pudgysmom
Full Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 8:15 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Ants, ants, ants and dare I say ants. . . .

This is my second year of raised bed gardening - well actually vegetable gardening at all. I have six 4x8 beds and one 8x12 bed. Learned a lot the first year, and this year I'm seeing a lot of improvement due to the lessons learned last year. My question is, I currently have one of the 4x8 beds dedicated to natchez carrots. They seem to be doing well and I'm thinking they will be done some time in July. My problem is that this one bed is over run with large black ants. Now don't get me wrong, I really don't have an issue with bugs in general in my garden and understand that a certain level and type of bugs are indicative of a healthy garden. The ants do not seem to be negatively affecting the carrots that I can tell (don't really know what is going on under the ground), and the ants are definitely not fire ants. My problem is the sheer number of them. Although I tend to try to stay organic when I can, grits, corn meal and the other home remedies don't seem to be making a dent in the population. I've even tried the ant granules and terro outside bait stations to no avail. Should I just give up and adapt? Is there any hope they will eventually move on? Literally, if they were just 5 feet away I wouldn't really care but there are so many in this one bed it is distinctly disconcerting even trying to work in that bed.

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Intriguedbybonsai
Senior Member
Posts: 262
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:03 pm
Location: Escondido, CA (USDA Zone 9-10)

Sprinkling chalk, baby powder, or just talc seems to deter ants from entering an area. I've also heard that sprinkling cornmeal in your garden is effective. The ant cannot digest corn, and as a result they die. Ground red cayenne pepper works too.



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