i have red ant hills in my garden how do i clear them?

Answer 1

Here are some things that can help!

Insecticides: There are two ways to kill ants. The first is to dehydrate them by laying out piles of instant grits ( a corn product usually located in the cereal section of the grocery store) at the point of entry and along their trail. They will think of the grits as a food source and consume the pellets. The grits will in turn absorb moisture from the ant's body, thus killing it (instant grits are specially formulated to absorb water more rapidly than regular grits, thus they are more effective). The second method to kill ants is to feed them a mixture of 1 part active dry yeast, 2 parts molasses, and 1 part sugar. They will be attracted to the sugar in the mixture and will eat it readily. Once consumed the yeast will produce gas in the ant, and because they can't expel the gas, it will kill them.

Repellents: Ants can be repelled by vinegar, cayenne pepper, citric extracts, bone meal, cinnamon, cream of tartar, salt, and perfume. You will have to keep trying different repellents to find the one your ants aren't willing to tolerate.

Another method of elimination involves the elimination of the nest. If you can find the nest, you can try pouring boiling water over the nest. If that isn't sufficient, you can try adding cayenne pepper to the boiling water, or using citrus extracts. If you have multiple nests, you could dig up a bucket of ants from one nest and dump it on another nest. Ants are very territorial, and they will readily hunt and kill invading colonies.

Answer 2

I live in Florida, and red ants prosper here too. What I've heard, short of calling an exterminator, is to pour a pot of boiling water into the top of the ant hills. It supposedly kills the ants inside, and will keep them from building a hill again, but I honestly don't know how effective that is, because I've never taken a pot of boiling water very far from the stove. If you do, I suggest you walk VERY carefully so as not to spill and burn yourself.

Answer 3

The eHow site listed above has some ideas, but the Tanglefoot must NEVER go directly onto bark or other plant surfaces. I did in some valuable trees trying that.

Once you get tired of chasing the ants around the yard with the above formulas which don't go after the queen, sprinkle Amdro over the pile. The workers feed it to the queen as well as eating it themselves. Ants are history.

Answer 4

The best ingredient to kill fire ants is called "Talstar". This is available at most garden stores or Lowes/Home Depot. It is best applied using a rotary dispenser and than watering it in. Or you can sprinkle a handful of it on the ant hill and water it in as well. Good luck.

Answer 5

Put dry grits around their nest or dry cream of wheat. The take it in the nest, the moisture that these foods pick up inside them kill them.

You could also try a sugar solution of boric acid. about 1 tablespoon to 1 or 2 cups of sugar to a pint should do it.

With fire ants, forget the gasoline. Go with a commercial fireant killer.

Answer 6

On a day that you're expecting rain, sprinkle dry grits over the mound, then stir the ants up a bit. They will come out ready to fight, realize there is food there, and take it down to there 'nestmates', including the queen. They will eat them then when it rains--they'll drink. When they drink, the grits will expand in their bodies, killing them. When you kill the queen, the mound dies. I have had success with this method. Another way is to scoop ants from the seperate mounds and place them on other mounds. They will fight to the death.

Answer 7

We had those on Portland when I was kid. You can buy a solution from the garden shop that they carry into the nest and it wipes them out, but there were always millions more around and they are voracious. The ate all the crops in the ground. Dreadful things. Bite too. Nasty. My mother used to pour boiling water on the nests but that was pretty ineffective.

Answer 8

most gardening shops sell ant killer that they take back to the nest

Answer 9

if possible keep them, there are going to be a lot of bugs & greenflies this year, it's already a big problem in my garden

Answer 10

This website has good info on how to get rid of them.