Ants in the Garden

[vmbwjhomestead]

my garden is overrun with fire ants. I've tried vinegar, baking soda, vinegar & baking soda, boiling water, DE, nothing has worked to kill them nor relocate them. I haven't been able to plant my fall garden the fire ant problem has gotten exponentially worse since we got our chickens. Though my chickens are housed about 10-15 yards away from my garden, they free range for about 7 hours a day. Could the chickens have eaten all the bigger bugs that eat the ants? There's also ants in the ground beneath the coop, where the leftovers get thrown, but the ants don't seem to bother them much. How can I get rid of these ants and have my garden back!!

 

[bcAddy]

Maybe a flame thrower.

Actually we are having the same problem except for the trying the DE part. Was just about to do that. Bummed to hear it didn't work for you, but since we have it we will still try it. I'm interested to hear what has worked for others.

 

[vmbwjhomestead]

LOL @ flame thrower. I wish that would be safe to use. Do you think it could be related to having chickens? And them eating bigger bugs?

And I say the DE hasn't worked...but, yesterday was my first day. I'm gonna just inundate them with it daily for a week and see if that helps. It's gonna do something. It doesn't bother ants in the coop one bit though.

 

[lazy gardener]

Have you tried the borax and sugar ant bait? It works well on all of the ants in my area, so I assume it would work on fire ants.

 

[vmbwjhomestead]

Yes we did try Borax&Sugar as bait...still no luck I got bit up so bad this morning!!

 

[politicalcenter]

Yes we did try Borax&Sugar as bait...still no luck

I got bit up so bad this morning!!

You are probably against chemicals so I won't tell you that I use permathrin spray.

Here is what I have heard....take a shovel of ants from one ant bed and put in another and the ants will kill each other.

Spread cornmeal on the hill and the ants will eat it and explode.

gasoline on the hills...don't set it on fire let the vapor kill them.

But I do put all my potted plants on shelves above ground and it helps.


I won't mention a 10% permathrin spray at about a tablespoon ( or a little more) per gallon

 

[politicalcenter]

Have you tried the borax and sugar ant bait? It works well on all of the ants in my area, so I assume it would work on fire ants.

A fire ant is not like your northern ants...they are just about unstoppable.

And they get into everything and under anything that sits on the ground. They leave these little white pussy bumps...and they seem to get about a hundred on you before the first one bites.

 

[vmbwjhomestead]

They are so evil. I'm going get cornmeal today. If that doesn't work then maybe my hubs will try the gasoline this weekend...

 

[politicalcenter]

They are so evil. I'm going get cornmeal today. If that doesn't work then maybe my hubs will try the gasoline this weekend...

You can always use the cornmeal to make cornbread.


I still like permethrin...it comes from mums I think.

 

[TXChixRock]

This is an old post, but fire ants are always a hot topic, so here goes! I actually have had good results with borax and sugar mixture, but it took several weeks to kill the whole colony. It has been my best solution so far in the chicken coop, run and chicken yard. I put the mixture in an old Tupperware tub, poke tiny holes near the base, then weight it down with a rock, and (finally) place it inside a wire cage to keep the chickens away..whew! You just have to be patient with this method; as I said it can take several weeks depending on your mound. None of the other diy methods (cornmeal, vinegar,etc) have worked for us.