I'm in central Alabama. Ive been using spent coffee grains on the ant hills. In last few years number of hill reduced by at least 90%. Usually it takes just one application, sometimes a few.
I used to use the borax mix but was concerned about animals with a sweet tooth getting into the ‘soap’ part and making the animal sick. I am now using cinnamon and/or diatomaceous earth which is working great. Thank you Brian for another informative video!
I have used the borax/sugar traps for years and it really works but don't get the Borax on your soil. Plants don't like it much and it takes quite a while to break it down
I’m in zone 8A in Alabama. We have fire ants EVERYWHERE. I had a raised bed of corn (block corn) and this was my 2nd planting. The first crop was great! The second crop was nothing. I’d amended the bed between plantings. When I finally pulled it out, I realized the entire bed was completely infested with ants. Never saw any sign above the soil. And, the ants are everywhere in my yard. I treat the bed with Amdro or another granular treatment. But I don’t want to use it in my food beds. Long story short, I have a terrible problem with ants. (The more rain, the more ants.)
I posted about fire ants...they eat meat, not sugar. Use 1/4 tsp boric acid powder with one can of potted meat, continue as needed. It's slow acting so it takes a week or two but it works.
Same here in Florida but lucky for me no fire ants. I've read somewhere that for them you could try doing the sane thing with Borax, as Brian is sharing but instead of sugar you'll HAVE to use peanut butter. This is because fire ants are a category of their own. Hope this helps and best of luck to you❤😊
I’m in south East Texas. I live in the ANT ZONE. I always kill ants with baking soda. My compost was infested with more than one queen, and had tomatoes infested… not to mention the two ant hill/hole I stepped in near my beans and citrus trees. I tried so many this and that “really works” remedies that don’t work. Get a LARGE box of cheap baking soda. Dump over the ant hill, stand back and give it a good stir with a shovel. Put the shovel down quickly before they climb up it. Bye bye ants! 🎉 They can’t handle the sodium, and can’t escape it. If it’s deep, when you water or it rains the baking soda water will go down the holes. I’ve never had to do it more than twice.
Yes, I’ve had an issue with ants in my garden and in the lawn. However, I have used baby powder to combat them. That seems to do the trick. I know some people are concerned because of the cancer issue out there. But I’m not worried about it because I’m outside and I’m putting it on their ant hill. I’ve also use cornstarch in the past, but I don’t find that is effective as the baby powder.
Another great thumbnail. I love the humour. I've been studying thumbnails this morning and your strawberry shoots, this one, cougar in the... and the "love at first sight" ones are def my favourite of all the ones I am considering as muses.
Thank you so much for this! Great tips, especially the homemade ant traps and cinnamon. We don't have K-cups, but I can now see a use for all those little take-out sauce containers that seem to pile up endlessly in our kitchen.
Thanks! I had tons of ants crawling all over my flowers. Someone suggested to look for aphids in the FB group. And sure enough, I had an infestation. Once I sprayed off the aphids, the best could, the ant problem decreased. I also pruned invested leaves and put them in a sealable plastic bag and threw it away. Lesson learned!
I have a serious ant problem in my garden and yard. They seem 't to be attracted to sunflowers and plants that have grown for awhile but I haven't seen any aphids on my garden plants. I have tried the bait traps but the ants return once the bait is gone. I will try the borax solution. I do get birds but they don't bother my vegetables, cherries, blueberries or strawberries. Thanks for sharing your videos.
I'm in 6 B(?) & had a problem with the larger Red Ants in the back of my veggie garden; they seemed to be going across to the opposite side to gather something from where the pumpkins were- they were VERY aggressive, coming "after/towards" me even when I would spray them with the hose ! I never saw them in the garden bed with the other veggies, but even if I walked in the back of the garden (gravel "walkway"), they would come up & after me in DROVES !! Don't know where they came from (never had the larger red ones in the yard before), but they seemed to have disappeared as fast as they showed up. I contacted an exterminator, but because they were so close to the veggies, we decided NOT to do anything. Thanks for the info, will try one of them next year !
I'm in GA, just a few miles south of ATL. We have TONS upon TONS of fire ants and another kind similar to them. For common ants in the garden, I have used corn meal with great success. But it's not working well on fire ants at all. However, liquid Terro is! (It's basically sugar and borax.) Gonna try the little homemade Kcup traps! Thanks so much!
I did the borax method some years ago, we had an inside infestation. In the end I had to pay to have a pest control fix it. That worked 100%, no more flying ants. Expensive but effective.
I've had great success with the borax & sugar (powdered sugar) method especially with the large black ants. I also use DE around in my bed for the smaller ants.
Olive oil. I use olive oil on the poles that hold my hummingbird feeders for 15 years. I dab a paper towel in a little olive oil (enough to saturate a portion of the paper towel and to create a shiny glean on a small section of the post near the bottom. It works for about 2 weeks during mild spring and summer days, 1 week during hot summer days. With respect to rain, it does need to be re-applied after heavy rain. I put it around the stem of my tomato, cucumber, melon, squash plants and certain flowers. It has to be reapplied more frequently when used like this on plants. You can easily prove to yourself that this works by the way ants literally run away from it. Hope this helps someone with ants getting into their hummingbird feeders and spoiling the hummingbird food by dying insider the feeders or with certain of their garden plants.
There is a massive colony in my back yard and another in the front. I've tried dawn dish soap but it only lasts a short time. This borax idea is certainly worth a try. Thank you.
I like the K cup method. I've been using Borax mix for quite some time, (But I do even parts Borax and sugar to make a paste. Guess I should try to cut back a little on the borax), but never thought of that. I'll have to get some from my son. (I don't use a Keurig).
