How to get rid of ants?

who dat is · May 22, 2014

I know that this has to have been covered before but any amount of searching I'm trying is only returning results for "plants". So you can imagine I can't sift through all that. As the weather has warmed up ants have started materializing in the crawlspace and meandering around. I let it slide for awhile because they didn't seem to be doing any harm. I would squish the stray ant as I saw them. Just recently they have started to take off and they need to be addressed. They have also started to look like they are setting up shop in the soil in my pots so FUCK that. I got some tangle foot today but haven't had a chance to use it anywhere yet for all the other stuff I had to do in the garden. Are there any useful tricks for rounding up the ants that are seeming to come out of nowhere? I want to get rid of them without any chemicals. Can I put out sugar water in a bowl and try and trap them somehow?

Any help is appreciate!

*Edit* Found this link outside of ICMag but would love to hear others experiences and especially how to keep them from coming back from underneath my vapor barrier.

http://www.theweedblog.com/how-ants-can-damage-your-marijuana-plants/

Coconutz · May 22, 2014

Those fuckers farm root aphids. They dont care for plants...
You might have bigger problems

DoubleDDsNuggs · May 22, 2014

we've had some success using the borax sugar water soaked on a cotton ball recipe. haven't had ants in the grow room but they love our kitchen. http://www.boraxforants.com/

Tulku · May 22, 2014

Coconutz said:
Those fuckers farm root aphids. They dont care for plants...
You might have bigger problems

this.

they love the honeydew secreted by aphids and scale

EclipseFour20 · May 23, 2014

Diatomacious Earth--sprinkle on the trail, and/or my Soil Pest Spray works great around the house to stop ants in their track (period).

Soil Pest Spray
1. Half-fill a 32oz Canning Jar with water.
2. Add 7.5ml Riptide (or appropriate amount of pyrethrin based insecticide).
3. Add 7.5ml Neem Oil.
4. Add 60ml Fossil Shell Flour (or powdered Diatomaceous Earth).
5. Seal with lid and shake for 30 seconds (think martini)
6. Fill Canning Jar with water (for 32 oz), seal and shake again.
7. Immediately pour into a spray bottle...funnel makes the job easier. I like the chemical quality spray bottles at Home Depot--they don't clog at all and less than $5 for 32 oz bottle.
8. Keep the solution suspended by shaking the bottle constantly.

A word of caution, the spray will leave a slight powdery residue as the DE dries--but no worries, it hoses/wipes off with water easily.

Cheap...pet friendly...and super effective.

Cheers!

who dat is · May 23, 2014

Thanks y'all. I think I'm going to try using a cinnamon mixture for the potted plants to drive them out. I'll use a tangle foot perimeter on the pot and water catcher to keep them from getting back in and then using that borax/sugar trick or the terro ant traps to kill the rest of them off. I need to be sure to not have the ants able to get back into the pots after eating the borax solution though. We'll see how this works.

:yes:

DoubleDDsNuggs · May 24, 2014

with the borax sugar method, the ants COVERED the cotton ball for a day or two having a little party but they eventually quit coming back to feed. they take it back to the nest as well so it's been working quite well this year. i plan on keeping a wet cotton ball hidden soaking on a easy to crawl into saucer out during that time of the year. good luck!

pappy masonjar · May 24, 2014

Niban F/G.

who dat is · May 24, 2014

DoubleDDsNuggs said:
with the borax sugar method, the ants COVERED the cotton ball for a day or two having a little party but they eventually quit coming back to feed. they take it back to the nest as well so it's been working quite well this year. i plan on keeping a wet cotton ball hidden soaking on a easy to crawl into saucer out during that time of the year. good luck!

Thanks, good to hear.

pappy masonjar said:
Niban F/G.

Looks like the active ingredient here is the 5% borax solution again. Here it is in a granular form though instead of the liquid. I bought the terro ant traps and place all 6 of them around the plants and crawlspace. I identified at least one, maybe two areas where they are coming up from underneath the vapor barrier. I also bought cinnamon and doused the top of the clover mulch/topsoil and they definitely don't like that. They took off running down the sides of the pots or up the plants to get away. I've yet to need to water again but tonight they might be thirsty. I'll try a cocktail of neem solution, cinnamon, and SNS 203. I think they'll take the hint. :spanky:

The hemlocks are too far along in flower though and will have to take a pass on the neem.

Oh yeah, how much soap do you guys use to properly emulsify your neem oil. I have the 70% stuff and wasn't quite sure how much soap to use last time I was trying to do this. I've read just a couple of drops but I tried several different ratios last time and they all looked kind of fucky. I was hesitant to use it on the girls.

Thanks.

RB56 · May 24, 2014

The cotton ball soaked in boric acid/sugar mix has worked really well for me in the past. If you make 2 or 3 of them you can place them so that you can identify the path they are taking. I watch there activities and move the traps as I figure it out. They always go for the nearest trap to their existing paths. The long term fix is to identify the entry point and seal it (them). After two years of boric acid traps and caulking we had no ants come into the house this spring. Yeah!

