Ants in the vegetable garden

Cookie2 · #1 03/16/14, 04:15 PM

We're relatively new in this house. This year is the year to revive the food garden. The previous owners had a plot - a sorry looking thing - but we figured we'd try that first.

Today I noticed there are ants. So much for planting some strawberries there. Even with moving the location, ants are notorious in The South.

What would you do for ants in your vegetable garden. We don't have chickens yet and I wouldn't let them into the garden even if we did.

Whisperwindkat · #2 03/17/14, 04:59 AM

Depends on what kind of ants. Fire ants or sugar ants. Fire ants get amdro around here. I poke a hole in the mound and put the amdro in the mound. I hate to use it, but I am highly allergic to fire ant bites and we have tons of those stupid things. I have noticed that in the pasture and in the yard that if I call the chickens and pour some bird seed on a mound then the chickens will have that mound completely wiped out in no time. I can't do that in the garden though because they would take the garden out too.

homstdr74 · #3 03/17/14, 05:16 AM

Again, it depends on the type of ant. We have aphid farmer ants---when I see ants I look for an aphid problem on the leaves.

Tricky Grama · #4 03/17/14, 05:50 AM

Usually regular ants aren't a problem in the garden...aerate the soil, etc.
For fire ants we use compost tea w/orange oil added & liq molasses. They never come back. Hard to get all of 'em tho, if you have a lot of acerage.
Some diatomaceous earth would work on 'plain' ants.

oldasrocks · #5 03/17/14, 05:51 AM

We put out powdered grits for them to eat. Safe, nontoxic and works. I read this someplace so tried it. Little ants or big carpenter ants both disappear fast. I guess they eat it and explode???

Alice In TX/MO · #6 03/17/14, 07:09 AM

From: http://insects.about.com/od/antsbees...-Fire-Ants.htm

Adult ants can't eat solid food, including grits. Ants bring food back to the colony, where they feed it to their larvae. Fire ant larvae can chew and process the solids. The larvae then regurgitate the partially digested food for their adult caretakers. The adult ants then consume the liquefied nutrients. So there's no chance that the stomach will explode.

Fire ants (like many other ants) don't like being disturbed. When you introduce a strange, new thing to their immediate environment, they often respond by moving elsewhere. It's quite possible that the colony relocated upon discovering a pile of grits on top of their home. There's no scientific evidence that grits do anything to kill the fire ants.

floyd242 · #7 03/17/14, 07:42 AM

If we get colonies too close to the house we just pour boiling water on the nest.

Grandmotherbear · #8 03/17/14, 09:18 AM

I pour Neem oil or Dawn dish liquid on the mound and about 2 feet around and then water it in. Boiling water works best if there is some grease in it to cling to ant bodies.

Harry Chickpea · #9 03/17/14, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

From: http://insects.about.com/od/antsbees...-Fire-Ants.htm

Adult ants can't eat solid food, including grits. Ants bring food back to the colony, where they feed it to their larvae. Fire ant larvae can chew and process the solids. The larvae then regurgitate the partially digested food for their adult caretakers. The adult ants then consume the liquefied nutrients. So there's no chance that the stomach will explode.

Fire ants (like many other ants) don't like being disturbed. When you introduce a strange, new thing to their immediate environment, they often respond by moving elsewhere. It's quite possible that the colony relocated upon discovering a pile of grits on top of their home. There's no scientific evidence that grits do anything to kill the fire ants.

I suspect that there is no "scientific" evidence because there is too much money to be made in pesticides. If you look at a bag of Amdro, it is almost completely corn grits with a bit of oil (supposedly as an attractant) and .1% active ingredient. Kinda makes you go "hmmmm???" doesn't it? My experience is that yellow corn grits do seem to work. I suspect (but have no proof) that corn gluten is somehow toxic to ants.

am1too · #10 03/17/14, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whisperwindkat

Depends on what kind of ants. Fire ants or sugar ants. Fire ants get amdro around here. I poke a hole in the mound and put the amdro in the mound. I hate to use it, but I am highly allergic to fire ant bites and we have tons of those stupid things. I have noticed that in the pasture and in the yard that if I call the chickens and pour some bird seed on a mound then the chickens will have that mound completely wiped out in no time. I can't do that in the garden though because they would take the garden out too.