I love your channel, and even though I don't live in a long summer area, I have learned a wealth of helpful information from your videos. Since you have a lot of experience, perhaps you have a solution for my ant problem. I live in PA. My soil is heavy clay so I don't have fire ants, and I haven't had a problem with ants in general in the beds. Several years ago I put down weed fabric between my garden beds and covered it with two inches of wood chips so I would have a comfy walkway between the beds with no weeds. My problem is with ant colonies under the weed fabric. I recently pulled up some of the weed fabric because I'm rearranging my beds, and the pathways are riddled with large black biting ants and small black ants as well. Each time I try to remove some of the weed fabric, I am attacked by the ants. How can I kill them now so I can rearrange my beds, and what can I do to prevent them from building colonies under my new paths? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Good tips, thank you. Here is what has been successful for me: I’ve used the Borax mix, more liquid consistency on cotton balls inside my house (squeezed some of liquid out so they are not runny, and poured corn starch on/where the ants seem to be gathering .
I've mixed equal parts of baking soda and icing sugar, then placed it in little piles next to holes in the ground that ants appear from. It's been very successful with very small ants but it only works for awhile with the very large ant nests.
Living in zone 9b (south fl) e have just as many smuts as we do sand. It is terrible. I went use a toxic chemical bc that was the whole point of creating this garden. Hopefully this works. The ants have really taken over my dragon fruit and pepper plant. Now they’re on my strawberries. I’ll have to check for aphids. Thanks for the video.
Ants! They live in colonies all over my back yard, hillside, raised beds, planting pots, and they invade my gardens regularly. Ive done all of these things you suggested and the commercial bait enclosed in metal stakes works best. This season my citrus trees are covered in scale! I had a pest service come in and learned that the pest service people have NO IDEA how to apply all their chemical nonsense in a food garden. The guy sprayed his “absolutely safe, completely natural” stuff on/near my garden beds (after I told him specifically not to) and it heavily damaged the plants. So I use commercial ant bait stakes from the garden center. They seem to have some effectiveness, its the best Ive found so far, but its not a sure fire solution. Id love to have a refillable bait for those stakes, as they have such a tiny amount of viable product. But with two very curious schnauzer mix dogs, I have to be very careful about what is out in my yard and what they have access to.
I use the small spice jars that have the larger holes for herbs in the tight plastic sprinkle lids. The borax and sugar mix with a small piece of cracker added has successfully rid the beds and pots of small ants. No fire ant here luckily.
These are some good tips! I had trouble with my mammoth sunflower. The ants would eat and lay eggs on the leaves, causing the leaves to die. Then, as an effort to remove them, sprayed soapy water on the leaves. It didn't work unfortunately, it only made them stronger. It got to the point to where I would spray the leaves with the soapy water, they would fall off, and then 2 seconds later start coming right back up the stem. I also forgot to mention how the ants bite, so any time one fell off onto me, they would bite me. It wasn't just a small pinch either, it felt like somebody accidentally stabing me with jagged nails, just not quite enough to draw blood.
For ant hills, I squirt dish soap into a bucket and fill with water. I pour this directly into the mound and all around where I see ants trying to escape. Works every time.
One plead to ALL my fellow gardeners. 🙏 Please do not use Ceylon Cinnamon for the garden, the tree is going through over harvesting which it'll make prices go up and scarce it in the future (leave it for consumption). Use sugar rather than honey for your ant traps, it works better. This way we help the bees also🐝 Thank you for your help and bountiful harvest for all😊❤
@@MichaelRei99You'll know it's Ceylon cinnamon by the price - it's higher. Just use crappy regular cinnamon from Sam's Club or another bulk- type store.
@@MichaelRei99 Because bees are declining worldwide, so if we leave the bees and cinnamon for human consumption, I believe WE all in this generation at least, could afford and enjoy the benefits. This in my own research and believe, you can do your own. 💜❤️💚🧡🌻🦋🐝
@@MichaelRei99 usually if it is Ceylon Cinnamon it should say on the package. Ceylon Cinnamon is usually crumbly and soft. The "other" Cinnamon is hard. That's the best I can describe it🌻
Hello I have so many red ant hills in my yard. It’s very open and clean with no plants except for right by the front! I’ve applied several rounds of red ant killer and I’ve seen it subside and then come back stronger!
I've got a big ant colony on one side of my house. I've tried the DE but it didn't help much. Maybe I just need to dump the whole bag out there LOL. Or reapply after rain..... thanks for all the tips!
Thank you for the great advice! I like the k cup idea. My question is what if a bird or something eats the ants with the borax injested. I have big ref headed woodpeckers that usually gind them snd eat them
I had 8 beautiful cacti which I regularly pruned for nopales. The mealy bugs got in with the ants establishing a symbiotic relationship with them. I tried to take them down with soap but couldn't keep up. I lost all the plants.
From the San Antonio Water System, use 1 gallon water, 6 T BLUE Dawn, 3 T Orange Oil. Mix and pour on the Fire Ant mound. This works well to get rid of ants in areas that produce food. I HATE these ants! You have no idea the harm they can do to you before you're aware you're in their territory...which by the way, is MY garden.
Food grade diametric earth is what I used to kill ants.They were coming from under the fence next to my fence neighbors yard. First, I attacked the trail of ants by spraying them with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water (more alcohol and less water). They died immediately. When the ground dried, I sprinkled diametric earth along the fence line. The following day, I sprinkled another layer of DE along the fence line. It’s been over a month now and no more ants. I think it also helped that I caught the ants early.
We've had a lot of ants over the last few summers as it is has been hot and dry. The ants don't seem to do much damage to the plants but the blackbirds and pigeons dig up the plants to get to the ants so I would love to get rid of them
I'd love to try some of these methods, but my main ant problem is them crawling all over my ripe raspberries, and I'm not sure how well it would work for a hundred square foot bed. Most of the time, I wind up picking the fruit, putting them in a vented container like an re-used strawberry snap-shut quart, and letting the ants crawl out.
