A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 Ants!

Help! I'm so happy with my new raised kitchen garden! Went out to weed it today and found that one corner has been invaded by ants, the little tiny bitey kind. Anyone know what I can do to get rid of the little buggers without hurting the soil or my plants? Sure would appreciate some help with this one. Thanks in advance.

Carol,
I've got that too!
I have such fine dirt they love that stuff. I have several hills. Things have been soo busy for me, and haven't gotten around to taking care of it, but I've been taking peeks into some info on it, I've read about boiling some water and pouring directly on it......
(Ants are a sign some times you have aphids, do you see any of those, they like to herd the ants to get the honeydew stuff they produce.~ I had some on my Cherry tree this year, because I didn't get to them fast enough.
Planting pots of tansy, (do not plant tansy in your garden, it's an invasive little bugger) It's suppose to be an insect repelant.???
Again, I'm not a big chemical fan, so maybe some one else can help you in that dept.
Good luck!
Weezie

When I had ants in my kitchen some years ago I kept a spray bottle of weak bleach solution handy. That killed them.

You may be able to try it on the spot in your garden as long as the ants aren't too close to the plants. I would imagine plants and bleach water wouldn't get along too well!

Ronni

I use a product called Torro. It comes in thick liquid form and works great. You put it on a small piece of heavy paper and it gets rid of ants better than anything that I've tried. I have used it in my garden also and it got rid of a huge ant hill (about 2' in diameter ) I protected it by putting a small basket over the top of it (I placed it right on the ant hill) soo my pets couldn't get at it. The ants carry the poison into their "castle", taking care of the rest of the inhabitants!

Hi!
Thanks for all of your suggestions. I have used Torro in the house but it didn't occur to me to try it outside. Duhhhhh. Will give that a shot. Will report on the results. Appreciate it.

Did u get rid of your ants Carol? I'm not a patient person... I'd have to "nuke" them with something chemical...
Ants don't bother me unless they start coming in my house. So far, i haven't seen any fire ants yet, but they are around.

I have them in my garden and lawn........

When I moved here there was only one in the corner of the yard and I had to get rid of it, since then, I've had 10 pop up....
I should have left the original pile there, maybe they'd all still be there in one pile.. My dirt is so fine, they just love it!
Weezie