angelad
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:54 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Ant Problem!! please help

Hi all,
I live in downtown Toronto with my 3 year old son. Sunday morning he woke me up, rather frantically, and brought me to the patio room where I discovered hundreds of teeny ants. They are coming up from the plant bed right below the patio. I researched a little and found the ants that look most similar to mine, they are Pharaoh [url=https://www.magicalpest.ca/pest-library/ants#pharaoh-ants]ants[/url]. I am no exterminator but I cannot afford the pest control companies, can anyone suggest how to get rid of these ants?
Thanks,
Angela. :(

User avatar
lorax
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1316
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:48 pm
Location: Ecuador, USDA Zone 13, at 10,000' of altitude

See if you can find a product called "Swift Gel" - it's a pheremone-based ant & roach toxin, and it works amazingly well even on large, stubborn rainforest-type ants (which is what I use it for.)

Looks like it comes from [url=https://www.excelag.com/products/public_health/swift-gel.html]Excel Agro[/url] in the US; you should be able to find it in the big TO.

Normally, I'd reccomend a gentler solution, like Diatomaceous Earth or Mint Oil, but since you've got a young kid, it's better to be rid of them quickly and completely.

User avatar
Sage Hermit
Green Thumb
Posts: 532
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:20 pm
Location: Finlaysen, MN Coniferous Forest

double sided tape/ cinnamon might work cheaper and a little slower.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Here's a thread where I talked about ant control:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9437

wiki has a nice article about your pharoh ants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh_ant

it suggests putting out ground liver spiked with boric acid.

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Diligently vaccuming up the ants will help to reduce the colony size too. If you vacuum a bit of DE with them, they'll die in the canister.

3 Pound Tomato
Cool Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:36 pm

mix some borax with sugar in water bring to boil to dissolve. I use 2 parts sugar to 1 part borax. cool and soak cotton balls, place where ants are. works great.

HoneyBerry
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1216
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: Zone 8A Western Washington State

Lately, sugar ants have been showing up on my kitchen counter whenever something sugary has been prepared there. I don't know where the nest is. I want to try Diatomaceous Earth but am not sure where to start. I have some food grade D.E. but it is rather expensive. There must be a less expensive grade for gardens. The ants go away as long as I keep the sugary stuff off the counter. The ants not too bothersome but they are creepy when herds of them come out of nowhere whenever I have sugary substances on the counter. I think I should do something about them, however. I read some of the older posts. I haven't tried those suggestions yet. I want to start with D.E. and see if that helps. I have a fruit tree in the yard so that's probably why I have sugar ants. I don't like to kill but I can't let them take over.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Sugar ants I use terro. They make an indoor and an outdoor version. It is better to bait to try to kill the queen rather than just go after the workers. You have to be patient though since baiting takes awhile. Actually, we were told by the dept of ag that we would have to choose to either spray to kill or bait. It does not work to do both if you kill the ants before they can take the bait back to the queen. In the meantime, you need to make sure all the food is sealed and carefully put away and that you keep everything clean. I put boric acid on my windowsills and outside around the door to the patio. I don't have kids or pets that go there. Those were the entry points I found. I also spot treated outside with amdro where I found ant mounds. Treating mounds doesn't always work. Sometimes they just move the nest over a few feet. It is better to leave the bait where the ants can find it and let them take it back to the nest.

HoneyBerry
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1216
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: Zone 8A Western Washington State

Yesterday, I found a product that I like to control ants. It is called Orange Guard. It is a natural pest control product. It smells good. I am using it to control sugar ants that sometimes show up on my kitchen counters. They are attracted to food residue and crumbs, especially sugary food. I bought it at the health food store, and they are really picky about environmental stuff, so that gives me confidence that the product is safe. Here is a link to the product on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Guard-Wate ... B00030BBMS



Return to “Organic Insect and Plant Disease Control”