This was amazing info. We’ve been buying Terro, but borax, sugar and honey is, I’m sure, much cheaper and FINALLY a way to use all those empty Kcups! Do you have any suggestions for getting rid of moles and ground squirrels?
I've used the Terro bait once in a while also, (when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to make a mix myself - LOL), but Borax is the main ingredient in Terro bait traps.
@@NextLevelGardening Problem is we have both ground squirrels and gray squirrels. Gray squirrels don’t do the damage ground squirrels do. We have to replace our asphalt driveway because of squirrel tunnels under it. The worst gray squirrels I do is dig up a few just-planted plants. We can live with that. Plus we live in the middle of the woods and we never had problems with moles or ground squirrels until a forest fire nearby caused them to migrate to “our neck of the woods.”
What is dish soap; washing up liquid/detergent? Will organic plant based stuff work or does it have to be regular one with chemicals? Have ants storing blackfly & have taken over sweetcorn.. we got some 50-odd ladybug larvae in to help shift the blackfly but not much difference now than what it was 5 days-a week ago, when the larvae should be devouring the blackfly by now.. next method i want to try is the dishsoap bcos am ready to use what we have available. I'm'n'a do some research & might try some essential oils next, trying not to kill anything except the blackfly!
I noticed a few years ago that if I left a cup of my coffee made with my homemade hazelnut syrup in my car cup holder for very long, the ants would invade it. So, I tried mixing the syrup with Borax in a cup in my car and after a massive invasion, the ants were gone. The syrup is made with raw turbinado sugar and flavored extracts.
We will be trying all of these. Fire ants are so tough to get rid of. Texas hill country 8b. Already tried boiling water, diatomaceous earth, and orange oil. None worked.
I’m in Texas zone 9a and it rains a lot here and we have what’s called leaf cutter ants (in addition to the famous fire ants). Those leaf cutters do exactly what it sounds like: cut leaves. They have completely defoliated an entire bed of my plants in the summer overnight! I woke up one morning and all my beautiful pepper plants were sticks. I about died. 😢 It took months for them to recover AND some didn’t recover at all and just died. I was certain it was deer or bunnies. The ants moved their way through my garden beds each night until one night I was outside with a flashlight and happened to see them in a long trail carrying off my leaves back to their hill. I sprinkled ant killer granules all along their trail all the way to the hill and sprinkled it inside too. Within an hour they were all dead and never came back. Now that far from solved my problem because there are new hills that pop up every week or two and I play defense constantly. I have to be very vigilant in order to have my peace and quiet and keep my garden alive! We have Yaupon holly bushes here that get quite large and I saw one of the ant hills right next to the bush get completely defoliated in a week or so and it looked like a bare deciduous tree in the winter. Those bushes are evergreen and don’t lose their leaves so wow. I’ve never seen something like this until I moved out to the forest! It’s wild. Literally. ☺️My solution isn’t exactly organic but it’s effective considering my extreme situation. I didn’t feel I had a choice. Luckily the granules active ingredient dissipates in a short period of time and though that’s not the best option it was the most effective one and saved my garden. I may try the k cup borax method though because it seems much more natural. I hope it works! Great video!
I'm in NW Georgia and ants are my main problem in the garden even without aphids. I've tried boric acid and sugar with good success except with fire ants. I've tried that and cinnamon on fire ants and it just doesn't seem to work. The fire ants either aren't attracted to the sugar or know not to eat it. I've seen a couple of videos say that orange oil and blue dawn dish soap work. I'm going to give that a try.
Our local (passed) radio gardening host SanFran KSFO Sunday morning Bob Tannem in the Garden show - made his own rats/mice/gophers/moles bait. Peanut butter, oatmeal, and plaster of paris. Roll into little pea- or bean-sized bait balls. Place in the holes or tunnels of the critters. Critters eat the peanut butter, while the oatmeal sucks of the stomach juices and waters, and the wet oatmeal cures the plaster of paris, finishing the job - and the critter expires in their hole. No poisons, no chemicals - and the critter not in the hole is consumed by other critters, that won't cause them to die off from the intestine plaster cast. The same could be applied for ants (and borax) that they will take back to the ant nest - and everybody including the queen - get a final meal. Drop some little balls "0" at each ant hole and nest.
I've been using dish soap spray on my sea lavender which has scale and ants. Definitely not a one and done job, but it seems to be decreasing the problem.
Ant trails - are ants making poop and hormone spots as a trail. Using Tanglefoot and finding the ant hole - spray this in a "O" around the hole - and the ants will be stuck - as Tanglefoot is the same flypaper goo sticking flies. Spraying or painting Tanglefoot on the first foot height of your fruit/nut trees trunk will stop all kinds of critters crawling up into the trees.
The aphids we get are the invasive, non native kind. They love my milkweed. If I do the soap/water method, will it harm my caterpillars that eat the milkweed? Also if Demetrius earth is scattered around the base of my plants, will it also harm my caterpillars that come down fron the plant to find a spot for metamorpphosis or the soft skinned lizards that frequent the garden? Thanx in advance!
I live in B.C. Canada. I find the ants help my aphid problem. I plant plants to attract ants. I have lots of praying mantis too. I love wasps also. Mice suck.
We have an issue with ants getting into our continuous flow worm bins. We have tried just about everything we can think of to naturally get rid of them without harming our worms but nothing is working. We have taken precautions and made some design alterations to prevent future ant infestations but we are still fighting the ones in the bins. The main mound has been removed and we are hoping we got the queen at least.
We are dealing with little black ants, in a wet climate, you can stop the ants for a while with a barrier of DE, but they make nest between the leaves in a tree, you never get them out. None of this methods work. Any better ideas?
I have fire ants, which are very hard to get rid of. I tried several organic methods but still fighting them. They are tough little insects & seem to just move their colony. I will try k-cups. I live in Arkansas, which is humid & hot. These ants are aggressive, and their bites hurt. They eat everything, including okra.
