to kill red ants?

Question

In my garden,there are so many red ants.Tell me how to kill them that is not harmful for the environment (whitout using raid)?

Answer 1

I can suggest you try this. Find the entrance to their tunnel. Put black Pepper, or the hottest pepper you can find, in and around the entrance. The ant´s will then carry this into wear the egg-laying queen has her nest. She will then move the ant´s out. Many people suggest pouring boiling hot water down the tunnels. But this as very little affect, as it never reaches far enough in to the queen ant´s nest. The pepper won´t kill them , but they will move elsewhere

Answer 2

There are baits on the market that work pretty well. I even see them for sale in the grocery store in the same section where they sell Raid. A lot safer than spraying chemicals into the air.

You can also make bait traps by making a simple syrup with sugar and water, let cool, add Boric Acid such as Roach Pruf. Soak cottonballs in the solution and then put the balls in a small jar, poke holes in the lid and place the jar (in shade) near the area where the ants walk about.

An even simplier would be to mix the boric acid with peanutbutter and a dab of honey (or jelly), put in jar, etc.

Answer 3

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

Since 'Orange Oil' is used against red ants in commercial products to eliminate them, some people use grated citrus rinds to make their own red-ant pesticide. Some people even use Citrus Magic, an air freshener made from concentrated citrus oils (oranges, lemons, grapefruits, etc) which clings to the insect and permeates any exoskeleton & membrane.

Pour boiling water on ants, especially their anthill (Don't pour on your plants). When the worker ants are killed ...the queen will starve to death.
Vinegar poured on the anthill is said to work, too.

You can use Cedar mulch to keep them out. 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.

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:
http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20060612.htm

Granular molasses, among other things, 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).

Borax is also effective. 1:1 mix of sugar and 20 Mule Team Borax detergent. It could become bad for your soil & your plants so if you use it near your garden...put the sugar/Borax mixture in a container such as a small plastic margarine tub with holes punched into it. *

So far, I have found only one source that refutes the use of grits in killing ants, but testimonials keeps coming up to say otherwise...such as here: http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10634
So it's a possibility. I just wish I could find an actual study done on the subject.

Good luck! Hope this helps. You have a lot of choices :)

Answer 4

i not sure of the type of ant you have as i am in Australia and your red ants may be different to red ants here.
Most ants like sweet some like fats
First of all put a few piles of sugar for them
If they take it away you know they like sweets
Then mix powdered borax and caster sugar 50 /50
leave in small piles for them to take. If they take it don,t spray them just keep feeding them
This will control them.
If they don't take sugar then try different foods and try to incorporate the borax.
lol

Answer 5

I've used dried flaked red peppers. This actually worked. It may take a day or two, but they never came back or died.

Answer 6

Sugar and Cinnamon. They can`t digest the Cinnamon and it kills the queen