Pests!

[Darcy P.]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a garden ant problem? I do not wish to kill every insect just to get rid of the ants infested in my crops!
Thanks, DJP

[Sharon]

Darcy: I've garden in the south a long time and I've never known of anyone to be very successful in ridding the garden of ants. On the up side, they help loosen the soil. You might try one of the products from Gardens Alive. Frankly, I gave up and have learned to live with them and accept the few positives they bring to the garden.

[Michelle W. Flannery]

No solution here either. The ants are eating me alive in my yard and garden. We've tried everything we can think of that isn't toxic to our pets or would leach into our produce. I get bitten repeatedly whenever I go outside, and I have to be covered from head to foot and wear gloves to work in the garden. I'm still looking for a working solution.

[Jared]

Exactly what are they doing to your crops? Are they all over the plants?

[Tamra]

Borax kills them. I use this solution when they come into my kitchen, not sure how it would work outside.

I dilute sugar and borax in water and place it in a shallow saucer. The ants eat the sugar, and the borax kills them.

[Jared]

That's definitely a solution, but I am wondering why the ants are all over her plants. If they are farming aphids like they do, she also needs to get rid of them.

[Deborah Poppell]

I too have been troubled with FIRE ants all over my property. I feel terrible having to kill anything especially using chemicals but those critters are vicious! My hands and feet are scared from bites when i am doing any thing in my yard and garden.

[Deborah Poppell]

I not only have fire ant problems but a HUGE grasshopper problem. I really don't get it I have so many areas of grass and wild plants the pests could eat; but what do they choose to eat? my young plants! I'm frustrated. I mixed up some garlic and hot sauce strained it and put in spray bottle. It seemed to help a little but very time consuming. It hasn't rained here for a couple weeks so was sprinkling my newly sprouted clover this morning and the grasshoppers from 1/2 in long to 4 in whoppers are eating the seedlings as soon as they pop up. The broccoli leaves are chomped to nothing even eating the mustard and turnips. I put an order in for some guineas for spring but worried about that since I lost all my grazing chickens one and 2 at a time from critters (coyotes I think but have never seen them) until the whole flock was gone. I must have looked like a maniac running and chasing down the ugly thing to squash them this morning. LOL

[Darcy P.]

I have atleast 3 different types of ants. I did have an aphid problem which they were eating on the plants . But they are still around with no aphids. They espicially show up when I fertilize. I do have to say though, now that the weather has cooled the ants seem to have subsided...

[Jared]

Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with fire ants because I have gardened north of their range. But, now that I live in Raleigh, I have them. So, I haven't dealt with how to get rid of them. Maybe someone else has a solution.

[Darcy P.]

I found this spray that is seaweed oil soap that has been effective for all sorts of bugs including whiteflies.. Ants are still abound but not as plentiful. Just got a bite on my pinky toe! Must learn to co-exist I suppose.. Still on the search for an organic method of getting rid of the fire ants.

[Lucy Jarrett]

I agree that one must accept some ants in the garden but if you pour boiling water on an ant mound, wait 15 minutes and then pour more boiling water on the same mound, it should help.

[Val Webb]

The boiling water method has worked well for us, too. I'm an organic gardener in south Alabama, which is fire ant heaven, and it has taken me three years of vigilant scalding but this year we were actually ant free all summer. I have been told that the mounds just relocate off site -- so technically, they may not be gone forever, but for several months there have been none evident on our property. The other thing that seemed to help was getting rid of any old wood (landscape ties, old boards) on the lot. Also, we use a very deep straw mulch (no-till) year round, but I don't know if that has anything to do with ant control. Good luck!