Ants: How do I stop the little devils?

[AnnonAddict]

Hey Everyone!

As I was planting my latest additions to the collection (grafted Norm's Ice Cream Bean, Chaffey Cherimoya, Booth Cherimoya) I had to keep choosing different locations on where to dig because I would keep digging up ant nests. Quite a few of my trees are starting to see a bit of ant traffic and even some scale.

I realize tanglefoot could help for the trees but I want to eliminate the problem at the root... or rather nest.

What could I use that would keep the ants away or at least in smaller amounts that wouldn't be harmful to the soil fertility or my trees?

[Stan]

Stop access to water,and be scrupulous with any leftover foods. Those are the ants two biggest needs.  If you can do that? I promise you will see a difference.

[Finca La Isla]

Weak insecticides, piratroides, made up in a bucket, and poured to soak on a concentration of ants will help a LOT.  Neem oil works at about 1Tbsp per gallon as well.
Peter

[Doglips]

Some ants like sugar some like protein.  You gotta kill the queen, any other action is temporary.
This winter I had rats in the garage, on the menu, fire ant killer.  Pretty sure the rats didn't even get indigestion.  The point being, as a rule, Ant poisons made today are extremely low toxicity, just enough to kill an ant.  One meal can kill an ant, think about what size of that meal is to you, less than the head of a pin.
I'm not a fan of chemicals but I will drop queen-killing baits in a heartbeat.  A bonus is that you can localize your attacks to the mounds, you can still end up playing whack-a-mole on the mounds.
Queen killing baits (slow acting) can take longer but they can deliver the coup-de-grace.
I wouldn't broadcast spread unless the infestation was real bad.

The university of Arkansas has some decent information on fire ant control.
http://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/fsa-7036.pdf
https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-7052.pdf

[Vernmented]

I normally use boric acid based bait. It is safe and works great for me. You can even make it yourself if you felt like it. These are cheap lowes or home depot normally has them.
http://www.amazon.com/T1812-Outdoor-Liquid-Killer-Stakes/dp/B00GRTNRJ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459136475&sr=8-2&keywords=terro+outdoor

[Doglips]

I've had good success using Terro liquid baits on the raspberry (probably not the correct name) ants.

[wonderfruit]

I mix water sugar and boric acid. They drink it and bring to the nest. The acifification of nest weak the colony. If interested I l look for exact mix

[barath]

Are there any persistent beneficial predators of ants that can be attracted to deal with them?  I've been having trouble with ants farming scale on a guava tree, and they keep coming back.  There's some tiny bird that I've seen hopping from branch to branch eating (not sure what the bird is eating, but it seems to be eating either the scale or the ants or both), but other than that I don't have any beneficial predators who are dealing with them.

I've made some borax/sugar solution baits and they work, but it seems to be a temporary solution.

[Tropheus76]

I would be surprised if there wasnt. Problem being fire ants(I assume we are talking fire ants) are invasive so their predator probably doesnt live near you(us) and the ants multiply so quickly it wouldnt matter if there was. I have fire ant hills all over my yard. Even with poison I kill off every nest within 50' of my house, next week there are replacements for each in a slightly different area. So a natural predator would either take forever to have a visible impact or wouldnt even make a dent.

[DimplesLee]

Nests that are not directly positioned too close to plants - poke the soil a bit with a stick or digging fork to loosen up the soil then put boiling water on it. I've even done this with pili trees with any nests on the root cavities themselves - if the tree is old enough say 10+ years old the wood is tough enough to handle the real hot water. I usually boil about 3 gallons imof water in a very big stockpot and rush off to pour it in the nasty buggers once it starts boiling. You'd have to repeat this the next day (loosen anthill then pour boiling water) to get rid of any stragglers.

[DimplesLee]

Band aid solution is to drop a petro nut on the entrance to the hill itself - sorta like plug the hole - the ants will swarm around it and then light the damn Pittosporum resiniferum and burn the blasted critters. No petro nut? a wad of tightly packed paper works as well.

[bsbullie]

Ants are smarter than you think.  With baits, the usual result is thst they (queen inclusive) are not killed off but they just relocate.  Maybe somewhere else in your yard, maybe the neighbor's.  Unfortunately this can be temporary as a lot of times they work their way back in a different location.