I'll try the borax method for the ants that have built their home in one of my raised beds. On a more humorus note perhaps... I have 2 fairly large spiders that have for whatever reason, each made a home for themselves on 2 of my cucumber vines... Those cucumber vines are the 2 vines in my whole garden, that are largest and producing most cucumbers... I decided to leave those 2 spiders be, just to see what they would do, since I don't think they eat either the vine or, cucumbers. They do seem to eat everything else that dares land on "their" vines though... 😳😁
I just moved my starts into my garden and the ants are everywhere, I'm a beginner and this is my first time, I've found holes in the dirt. I don't know what to do, that's why I am watching this.
Depends on the type of ant. The ones that mainly eat sugar carry aphids to your plants to milk them for honeydew secretions. Aphids produce rapidly and can take over a crop overnight. Even after getting rid them, takes a long time for plants to recover..IF they recover. The ones that are less attracted to sugar make tunnels in your soil and dry out the roots. They also bite and burrow into your plants to turn them into tunnels. And then some ants just eat the food or the leaves.
❤ If you have fire ants, they eat meat, not sugar. I had a huge fire ant mound and got rid of it with 1/4 tsp boric acid to 1 can of potted meat. It took 4 cans for my huge mound. It's slow acting, so you won't see results for maybe a couple weeks. If you put too much boric acid, they won't take it. I just sort of flung spoonfuls near the mound. I put more out as they took the previous amounts down. Keep the items on hand for future invasions. ❤
Mrs.Patriot, I've read somewhere that Borax mixed in the peanut butter works. Hopefully this helps (cheaper than meat at least) All the best for you ❤😊
@@mariap.894 I tried peanut butter and they didn't take it. I have some Borax too, but it's not as fine a powder as the boric acid I have so it doesn't mix in as well. Boric acid is what the county extension (or some other entity that does research) suggests, and they recommend a 1% ratio of boric acid to the bait so the ants won't taste it. My ant mound was over a foot tall and it took about 2 weeks and they were completely gone.
@@johnlord8337 They have several entries and they tunnel also. That only kills the ones that get stuck, and they might move. Thanks but I"ll stick with what worked for me.
Oh yeah, ants are a major player in my garden beds; almost totally destroyed the wood boxes and getting rid of them has proven fruitless. (LOL) Yesterday I dug up my potato bed and found zero earthworms and way too many ants. So sad. I wouldn’t want an anteater for a backyard pet, but temporarily would be fantastic! New business idea? Have anteater, will travel?
I use sugar.....feed them sugar, one to two weeks. They all die including their colonies. Cheaper and easier than all those other so-called remedies. this is old-fashioned, country solution to ants. Quit wasting time, don't "get rid "of them. love 'em to death.
@@mayen.perez.1011 My answer to you vanished....well, here it is again. It is white sugar, as it has no food value. They eat it cause they love it and you put it right into and all around the nest.....I use a cup as I have huge nests in the country. Don't worry, they'll be back, but it will take them years to get a foothold again......I mean they are ants after all.......and we love them.....elsewhere.
I have BIG black ants!!! I have tried EVERYTHING to get rid of them. Including commercial grade poison ( nowhere near my garden area). The Borax and sugar works great on the fire ants though. What makes it worse is that I’m quite allergic to ant bites 😞
Central Texas here, and I’ve had red ants but they haven’t actually done any harm so I leave them alone. On the other hand the fire ants have been awful! It’s the first time I’ve seen ants cause damage to my garden plants and it’s produce! Specifically the okra, if all things! 🤦🏼♀️ I can’t use just anything to get rid of fire ants so it’s fire ant killer products or nothing. I sprinkle the powder around the base of the okra plant and the mound if I can find it. It’s very difficult to get rid of fire ants tho. 🙁 I don’t want them in the yard or the garden!
I wish diatomaceous earth killed fire ants, sadly it only kills the few that come in contact with it, not the queen of the colony. So she just keeps laying eggs for more ants.
spray tanglefoot around fire ant holes and mounds. It takes down all of the wandering female scout ants - and you decimate the ant population with no food coming in. The queen might lay more eggs - but continued tanglefoot (the goo on flypaper) will eventually depopulate and starve out the nest.
I'm in central Alabama. Ive been using spent coffee grains on the ant hills. In last few years number of hill reduced by at least 90%. Usually it takes just one application, sometimes a few.
I live in North Central Alabama. I will certainly try this❤
I used to use the borax mix but was concerned about animals with a sweet tooth getting into the ‘soap’ part and making the animal sick. I am now using cinnamon and/or diatomaceous earth which is working great. Thank you Brian for another informative video!
Ants are a real problem here in N. Florida. Thanks for the ideas that are natural.
I have used the borax/sugar traps for years and it really works but don't get the Borax on your soil. Plants don't like it much and it takes quite a while to break it down
I’m in zone 8A in Alabama. We have fire ants EVERYWHERE. I had a raised bed of corn (block corn) and this was my 2nd planting. The first crop was great! The second crop was nothing. I’d amended the bed between plantings. When I finally pulled it out, I realized the entire bed was completely infested with ants. Never saw any sign above the soil. And, the ants are everywhere in my yard. I treat the bed with Amdro or another granular treatment. But I don’t want to use it in my food beds. Long story short, I have a terrible problem with ants. (The more rain, the more ants.)
I posted about fire ants...they eat meat, not sugar. Use 1/4 tsp boric acid powder with one can of potted meat, continue as needed. It's slow acting so it takes a week or two but it works.
Same here in Florida but lucky for me no fire ants. I've read somewhere that for them you could try doing the sane thing with Borax, as Brian is sharing but instead of sugar you'll HAVE to use peanut butter. This is because fire ants are a category of their own. Hope this helps and best of luck to you❤😊
Spray Tanglefoot onto the ant hole and a good 6 inch radius around the hole. Stick them like flies on fly paper.
