Need help with ant problem?

Question

I have millions of ants on my plants and flowers, how can I kill them without killing my flowers??

Answer 1

Pouring boiling water on ants has been used for ages. Don't pour it on your plants, but find ant hills near your plants to pour it on.

Dust food-grade diatomaceous earth along the ant’s pathways. The white powder will cut through their exoskeleton and they will dehydrate and die.

Vinegar poured on the ant pile is said to work.

Some people use grated citrus rinds because orange oil is used against red ants. You can try Citrus Magic, an air freshener made from concentrated citrus oils (oranges, lemons, grapefruits, etc) which clings to the insect and permeates any exoskeleton & membrane.

Plant mint around the foundation & areas you don't want ants in (if you don't need it for a garden) & landscape with Cedar mulch. It would be effective & decorative too.

Or dig a hole into the nest with a shovel and pour in an insecticidal soap (a mixture of 1/3 cup rubbing alcohol, 1 tsp dish soap and water in a 32 oz spray bottle) into the nest and put back the soil. You may have to do this a few times to really get rid of the ants.

Borax is also effective. 1:1 mix of sugar and 20 Mule Team Borax detergent. Sprinkle it in hard to reach places or put it in a small plastic margarine container with holes punched into it.

Aspartame (Nutrasweet ) seems to kill ants by interfering with their nervous system. It kills most ants by simply sprinkling in a corner & letting them take it back to their nest. For fire ants it worked best when moistened a little. Small black ants would not eat the aspartame until it was mixed with apple juice, then they would quickly take it back to the nest, and all would be dead usually within 24 hours. http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20060612.htm

Granular molasses has been recommended on this site for getting rid of ants:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/frugal/msg0617023830653.html

Lots of suggestions here: http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html..... about using cayenne pepper, cinnamon, Simple Green, chalk, Bay Leaves, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, baby powder, Shakley's Basic H. (a non-toxic soap made from soybeans). Fill a pint spray bottle 1/3 with Basic H and 2/3 with water, mix & spray.

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Answer 2

So many ants probably mean that you have aphids. Ant are very attracted to the honeydew (excrement) left by aphids. Aphids are what you should be most worried about, they can cause extensive damage to your plants and transmit diseases. You can use an insecticidal soap (if you try to stay chemical free) to rid your plants of them. If you use this, you'll have to be actively scouting for ants and aphids and reapply at the first sign that they are back. You could also use Sevin if you're not an organic gardener. That will actually kill the bugs.

Answer 3

I even have pets and merely at the instant had an ant subject. i attempted a sprays and ant baits. Neither of those worked. The ants merely walked around the place I had sprayed and in no way went interior the traps. I asked around and a pal counseled try against ant killing gel. i chanced on some at a close-by ironmongery shop and it worked great. i became surprised at how attracted the ants have been to the gel and then how quickly they died after eating the gel. And my pets weren't in any respect fascinated interior the gel.

Answer 4

My dad has a huge allotment and he mixes up equal quantities of borax from the chemist and icing sugar. The icing sugar attracts the ants and the borax kills them. They also take it back to the nest and feed it to the queen and larva so it keeps the nest from getting too big. He does that every other week and you rarely see ants now there. Good luck.

Answer 5

I've heard using plain corn meal gets rid of them. Something about the meal having a pesticide property an/or the meal killing the queen because it puffs up inside her.

Answer 6

Try sitting out bowls of chili powder or just sprinkling it around the area. Ants hate that stuff. [:

hope that helped.

Answer 7

call orkin or terminex