dooley
Official Garden Turtle
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Location: Arizona, U.S.A (Map)
Posts: 3248
PlantStew: 2 |
| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:11 pm Post subject: Getting rid of / Killing ants in the garden |
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// Split from http://www.gardenstew.com/about1567.html
I'd like to help but I'm out of seeds and the ants are still attacking my plants. I'm still attacking ants. Maybe next time. Dooley
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Crazy Orchid Lady
On The Way Up
Joined: 16 May 2006
Location: Colorado (Map)
Posts: 126
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Hey guys - Dooley needs help with his ants! Lets go get 'em and knock those ants to... well, ant heaven I guess. Anyway, Dooley is part of the team and we can't let a team member down, can we???
Dooley - I feed my ants a mixture of vinegar, ground up garlic (lots), and the hottest pepper sauce I can locate - put in a bottle and shake it REAL good then feed it to them. Vinegar might hurt your plants so be careful and its just as effective without. I don't seem to be able to keep the ants around for very long  I wonder why 
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Crazy Orchid Lady
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dooley
Official Garden Turtle
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Location: Arizona, U.S.A (Map)
Posts: 3248
PlantStew: 2 |
| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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I'll try that. I have some garlic and maybe DR has some hot sauce. I think Bugs said oil of cloves but I don't have that yet. I found some RAID and used that this morning. I'm glad I didn't spray that snake yesterday. He might not have liked it much. It's been turned back into the wild thank goodness! I wish the ants were as easy to discourage. Dooley
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Crazy Orchid Lady
On The Way Up
Joined: 16 May 2006
Location: Colorado (Map)
Posts: 126
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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The ants really aren't thrilled with their "dinner" of hot sauce and garlic and I can tell you from experience the garlic is not the snake's favorite meal either, though it wont harm the snakes or anyother critter for that matter - just a deterrent.
Let us know how it works, please.
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Crazy Orchid Lady
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Pinkiered
The Rose Queen
Joined: 02 Jan 2006
Location: Lawton, Ok (Map)
Posts: 927
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| dooley wrote: | | I'll try that. I have some garlic and maybe DR has some hot sauce. I think Bugs said oil of cloves but I don't have that yet. I found some RAID and used that this morning. I'm glad I didn't spray that snake yesterday. He might not have liked it much. It's been turned back into the wild thank goodness! I wish the ants were as easy to discourage. Dooley |
Seriously, I have them pretty bad here. I when and bought something called Triazicide. It works great. Its an ounce of this stuff to a gallon. I tested it out on a HUGE! ant bed that had taken up home right next to hose. They were all dead with in mins. It got into the whole nest and wiped them all out. Good stuff. I use it now on all my little ant beds. I also have a problem with ants making thier nest in my potted plants. What I do is make this stuff up and set the whole pot in a bowl of it so that it soaks up through the bottom. I let sit about 10 mins and pull it out. It works like a charm. Let me tell you, theres nothing nice about going to repot a plant and pulling it out of a ant bed!!!! Ive been covered in ants because of that! I have no problems poisoning them!
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I do not have a green thumb
My plants just have the will to live.