Blessings 💕🤗
I’m in south East Texas. I live in the ANT ZONE. I always kill ants with baking soda. My compost was infested with more than one queen, and had tomatoes infested… not to mention the two ant hill/hole I stepped in near my beans and citrus trees. I tried so many this and that “really works” remedies that don’t work. Get a LARGE box of cheap baking soda. Dump over the ant hill, stand back and give it a good stir with a shovel. Put the shovel down quickly before they climb up it. Bye bye ants! 🎉 They can’t handle the sodium, and can’t escape it. If it’s deep, when you water or it rains the baking soda water will go down the holes. I’ve never had to do it more than twice.
Yes, I’ve had an issue with ants in my garden and in the lawn. However, I have used baby powder to combat them. That seems to do the trick. I know some people are concerned because of the cancer issue out there. But I’m not worried about it because I’m outside and I’m putting it on their ant hill. I’ve also use cornstarch in the past, but I don’t find that is effective as the baby powder.
Another great thumbnail. I love the humour. I've been studying thumbnails this morning and your strawberry shoots, this one, cougar in the... and the "love at first sight" ones are def my favourite of all the ones I am considering as muses.
Thank you so much for this! Great tips, especially the homemade ant traps and cinnamon. We don't have K-cups, but I can now see a use for all those little take-out sauce containers that seem to pile up endlessly in our kitchen.
Thanks! I had tons of ants crawling all over my flowers. Someone suggested to look for aphids in the FB group. And sure enough, I had an infestation. Once I sprayed off the aphids, the best could, the ant problem decreased. I also pruned invested leaves and put them in a sealable plastic bag and threw it away. Lesson learned!
All ants are not bad so I just wanted to advice u to identify the type u have 😊
I have a serious ant problem in my garden and yard. They seem 't to be attracted to sunflowers and plants that have grown for awhile but I haven't seen any aphids on my garden plants. I have tried the bait traps but the ants return once the bait is gone. I will try the borax solution. I do get birds but they don't bother my vegetables, cherries, blueberries or strawberries. Thanks for sharing your videos.
Living in SC, I have fire ants in my raised beds and containers. I have use both of what use mentioned. I have also used organic orange oil.
I'm in 6 B(?) & had a problem with the larger Red Ants in the back of my veggie garden; they seemed to be going across to the opposite side to gather something from where the pumpkins were- they were VERY aggressive, coming "after/towards" me even when I would spray them with the hose ! I never saw them in the garden bed with the other veggies, but even if I walked in the back of the garden (gravel "walkway"), they would come up & after me in DROVES !! Don't know where they came from (never had the larger red ones in the yard before), but they seemed to have disappeared as fast as they showed up. I contacted an exterminator, but because they were so close to the veggies, we decided NOT to do anything. Thanks for the info, will try one of them next year !
I'm in GA, just a few miles south of ATL. We have TONS upon TONS of fire ants and another kind similar to them. For common ants in the garden, I have used corn meal with great success. But it's not working well on fire ants at all. However, liquid Terro is! (It's basically sugar and borax.) Gonna try the little homemade Kcup traps! Thanks so much!
Try Tanglefoot sprayed onto and around the hole. All ants stuck in the goo
Awesome information! Thanks
I did the borax method some years ago, we had an inside infestation. In the end I had to pay to have a pest control fix it. That worked 100%, no more flying ants. Expensive but effective.
I've had great success with the borax & sugar (powdered sugar) method especially with the large black ants. I also use DE around in my bed for the smaller ants.
Olive oil. I use olive oil on the poles that hold my hummingbird feeders for 15 years. I dab a paper towel in a little olive oil (enough to saturate a portion of the paper towel and to create a shiny glean on a small section of the post near the bottom. It works for about 2 weeks during mild spring and summer days, 1 week during hot summer days. With respect to rain, it does need to be re-applied after heavy rain. I put it around the stem of my tomato, cucumber, melon, squash plants and certain flowers. It has to be reapplied more frequently when used like this on plants. You can easily prove to yourself that this works by the way ants literally run away from it. Hope this helps someone with ants getting into their hummingbird feeders and spoiling the hummingbird food by dying insider the feeders or with certain of their garden plants.
Good information. We’ll try it today.
There is a massive colony in my back yard and another in the front. I've tried dawn dish soap but it only lasts a short time. This borax idea is certainly worth a try. Thank you.
I like the K cup method. I've been using Borax mix for quite some time, (But I do even parts Borax and sugar to make a paste. Guess I should try to cut back a little on the borax), but never thought of that. I'll have to get some from my son. (I don't use a Keurig).
I love your channel, and even though I don't live in a long summer area, I have learned a wealth of helpful information from your videos. Since you have a lot of experience, perhaps you have a solution for my ant problem. I live in PA. My soil is heavy clay so I don't have fire ants, and I haven't had a problem with ants in general in the beds. Several years ago I put down weed fabric between my garden beds and covered it with two inches of wood chips so I would have a comfy walkway between the beds with no weeds. My problem is with ant colonies under the weed fabric. I recently pulled up some of the weed fabric because I'm rearranging my beds, and the pathways are riddled with large black biting ants and small black ants as well. Each time I try to remove some of the weed fabric, I am attacked by the ants. How can I kill them now so I can rearrange my beds, and what can I do to prevent them from building colonies under my new paths? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you Brian. 🍁🍂🍁💚🙃
Good tips, thank you. Here is what has been successful for me: I’ve used the Borax mix, more liquid consistency on cotton balls inside my house (squeezed some of liquid out so they are not runny, and poured corn starch on/where the ants seem to be gathering .
Dried laurel 🍃. Like it's used in storing and preserving good. It prevents insects, & rotants away.