[carcarlo]

Hi  if you want to get rid of the ants  you need to get rid of the Queen, there is a product that will get rid of them by the next day guarantee.  Here in Florida under slab termite treatment is required prior to pouring a home slab, and final exterior perimeter treatment is required by building codes, in order to get a building final certificate of occupancy.
The product of choice by professional exterminators is (Termidor sc) it is  the best out there as far as I'm concerned, it does not smell and has years of shelf life,  I buy it in 2.5 gallon containers that run around $600 +  and I would not pay that much if the product was not the best, you can buy 20 oz  at DO MY OWN PEST CONTROL.com and also eBay, for around $50.00 with free shipping, a 20 oz concentrate container will make 25 gallons that's $2.00 a gallon for the best product out there.
I was  paying $ 800 to 1200 per home every few years for a not well done  diluted treatment, so I built my own copper injecting  rods, purchased a pump, hose and a 100 gallon tank to do my own treatment for injecting the ground and killing subterranean  termites in my rental houses, I can tell you that every time I have used it the ants disappear by the next day. I have been using the product for over ten years and have witnessed the 10 year guarantee that they claim it has.
Carlos
 

[JeffDM]

I use Terro brand powder and liquid baits.  It's a constant battle, but you can get the upper hand if you remain diligent.

[ricshaw]

In my case...  where there are ants...  there are aphids.

If I get rid of the aphids that are attacking my fruit, the ants are less of a problem.

[Grapebush]

Somebody told me that mixing icing sugar with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), is a good ant killer, as they took it to the nest and give it to the others, queen included, and in a few days it kills them because of the acidity.

[ricshaw]

Somebody told me that mixing icing sugar with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), is a good ant killer, as they took it to the nest and give it to the others, queen included, and in a few days it kills them because of the acidity.

Are you sure it wasn't boric acid?

http://www.ohio.edu/people/braselto/recipes/ants.html

[sapote]

In my case...  where there are ants...  there are aphids.

If I get rid of the aphids that are attacking my fruit, the ants are less of a problem.

I'm in opposite: if I get rid the ant then the aphids are gone or much less. Tango Foot around the trunk.

[Doglips]

Ants are smarter than you think.  With baits, the usual result is thst they (queen inclusive) are not killed off but they just relocate.  Maybe somewhere else in your yard, maybe the neighbor's.  Unfortunately this can be temporary as a lot of times they work their way back in a different location.

This is why I prefer the slow acting poisons, better chance of distribution before die off. There is only one ant that you need to kill, the old lady.  But you are absolutely right, even with the slow acting poisons, you can still play whack-a-mole on the mounds.  Boiling water and other insta-kill methods are a waste of time, unless you get lucky and the queen is in the vicinity.  I do find killing fire ants good therapy tho.  Usually people get nailed by a few and want instant gratification, I just took my first sting of the season today, time to break out the slo-kill.

[Grapebush]

Somebody told me that mixing icing sugar with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), is a good ant killer, as they took it to the nest and give it to the others, queen included, and in a few days it kills them because of the acidity.

Are you sure it wasn't boric acid?

http://www.ohio.edu/people/braselto/recipes/ants.html

Doing a quick Google search it return several results, like this one:
http://www.herbsandoilsworld.com/the-worlds-best-homemade-ant-killer/

[Jack, Nipomo]

The Argentine ant that is a problem in CA has multiple queens in a colony.

[carcarlo]

Hi I  got several questions on my spray rig and was asked to post pics. of the rods that I built to inject the ground like the pros do to get rid of termites and ants. Here it is >>===> copper 1/2'' tubing, reducer 1/2'' to  3/8'' as a tip    and some 3/4'' hose end fittings reduced to 1/2'', a regular threaded spray nozzle with thread at the tip, a 50' or 100' feet air compressor hose, (does not have to be high pressure hose )  with fittings, holding 25 or 100 gal tank ,a pump from (Northern Tools) on demand Diaphragm Pump 2.2 gal. @ 70 PSI ) and some simple soldering of the fittings.
This spray rig can be used to spray all plants and trees with Miracle Gro or anything else u want.
My pump has been going for ten years all u have to do is flushed with clean water and disconnect the hose so that it can dry up inside after each useand if u are going to stored for winter u can shoot some WD40 inside or some olive oil so that the Diaphargm wont dry up wont.

[AnnonAddict]

Stop access to water,and be scrupulous with any leftover foods. Those are the ants two biggest needs.  If you can do that? I promise you will see a difference.

There is nothing I can do about the food supply to the ants because there is a six foot fence dividing my neighbors yard and mine… we both live on a hill; he lives on the top. He has many orange trees and doesnt pick most of the fruit… it usually falls off, gathers at the fence, rots, and gets swarmed by ants. Then a good portion of the ants come to my property. I have tried confronting him nicely about it but he doesn't seem to care.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice!

[ricshaw]

The Argentine ant that is a problem in CA has multiple queens in a colony.

And the Queens are spread out all over my property.

[carcarlo]

Hi Please go to DOMYOWNPESTCONTROL.COM and read up on how Termidor TC  works .
Carlos