I have always struggled with ants on my property since I built the house in 1999. FINALLY, I have found something that will work and is not so darn toxic to the environment. We have a well, so I am cognizant of chemicals that are applied. Through the good folk here on BYC, I learned about Diatomaceous Earth. Have you tried it on and around an ant mound? I did. I first tried just putting a ring around the mound. Later, I just kicked the head of the fire ant mound and waited for the swarm then dusted the mound and all the worker ants. The results from my experience are that the ants have been greatly reduced. What are others experience using DE on ant mounds?
I did the exact same thing the other day and am very pleased to say the ants have "moved on". I sprinkled DE around the exterior of my house,shed, and coop. Seems to be keeping those pesky ants away
What a great idea. Our ant problems are in the (human) house and with kids/animals I don't want to put anything too toxic down. I will have to give it a try. Thanks!
For fire ants, I use rice cereal or cream of wheat. I has to be dry outside when you put it out. Just sprinkle it around and on top of the mound and in a few days - no more ants. Supposedly, it absorbs moisture and swells inside the ants and kills them. I don't know if its all the ants or just the queen but I know it works here. We have very sandy soil and that may have something to do with it. Much better than poison. If I understand DE, it slices the insects (good and bad) and causes them to dehydrate. Using it over a large area sounds like it might be a problem. Just in the area of the chickens is OK. I'll be interested to see what everybody else does...
OMG! I was going to put a post in here about this. We discovered fireants and I was going to ask how to get rid of them. Thanks for posting this!