I've mixed equal parts of baking soda and icing sugar, then placed it in little piles next to holes in the ground that ants appear from. It's been very successful with very small ants but it only works for awhile with the very large ant nests.
Living in zone 9b (south fl) e have just as many smuts as we do sand. It is terrible. I went use a toxic chemical bc that was the whole point of creating this garden. Hopefully this works. The ants have really taken over my dragon fruit and pepper plant. Now they’re on my strawberries. I’ll have to check for aphids. Thanks for the video.
Ants! They live in colonies all over my back yard, hillside, raised beds, planting pots, and they invade my gardens regularly. Ive done all of these things you suggested and the commercial bait enclosed in metal stakes works best. This season my citrus trees are covered in scale! I had a pest service come in and learned that the pest service people have NO IDEA how to apply all their chemical nonsense in a food garden. The guy sprayed his “absolutely safe, completely natural” stuff on/near my garden beds (after I told him specifically not to) and it heavily damaged the plants. So I use commercial ant bait stakes from the garden center. They seem to have some effectiveness, its the best Ive found so far, but its not a sure fire solution. Id love to have a refillable bait for those stakes, as they have such a tiny amount of viable product. But with two very curious schnauzer mix dogs, I have to be very careful about what is out in my yard and what they have access to.
I use the small spice jars that have the larger holes for herbs in the tight plastic sprinkle lids. The borax and sugar mix with a small piece of cracker added has successfully rid the beds and pots of small ants. No fire ant here luckily.
These are some good tips! I had trouble with my mammoth sunflower. The ants would eat and lay eggs on the leaves, causing the leaves to die. Then, as an effort to remove them, sprayed soapy water on the leaves. It didn't work unfortunately, it only made them stronger. It got to the point to where I would spray the leaves with the soapy water, they would fall off, and then 2 seconds later start coming right back up the stem. I also forgot to mention how the ants bite, so any time one fell off onto me, they would bite me. It wasn't just a small pinch either, it felt like somebody accidentally stabing me with jagged nails, just not quite enough to draw blood.
So what did you do to get rid of them?
hi there i do have ants in my garden but im not sure what i can do that is safe for the veggies and gets rid of the ants
For ant hills, I squirt dish soap into a bucket and fill with water. I pour this directly into the mound and all around where I see ants trying to escape. Works every time.
good info with the borax and sugar Thanks
One plead to ALL my fellow gardeners. 🙏
Please do not use Ceylon Cinnamon for the garden, the tree is going through over harvesting which it'll make prices go up and scarce it in the future (leave it for consumption).
Use sugar rather than honey for your ant traps, it works better. This way we help the bees also🐝
Thank you for your help and bountiful harvest for all😊❤
How do you know if it’s Ceylon cinnamon? Will it specifically say that’s what it is?
How is not using honey helping bees?
@@MichaelRei99You'll know it's Ceylon cinnamon by the price - it's higher. Just use crappy regular cinnamon from Sam's Club or another bulk- type store.
@@MichaelRei99 Because bees are declining worldwide, so if we leave the bees and cinnamon for human consumption, I believe WE all in this generation at least, could afford and enjoy the benefits. This in my own research and believe, you can do your own. 💜❤️💚🧡🌻🦋🐝
@@MichaelRei99 usually if it is Ceylon Cinnamon it should say on the package. Ceylon Cinnamon is usually crumbly and soft. The "other" Cinnamon is hard. That's the best I can describe it🌻
The greens in your BG are very pretty ^_^
Hello I have so many red ant hills in my yard. It’s very open and clean with no plants except for right by the front! I’ve applied several rounds of red ant killer and I’ve seen it subside and then come back stronger!
I've got a big ant colony on one side of my house. I've tried the DE but it didn't help much. Maybe I just need to dump the whole bag out there LOL. Or reapply after rain..... thanks for all the tips!
Thank you for the great advice! I like the k cup idea. My question is what if a bird or something eats the ants with the borax injested. I have big ref headed woodpeckers that usually gind them snd eat them
I had 8 beautiful cacti which I regularly pruned for nopales. The mealy bugs got in with the ants establishing a symbiotic relationship with them. I tried to take them down with soap but couldn't keep up. I lost all the plants.
I like the tip about "confusers". By citrus, are you saying a few drops of lemon or lime juice?
From the San Antonio Water System, use 1 gallon water, 6 T BLUE Dawn, 3 T Orange Oil. Mix and pour on the Fire Ant mound. This works well to get rid of ants in areas that produce food. I HATE these ants! You have no idea the harm they can do to you before you're aware you're in their territory...which by the way, is MY garden.
Hi, I sure could use some advice to control rolly Polly bugs!
Does Borax trick works on fireants ?
Food grade diametric earth is what I used to kill ants.They were coming from under the fence next to my fence neighbors yard. First, I attacked the trail of ants by spraying them with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water (more alcohol and less water). They died immediately. When the ground dried, I sprinkled diametric earth along the fence line. The following day, I sprinkled another layer of DE along the fence line. It’s been over a month now and no more ants. I think it also helped that I caught the ants early.
We've had a lot of ants over the last few summers as it is has been hot and dry. The ants don't seem to do much damage to the plants but the blackbirds and pigeons dig up the plants to get to the ants so I would love to get rid of them
I literally watched this and stepped outside my door to a trail of fire ants trying to make their way inside.
I'd love to try some of these methods, but my main ant problem is them crawling all over my ripe raspberries, and I'm not sure how well it would work for a hundred square foot bed. Most of the time, I wind up picking the fruit, putting them in a vented container like an re-used strawberry snap-shut quart, and letting the ants crawl out.
This was amazing info. We’ve been buying Terro, but borax, sugar and honey is, I’m sure, much cheaper and FINALLY a way to use all those empty Kcups! Do you have any suggestions for getting rid of moles and ground squirrels?