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dooley
Official Garden Turtle
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Location: Arizona, U.S.A (Map)
Posts: 3248
PlantStew: 2 |
| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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Okay!! I mixed up two tablespoons garlic from a jar of minced garlic and about an inch of tabasco and three cups of water, filled my spray bottle and turned over rocks and sprayed. I sprayed my whole garden and you should have seen the ants running. I went back to the flower bed I sprayed with RAID this morning and the ants were crawling all over it. So, I soaked it down. If it kills the plants okay, the ants were killing them anyway. I soaked a few earwigs too. How often do I do this? Everyday until I don't see anymore ants? I can do that, I think. If I run out of garlic I think Dan has a BIG jar of it. I think they sell hot sauce by the gallon at Costco. dooley
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Desert Rat
The Dusty Blogger
Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Location: Arizona
Posts: 648
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 2:28 am Post subject: |
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I don't mind dooley using my hot sauce as long as she saves me the tabasco chipotle sauce. That's my favorite and I have no ants. DR
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dooley
Official Garden Turtle
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Location: Arizona, U.S.A (Map)
Posts: 3248
PlantStew: 2 |
| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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The ants were all back this morning or at least a new batch. I mixed the hot sauce and garlic but I didn't get it fine enough and it clogged up my sprayer. I ended up pouring it up and down the rows. they were following my soaker hose so I poured it on it too. I think I will have to try something else. Oh, I found a ant hill so I poured it straight down the hole, too. Dooley
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Crazy Orchid Lady
On The Way Up
Joined: 16 May 2006
Location: Colorado (Map)
Posts: 126
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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Keeep goin' dooley, ya gotta bombard them daily until they give up. Shouldnt be more than a day or 2. Dry ice in their homes works well too if you have easy access to it - freezes 'em hard but becareful putting it on your plants. Don't give up, ants are obnoxious critters.
I love the new outfits!! Thanks.
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Crazy Orchid Lady
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Pinkiered
The Rose Queen
Joined: 02 Jan 2006
Location: Lawton, Ok (Map)
Posts: 927
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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Well, up until I moved here, I used dry grits. Not the instant kind, just the reg kind. Pour it around the ant beds. They will carry it into thier nest and will eat it, including the queen. As soon as they drink water, they will explode. It works, trust me.
But if the grits get wet, they will have to be replaced with dry. Grits expand when wet. You want the ants to eat them dry.
I stopped using grits here becuase the size of the ant problem I have and the fact the ground pretty much stays wet here. Kind of defeats the purpose, ya know?
_________________
I do not have a green thumb
My plants just have the will to live.
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Crazy Orchid Lady
On The Way Up
Joined: 16 May 2006
Location: Colorado (Map)
Posts: 126
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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Never thought of using grits, I'll have to try that! I live in Colorado and its dry here. Would popcorn work as well (so they "pop" when they eat it? Or is popcorn too big?
I can just see it, sitting in the house and having my dogs going crazy and wondering what in the world that sound is... oooooh look, its popping ants!! Big explosions, dead ants raining down from the sky... look out!!! Think they'll dent the car like hail does??
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Crazy Orchid Lady
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dooley
Official Garden Turtle
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Location: Arizona, U.S.A (Map)
Posts: 3248
PlantStew: 2 |
| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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I went to the dollar store and they had hot sauce two bottles for a dollar. I bought a pressurized sprayer and then I strained the garlic pieces out. It's working good now. I checked the hole where I just poured it down this morning and they've closed it and no ants to be seen. Maybe I just need to put it on a little heavier. Oh, am I seasoning my squash on the vine if the spray hits it? Dooley
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Primsong
Flower of the Shire
Joined: 15 Apr 2006
Location: Oregon (Map)
Posts: 1771
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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You'll have to tell us what the squash tastes like when you harvest it. Instant Italian Squash dishes. 
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Primsong
Flower of the Shire
Joined: 15 Apr 2006
Location: Oregon (Map)
Posts: 1771
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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I'm visiting my folks who have a huge ant problem going and we were just looking this thread over again - did any of you try the clove oil?
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dooley
Official Garden Turtle
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Location: Arizona, U.S.A (Map)
Posts: 3248
PlantStew: 2 |
| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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I didn't try the clove oil. I tried the hot pepper and garlic. I tried RAID. I tried Lemon Polish. DR tried charcoal lighter fluid and that worked. He didn't light it, just poured it down the hole. We still have ants but they've moved home several times. I did notice that those wee little ones are in my squash blossems now. In and out, in and out, pollinating like the bees. They seemed to have stopped eating the leaves. The big ants are still around but the neighbor dusts them with something white. Earwigs are still eating on the petunias. Dooley
The squash are coming out both yellow and green and a mixture of both. Taste good whatever the color.
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