Hi, I have a major problem with ants, there is approximately 30 nests over my front and back lawns, I've tried the white ant powder, which in the past years has worked, but seems useless now and has no effect on them. Any one any ideas please.
Regards John.
Ants in the lawn are not necessarily a bad thing, they do eat and control other pests. A lot of biting ants is another matter.
If you have that many nests it is probably a large colony with multiple queens. Killing workers is futile, you need to kill the queens. Baiting takes time but is the better way to try to get rid of ants.
A healthy lawn is the best control. Keep the lawn fed and watered well. Ants don't like flooded homes. Be careful when it rains hard they invade your home when theirs is flooded. When there is drought, they will go inside the home looking for water. Mow the grass high.
Diatomaceous earth can be applied all over the lawn but it is an expensive option.
There are ant killers designed for turf grass, but read and follow label directions carefully.
Ant baits work but you need to place them where the ants can find them and take it back to feed it to the queens.
You can call in the professionals since they have access to products that require a license and they usually know the best places to set the baits to get the best results. You may want to also treat your house and put up a barrier arond the foundation at the same time so they don't try to move indoors.
If you have that many nests it is probably a large colony with multiple queens. Killing workers is futile, you need to kill the queens. Baiting takes time but is the better way to try to get rid of ants.
A healthy lawn is the best control. Keep the lawn fed and watered well. Ants don't like flooded homes. Be careful when it rains hard they invade your home when theirs is flooded. When there is drought, they will go inside the home looking for water. Mow the grass high.
Diatomaceous earth can be applied all over the lawn but it is an expensive option.
There are ant killers designed for turf grass, but read and follow label directions carefully.
Ant baits work but you need to place them where the ants can find them and take it back to feed it to the queens.
You can call in the professionals since they have access to products that require a license and they usually know the best places to set the baits to get the best results. You may want to also treat your house and put up a barrier arond the foundation at the same time so they don't try to move indoors.
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Allyn
- Green Thumb
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- Location: Mississippi Gulf Coast - zone 8b
We constantly battle fire ants here. When we find an ant hill, no matter how small, it must be eradicated immediately. I'll tell you what we did (before we had chickens) that knocks them right down, but it isn't organic and you might not want to do it. Take a few tablespoons of gasoline and dribble it over the mound. It doesn't take much. The gas fumes are heavier than air and the fumes sink down into the tunnels. Within a few hours, the mound is dead.
We don't have problems with ants since we got chickens here. Nowadays, if I find a mound the chickens haven't spotted yet, I call the chickens over and they devour the ants and then dust bath in the dirt mound that is left.
So yeah, gasoline and chickens are my two top defenses against ant intrusion.
We don't have problems with ants since we got chickens here. Nowadays, if I find a mound the chickens haven't spotted yet, I call the chickens over and they devour the ants and then dust bath in the dirt mound that is left.
So yeah, gasoline and chickens are my two top defenses against ant intrusion.
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Gary350
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- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
What kind of ants do you have? Most ants are not a problem but carpenter ants are worse than termites. If you have sweet ants dump sugar in the yard they will over dose and die. Fire ant pellets work great there are several types of fire ants some are very tiny about the size of little sweet ants. I have lots of ants, they don't bother me and I don't bother them. In the East you can buy stuff to kill fire ants but I have not found any that works. Only fire ant killer I have found that works you can buy it in Arizona at Lowes and Home Depot, I have seen the same fire ant killer on ebay. I use to get this very tiny fire ants on me in the AZ garden and I did not know they were on me then all of a sudden 1 would bit me then they would all bit me I would have 100 bites on each arm they itch like poison ivy laundry ammonia will stop the itch.
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diegobind501
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To destroy ant colonies in your yard, you can try ant bait that are slow killer. It will take min 1 to 2 week to destroy ant colonies, but it will kill everything. You can get these ant baits in Amazon.com online store.
If you want try natural ant killer in your yard, then dig here for more information https://petsafeantkiller.org/get-rid-ant ... nt-killer/
If you want try natural ant killer in your yard, then dig here for more information https://petsafeantkiller.org/get-rid-ant ... nt-killer/
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H3br3wHamm3r81
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Use Advion granular bait spread with a Scotts seed spreader (either hand-held or push-type); for a bigger yard, you'd probably want to use the push-type to make it easy on yourself. Then spray Taurus SC insectide (you'll need a pump spayer from your local DIY store (e.g., Home Depot, Lowe's). No need to hire an exterminator; you can buy the products and apply them yourself. Follow the directions on the label (also watch some YouTube videos if necessary). I buy pest control products from either Amazon or Do It Yourself Pest Control.
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mrichardson
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