Thanks!. For moles.. traps and for squirrels I use the squirellinator with dog food as bait
I've used the Terro bait once in a while also, (when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to make a mix myself - LOL), but Borax is the main ingredient in Terro bait traps.
@@NextLevelGardeningwhat do you do with the squirrels after you trap them? Feed them to the chickens?😂
@@NextLevelGardening Problem is we have both ground squirrels and gray squirrels. Gray squirrels don’t do the damage ground squirrels do. We have to replace our asphalt driveway because of squirrel tunnels under it. The worst gray squirrels I do is dig up a few just-planted plants. We can live with that. Plus we live in the middle of the woods and we never had problems with moles or ground squirrels until a forest fire nearby caused them to migrate to “our neck of the woods.”
Moles & voles treat yard with milky spore. They’re eating the jap beetle grubs.
What is dish soap; washing up liquid/detergent? Will organic plant based stuff work or does it have to be regular one with chemicals?
Have ants storing blackfly & have taken over sweetcorn.. we got some 50-odd ladybug larvae in to help shift the blackfly but not much difference now than what it was 5 days-a week ago, when the larvae should be devouring the blackfly by now.. next method i want to try is the dishsoap bcos am ready to use what we have available. I'm'n'a do some research & might try some essential oils next, trying not to kill anything except the blackfly!
I noticed a few years ago that if I left a cup of my coffee made with my homemade hazelnut syrup in my car cup holder for very long, the ants would invade it. So, I tried mixing the syrup with Borax in a cup in my car and after a massive invasion, the ants were gone. The syrup is made with raw turbinado sugar and flavored extracts.
We will be trying all of these. Fire ants are so tough to get rid of. Texas hill country 8b. Already tried boiling water, diatomaceous earth, and orange oil. None worked.
I’m in Texas zone 9a and it rains a lot here and we have what’s called leaf cutter ants (in addition to the famous fire ants). Those leaf cutters do exactly what it sounds like: cut leaves. They have completely defoliated an entire bed of my plants in the summer overnight! I woke up one morning and all my beautiful pepper plants were sticks. I about died. 😢 It took months for them to recover AND some didn’t recover at all and just died. I was certain it was deer or bunnies. The ants moved their way through my garden beds each night until one night I was outside with a flashlight and happened to see them in a long trail carrying off my leaves back to their hill. I sprinkled ant killer granules all along their trail all the way to the hill and sprinkled it inside too. Within an hour they were all dead and never came back. Now that far from solved my problem because there are new hills that pop up every week or two and I play defense constantly. I have to be very vigilant in order to have my peace and quiet and keep my garden alive! We have Yaupon holly bushes here that get quite large and I saw one of the ant hills right next to the bush get completely defoliated in a week or so and it looked like a bare deciduous tree in the winter. Those bushes are evergreen and don’t lose their leaves so wow. I’ve never seen something like this until I moved out to the forest! It’s wild. Literally. ☺️My solution isn’t exactly organic but it’s effective considering my extreme situation. I didn’t feel I had a choice. Luckily the granules active ingredient dissipates in a short period of time and though that’s not the best option it was the most effective one and saved my garden. I may try the k cup borax method though because it seems much more natural. I hope it works! Great video!
Does this borax solution work on sugar ants that get into the house and can it be used with pets around?
I'm in NW Georgia and ants are my main problem in the garden even without aphids. I've tried boric acid and sugar with good success except with fire ants. I've tried that and cinnamon on fire ants and it just doesn't seem to work. The fire ants either aren't attracted to the sugar or know not to eat it. I've seen a couple of videos say that orange oil and blue dawn dish soap work. I'm going to give that a try.
ua-cam.com/video/6iesyVYxvLw/v-deo.html
Our local (passed) radio gardening host SanFran KSFO Sunday morning Bob Tannem in the Garden show - made his own rats/mice/gophers/moles bait. Peanut butter, oatmeal, and plaster of paris. Roll into little pea- or bean-sized bait balls. Place in the holes or tunnels of the critters. Critters eat the peanut butter, while the oatmeal sucks of the stomach juices and waters, and the wet oatmeal cures the plaster of paris, finishing the job - and the critter expires in their hole. No poisons, no chemicals - and the critter not in the hole is consumed by other critters, that won't cause them to die off from the intestine plaster cast. The same could be applied for ants (and borax) that they will take back to the ant nest - and everybody including the queen - get a final meal. Drop some little balls "0" at each ant hole and nest.
I've been using dish soap spray on my sea lavender which has scale and ants. Definitely not a one and done job, but it seems to be decreasing the problem.
I've noticed ants on my okra. The one's all over the ground in the garden always seem to find me. I'm going to try some of these.
Ant trails - are ants making poop and hormone spots as a trail. Using Tanglefoot and finding the ant hole - spray this in a "O" around the hole - and the ants will be stuck - as Tanglefoot is the same flypaper goo sticking flies. Spraying or painting Tanglefoot on the first foot height of your fruit/nut trees trunk will stop all kinds of critters crawling up into the trees.
New subscriber here 😊
The aphids we get are the invasive, non native kind. They love my milkweed. If I do the soap/water method, will it harm my caterpillars that eat the milkweed? Also if Demetrius earth is scattered around the base of my plants, will it also harm my caterpillars that come down fron the plant to find a spot for metamorpphosis or the soft skinned lizards that frequent the garden? Thanx in advance!
Bachac by the millions
Will diatamaceous earth (sp?) harm/kill beneficial insects like lady bugs? Does it work on Japanese beetles?
I live in B.C. Canada. I find the ants help my aphid problem. I plant plants to attract ants. I have lots of praying mantis too. I love wasps also. Mice suck.
I had a bell pepper this season with ~60 ants inside of it. They had made a hole and were tunneling inside the walls of the pepper.