Be careful they might go over to the neighbors place.

Danaus29 · #11 03/17/14, 03:30 PM

I saw a neat video where they poured molten lead down a fire ant colony. Not only did it kill the ants, it made a lovely sculpture.

cindilu · #12 03/17/14, 05:52 PM

One part baking soda mixed with one part powdered sugar. The ants love it but cannot handle the baking soda, makes them explode.

Rectifier · #13 03/17/14, 09:04 PM

As far as I know the grits are just to make them want to eat it. 0.1% poison goes a long way!

What you need for a home remedy is sugar and Borax. The boron will slowly kill the entire ant colony.

citilivin · #14 03/17/14, 09:34 PM

Diatomaceous earth might work. Destroys exoskeleton of the ants

dkhern · #15 03/18/14, 04:47 AM

it really depends on whether you want to move them to other areas or kill them. it to move disturbe the mound use soap or meal or grits etc

if you want to kill use permithern (sp) in the spring time ( cool nights warn days) go out mid morning and spray mounds. spray will melt mounds down to ground level. spray on south east or south the ants will bring the queen to the surface for warmth spraying this was will kill the queen and thus the mound. i use a 4 wheeler tank and sprayer and 38 % permithern at 1 oz per gal

gweny · #16 03/18/14, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldasrocks

We put out powdered grits for them to eat. Safe, nontoxic and works. I read this someplace so tried it. Little ants or big carpenter ants both disappear fast. I guess they eat it and explode???

This is what I do to. My parents taught me this trick. Put the grits on liberally within 24hs of a storm. Up to a couple hours before the ground is drenched. Spread liberally and poke the hill a bit to get em interested. When it rains the grits expand , killing the ants that ate em. I learned this in GA on fire ants. I have used it successfully on all types of ants. If it doesn't rain I guess you could just soak em with the hose or a bucket? I haven't tried it that way though.

Mike CHS · #17 03/18/14, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

From: http://insects.about.com/od/antsbees...-Fire-Ants.htm

Adult ants can't eat solid food, including grits. Ants bring food back to the colony, where they feed it to their larvae. Fire ant larvae can chew and process the solids. The larvae then regurgitate the partially digested food for their adult caretakers. The adult ants then consume the liquefied nutrients. So there's no chance that the stomach will explode.

Fire ants (like many other ants) don't like being disturbed. When you introduce a strange, new thing to their immediate environment, they often respond by moving elsewhere. It's quite possible that the colony relocated upon discovering a pile of grits on top of their home. There's no scientific evidence that grits do anything to kill the fire ants.

Having read through the whole thread, I think this post is worth seeing again since it goes against most of what was posted.

BigHenTinyBrain · #18 03/19/14, 11:19 AM

So many of the problems in this world could be solved with a simple chicken tractor. Ants are one of those easily solved problems. If you haven't got any garden there yet why NOT use chickens on it? They're not going to do any harm to the veggies you will be planting sometime down the road.

Homesteader · #19 03/20/14, 06:16 PM

So confusing. One person says no this doesn't work, another says it does. What to do?

If I understand this, diatmaceous (sp) earth is rendered useless once it gets wet. Where we live, our beds are always wet due to the high heat and dry climate, we water a lot, have to or stuff dies. So that isn't going to work for us.

Is Borax ok for putting in food gardens?

We have a strawberry bed, first time having success and I just don't have a clue what to use. We have ants that tend aphids, ants that are big and slow and all black, no fire ants. Some that are half black half red, some that are small black and don't notice us at all, and some that are super fast moving and aggressive. ??? How on earth do I know what type they are?

Rectifier · #20 03/20/14, 06:30 PM

Boron is an essential micronutrient for plants, and animals for that matter. The ants just get too much of it in their tiny little bodies. It is very safe, it's commonly used to wash laundry and to degrease mechanics' hands - I have a new soap I am currently formulating that uses it as the primary ingredient.

You aren't even really "putting it in the garden" as you should put it in little containers as an ant bait. Sprinkling it liberally will not kill any ants.