Critter · May 24, 2014

Whodat my 70% neem is already emulsified and so is most that i see...i dont use soap ever either, better natural choices are out there

EclipseFour20 · May 24, 2014

Experiment by adding some DE with those concoctions. There is a synergistic type effect when DE is added to many contact pesticides and/or oils.

RB56 · May 25, 2014

EclipseFour20 said:
Experiment by adding some DE with those concoctions. There is a synergistic type effect when DE is added to many contact pesticides and/or oils.

DE definitely gets them if they walk through it. You can watch them stagger and drop. Very effective way to make a line they can't cross.

yortbogey · May 25, 2014

health food store... cinnamon oil.... add to water w/ a wetting agent like dish soap... works

bobblehead · May 25, 2014

My weapon of choice is a magnifying glass.

who dat is · May 26, 2014

yortbogey said:
health food store... cinnamon oil.... add to water w/ a wetting agent like dish soap... works

Went to the local foodie store and got some cinnamon oil as well as rosemary oil. Do you have any idea on how much to add per gallon?

RB56 said:
The cotton ball soaked in boric acid/sugar mix has worked really well for me in the past. If you make 2 or 3 of them you can place them so that you can identify the path they are taking. I watch there activities and move the traps as I figure it out. They always go for the nearest trap to their existing paths. The long term fix is to identify the entry point and seal it (them). After two years of boric acid traps and caulking we had no ants come into the house this spring. Yeah!

I bought the terro traps and placed them all over and the ants don't seem to care about any of them at all, just oblivious. I'm hoping that when I turn soil into the containers into an awful smelling, toxic environment (to them) they will get the message and kick rocks.

Critter said:
Whodat my 70% neem is already emulsified and so is most that i see...i dont use soap ever either, better natural choices are out there

I used up all the 70% neem that I had and just purchased the pure oil this time. It appears that the ants had started farming aphids too as there was an explosion of flying insects. I had had fungus gnats that seemed pretty steady but nothing as suddenly as what's going on now. I'm hoping this stuff will take care of everything.

RB56 · May 26, 2014

who dat is said:
I bought the terro traps and placed them all over and the ants don't seem to care about any of them at all, just oblivious. I'm hoping that when I turn soil into the containers into an awful smelling, toxic environment (to them) they will get the message and kick rocks.

I remember when I was researching the problem a few years ago I saw references to ants that want sugar and ants that want grease. I didn't pay any attention since mine wanted sugar. Maybe your ants want grease and don't care about sugar?

who dat is · May 26, 2014

RB56 said:
I remember when I was researching the problem a few years ago I saw references to ants that want sugar and ants that want grease. I didn't pay any attention since mine wanted sugar. Maybe your ants want grease and don't care about sugar?

That's a good thought. I actually poured some of the terro liquid out onto the vapor barrier where it looks like they are coming up from underneath to see if they would get interested when it's right in their face. If they still don't take to it then I know I'll need to try something else. Thanks for stopping in.

EclipseFour20 · May 26, 2014

who dat is said:
...It appears that the ants had started farming aphids too as there was an explosion of flying insects. I had had fungus gnats that seemed pretty steady but nothing as suddenly as what's going on now. ...

Maybe its time to get on bended knee and say a long prayer to the cannabis god, or at least a few good chants and maybe a virgin offering to the Root Aphid demon--in hopes this pestilence bypassed your garden.

After you water, examine your containers real close with a bright light; you are looking on top of the lips and just inside the container for little critters that think they are Nascar cars racing each other. If so, examine them real close--they could be Hypoaspis miles (beneficials that eat fungus gnats) or the dreaded Root Aphids. Mature RAs can sprout wings--and look similar to Fungus Gnats...a mistake made by many growers, so don't be tricked (45x glass will work). Most of the products that control FGs are worthless when combating RAs...but many things that work on RAs--also work on FGs.

There are many threads on RAs...good luck!

Eye-yahhh-yahhh, eye-yahhh-yahhh, umpa-umpa-umpa, eye-YAHH! (Root Aphid chant that worked for me...lol, sorry fresh out of virgins).

G.O. Joe · May 26, 2014

Flying ants came up though a tiny crack in my basement floor a few years ago, they were thinking it was the outside because they're stupid. Lots of bug spray in the crack made that problem go away. Then some really tiny ants were coming in my kitchen from outside somehow, but didn't realize how bad it was for a long time because of my bad eyesight. Just washing everything down with soap and water really well made them disappear, not one has come back - they follow chemical trails.

Amdro ant bait was put down outside a couple years ago because of lots of the larger black ants everywhere that were probably the same ones coming up in the basement. It works.

How to get rid of ants?

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