Ants in the Garden, HELP!

[outdoorschick91]

I have never had an ant problem in the past but for some reason this year it has become quite a big problem. I saw on pinterest to use cornmeal because after they eat it they die because they can't digest it, but that has not seemed to work. I am looking for a method that will work but that will not harm my crops.

 

[bjones1128]

I have never had an ant problem in the past but for some reason this year it has become quite a big problem. I saw on pinterest to use cornmeal because after they eat it they die because they can't digest it, but that has not seemed to work. I am looking for a method that will work but that will not harm my crops.

Lucky you, to never have had a problem in the past. I live the south, and we are infested with ants. Not just any ant.... but FIRE ants. They get in the garden, the compost, the coop... you name it. My yard is dotted with ant mounds at any given time. Fighting the fire ants takes a lot of my time and energy... I really hate those things. I have tried everything on them but an hesitant to use a real "poison" since I have the chickens and garden. The ants have even been known to attack a weak chicken (at my neighbors) and kill it. If you come up with any non-pesticide ideas, let me know!

 

[JoePa]

If you want to get rid of ants - here's what you do - get something sweet - like honey and mix boric acid power equally with it - the ants will take the mixture back to their nets and the boric acid will kill them - I know this works because I've been doing it -

 

[StephieSky]

1/2 teaspoon of dish soap to 1 gallon of water. This does two things: Its keeps garden soil from becoming compacted and kills the ants on contact both above and below the soil. It doesn't matter what brand of dish soap you use.

Don't use dish soap with antibacterial agents or bleach!

Used weekly this will help your soil and it will kill the ants and work as a continual pest repellent. It dissolves the natural exterior coating on insects and they croak. I use it on the lawn areas also with some Sprite to feed the grass and keep the possibility of fleas away from my cats and grubs away from my grass roots.

For ant colonies you can mix up 2 1/2 tsp of dish soap to a 1 gallon of water, dump it on/in the ant hill and they'll die.

 

[foskco3]

Anst hate marigolds! The cool thing is that marigolds don't mind being crowded so you can put them as close to your other plants as you'd like when the fowers get large pluck them and scatter the petals about the garden... also if you want dry and pulverize the petals... it's like organic sevin dust.

Side note: make sure to get the bread that has the really fluffy flowers with tons of petals...
Using this and stephieskys recipe for insecticidal soap you should be good to go!!