe in, to keep his feet out of biting range. It's pretty soft pounding, but that puts the water down where the queen is, while it's still hot.

We've killed small to medium nests in one treatment, and downsized big ones that we could kill off a couple weeks later on a second dose.

It's times like those I wish I had a turkey fryer...

Meg

Or you could simply sprinkle a teaspoon of powder on the nest and forget about it.

Or buy anteaters.