Organic Methods for Getting Rid of Ants?

[slx2007]

Is there any organic way to deal with ant?

[cynthia_h]

Ants? Little ants (not fire ants)?

If you know where the ant hill is, you can use boiling water on it.

If the ants are making trails to and from your garden, you can put diatomaceous earth on those trails.

There are other non-toxic methods to discourage ants, but these two I have personally used and can vouch for.

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[straea]

what are the ants doing that makes you want to kill them? if we knew that, maybe we could provide a better answer for what to do.

[Ole Dummy]

I just had a problem with fire ants in my compost pile. I asked this question in another forum and was told to use Cinnamon. I bought one of the big bottles and sprinkled it over and in the pile and the next day the ants where gone. I think they just move somewhere else but am not sure of this. I didn't see any dead ants in the pile.

[slx2007]

Yes, I have ant in my compost pile. Cinnamon?? Ok let me try

Thanks a lot

[Olivia-G]

I have a lot of ants in my garden - and we also have a big problem with aphids on our lettuce. The ants swarm over the aphids, apparently they milk them like cows. So the ants protect the aphids from predators. But I want aphid predators in my garden so I'm thinking along the lines of.. get rid of the ants, in come the ladybirds, aphid problem over!

[milifestyle]

Dare I say it....

.... If ants are a problem around the house try sprinkling normal table salt in the cracks of pavers and concrete. This can prevent ants around the home and will also prevent weeds growing through pavers etc.

Don't use salt on or around garden beds or on slopes where rain can wash it onto growth areas.

OK, now you can shoot the messenger for recommending salt.

[Gary350]

I had a problem with ants in the house. They are carpenter ants they eat wood just like termintes. I tried all the home remedy stuff and nothing works. The pest control places refuse to do business with you if you won't sign a life time contract and pay $3000 up front.

10 gallons of kerosene did the job. I put it in a weed sprayer and sprayed it on all the wood under the house. No more ants. It did not kill the ants but the ants no longer like to eat the wood. The kerosene soaks into the wood it does not get on the dirt. Keresese have a very high flash point you can strike a match and throw into a can of kerosene and the match will go out.

I had a swarm of hornets living in a hole in the ground in my yard. I set a shop vaccum next to the hole and put the hose right on the hole and turned it on. It ran from about 7 am to 9:30 pm. The shop vac was half full of hornets there must have been 100,000. hornets in the shop vac. I put some dirt over the hole and never saw any more hornets every again.

[webmaster]

Here are some thoughts on controlling ants organically:
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=12802

Kerosene and other petroleum products are not considered safe organic products for controlling ants. Their use is strongly discouraged because they can pollute the soil and any underground water.

[cynthia_h]

The original poster requested organic methods of ant control. Not only is it not organic in any way, kerosene is highly flammable; I hope your house is safe after your application of 10 gallons of kerosene to the wood.

If anyone has ant woes, we've had two extended threads here at The Helpful Gardener on regular ants and fire ants:

(regular ants) http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... php?t=9095

(fire ants and regular ants) http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=12001

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

(I see the webmaster and I posted approx. the same time)

[The Helpful Gardener]

I have it on good authority that cinnamon helps break their chemical trails they use to navigate...here's a bunch of cheap tricks that people swear by; try them until one works...they're cheap anyway...

http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html

HG