|
Post by James on Jul 8, 2015 8:36:30 GMT -5
I poured a bit of vinegar on a bunch that was setting up housekeeping on the patio. They left. Some soapy water will do the trick too. The soapy water will kill them if you get it on them. Not sure if the vinegar kills them. I don't know if you want to kill them or just encourage them to move?
|
|
|
Post by johng44 on Jul 8, 2015 12:09:45 GMT -5
A couple more recipes I found online(among many) for our ant buddies.
Here are a few of Jerry's tonics for critter control.
ANT CONTROL TONIC #1 4 to 5 tbsp. cornmeal 3 tbsp. bacon grease 3 tbsp. baking powder 3 packages of yeast (I would opt for the rapid rise) Mix cornmeal & bacon grease into a paste, then add baking powder & yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the insides of jar lids, and set them near the ant hills. When ants eat this mixture, they swell up and go to the big ant hill in the sky.
2. Finest and cheapest way to get rid of ants. 1. I'm guessing Big Problem. 2. Buy the 1 Liter bottle of Honey, but any cheap sugar solution will work. 3. Buy a box of 20 Mule Team Borax. It's 99.5% borax. 4. Get a funnel. 5. Pour all the honey into a large bowl, and add ONLY about FIVE Tablespoons of Borax into the bowl. 6. Mix it up with a fork so all the globs of borax are finely disbursed amongnst the honey. 7. Pour it back into the 1 Liter bottle with the use of the funnel. 8. Rinse out the bowl and the funnel. 9. Go around the house and pour small globs of honey along the perimeter, and near any ant colonies you can see. If the mixture is less than 5% borax, then the ants can take it home to the nest without it killing them immediately. ( That's why only 5 tablespoons.) VERY IMPORTANT - Keep it less than 5% of the mixture. The ants will take it home, everyone will eat it, and go get more and then they will die over the next 24 hours, including, most importantly, the Queen. If you put in too much, they will die enroute and the colony will survive.' Oh, and at just 5% solution, it shouldn't harm the soil.
|
|
|
Post by kimmsrđź•Š on Jul 9, 2015 6:56:51 GMT -5
Since adult ants do not eat solid food they will not ingest the corn meal, or grits, and will not swell up and explode.
Boric Acid is an ant poison if it is mixed with something in the proper proportions because the ants will not ingest the mixture if there is too much Boric Acid.
If the ants are outside, where they belong, why put out poisons to kill them when they are a normal part of the natural world?
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Jul 9, 2015 8:53:07 GMT -5
If the ants are outside, where they belong, why put out poisons to kill them when they are a normal part of the natural world?
I agree, I like ants as long as they are outside. They are social insects like my bees. I saw leaf cutter ants when I was in Mexico and it was so interesting to see a really long line of little ants carrying big pieces of cut leaves back to their home.
I don't kill any insects unless they are either biting me, in my house or eating my garden plants!
|
|
|
Post by kimmsrđź•Š on Jul 11, 2015 6:24:29 GMT -5
Part of being an organic gardener/farmer is understanding the role the different insects, and other critters, play in the world we live in and making decisions on control of them, if that is necessary, based on that knowledge. The people that promote using synthetics are all about killing anything nonhuman that enters our space and they promote products meant to do just that. Organic growers that follow that line of thought are helping them destroy the world we live in.
|
|