We have an issue with ants getting into our continuous flow worm bins. We have tried just about everything we can think of to naturally get rid of them without harming our worms but nothing is working. We have taken precautions and made some design alterations to prevent future ant infestations but we are still fighting the ones in the bins. The main mound has been removed and we are hoping we got the queen at least.
We are dealing with little black ants, in a wet climate, you can stop the ants for a while with a barrier of DE, but they make nest between the leaves in a tree, you never get them out. None of this methods work. Any better ideas?
How do I make my garden less attractive to my aunt's?
I have fire ants, which are very hard to get rid of. I tried several organic methods but still fighting them. They are tough little insects & seem to just move their colony. I will try k-cups. I live in Arkansas, which is humid & hot. These ants are aggressive, and their bites hurt. They eat everything, including okra.
spray tanglefoot on and around their hole - and stick them like flies on flypaper.
I'll try the borax method for the ants that have built their home in one of my raised beds.
On a more humorus note perhaps... I have 2 fairly large spiders that have for whatever reason, each made a home for themselves on 2 of my cucumber vines... Those cucumber vines are the 2 vines in my whole garden, that are largest and producing most cucumbers... I decided to leave those 2 spiders be, just to see what they would do, since I don't think they eat either the vine or, cucumbers. They do seem to eat everything else that dares land on "their" vines though... 😳😁
I’ve used DE but every time I felt like it rained the same or next day so they’d be back
I just moved my starts into my garden and the ants are everywhere, I'm a beginner and this is my first time, I've found holes in the dirt. I don't know what to do, that's why I am watching this.
Dawn detergent in a spray bottle
Can I put DE in my raised bed? My ants are in the ground.
Yes
You forgot to include a link to your referenced video
It was good thorough video but I don't understand why the ants are problem. What kind of damage do they do?
Depends on the type of ant. The ones that mainly eat sugar carry aphids to your plants to milk them for honeydew secretions. Aphids produce rapidly and can take over a crop overnight. Even after getting rid them, takes a long time for plants to recover..IF they recover.
The ones that are less attracted to sugar make tunnels in your soil and dry out the roots. They also bite and burrow into your plants to turn them into tunnels.
And then some ants just eat the food or the leaves.
❤ If you have fire ants, they eat meat, not sugar. I had a huge fire ant mound and got rid of it with 1/4 tsp boric acid to 1 can of potted meat. It took 4 cans for my huge mound. It's slow acting, so you won't see results for maybe a couple weeks. If you put too much boric acid, they won't take it. I just sort of flung spoonfuls near the mound. I put more out as they took the previous amounts down. Keep the items on hand for future invasions. ❤
Mrs.Patriot, I've read somewhere that Borax mixed in the peanut butter works. Hopefully this helps (cheaper than meat at least) All the best for you ❤😊
spray tanglefoot around the perimeter of the ant mound - and they will get stuck.
@@mariap.894 I tried peanut butter and they didn't take it. I have some Borax too, but it's not as fine a powder as the boric acid I have so it doesn't mix in as well. Boric acid is what the county extension (or some other entity that does research) suggests, and they recommend a 1% ratio of boric acid to the bait so the ants won't taste it. My ant mound was over a foot tall and it took about 2 weeks and they were completely gone.
@@johnlord8337 They have several entries and they tunnel also. That only kills the ones that get stuck, and they might move. Thanks but I"ll stick with what worked for me.
Ant. Bites. And. Kill. Plant
Borax works on cock roaches, too. Have had good luck with cinnamon also
Yes please, I have several different types of ants. They are all over the yard!!
Thy have built in 2 of my buckets
Good morning. I hope you had a great day for your birthday yesterdays.
I’m in Oklahoma and have a terrible problem with ants and have tried everything natural and nothing has worked
I’ve tried ant baits but they keep coming back. I’ll try the soapy water. And cinnamon
Borax didn't work for me.
Rats is a problem dovyou have them there? Traps don't work anymore...help
read my comment on Bob Tannem's natural rait bait - easy, inexpensive, and it works.
I’m in Texas and the ants are horrible and have been the worst this year. DE works but it seems they just move to another spot.
Sorry but I can understand the name of the 'netting'?
Oh yeah, ants are a major player in my garden beds; almost totally destroyed the wood boxes and getting rid of them has proven fruitless. (LOL) Yesterday I dug up my potato bed and found zero earthworms and way too many ants. So sad. I wouldn’t want an anteater for a backyard pet, but temporarily would be fantastic! New business idea? Have anteater, will travel?
You said to keep an eye out for ant mounds, or unusual concentrations of ants, but you didn’t explain what to do if that is your problem.
I have ants all over my property but I’ve never had them destroy anything in my garden.
Fire ants will, I have never seen regular ants.
I use sugar.....feed them sugar, one to two weeks. They all die including their colonies. Cheaper and easier than all those other so-called remedies. this is old-fashioned, country solution to ants. Quit wasting time, don't "get rid "of them. love 'em to death.
hi, is it white sugar or brown sugar?
@@mayen.perez.1011 My answer to you vanished....well, here it is again. It is white sugar, as it has no food value. They eat it cause they love it and you put it right into and all around the nest.....I use a cup as I have huge nests in the country. Don't worry, they'll be back, but it will take them years to get a foothold again......I mean they are ants after all.......and we love them.....elsewhere.
I have BIG black ants!!! I have tried EVERYTHING to get rid of them. Including commercial grade poison ( nowhere near my garden area).
The Borax and sugar works great on the fire ants though.
What makes it worse is that I’m quite allergic to ant bites 😞
Spray Tanglefoot around their hole and they will get stuck. Problem solved.
Central Texas here, and I’ve had red ants but they haven’t actually done any harm so I leave them alone. On the other hand the fire ants have been awful! It’s the first time I’ve seen ants cause damage to my garden plants and it’s produce! Specifically the okra, if all things! 🤦🏼♀️ I can’t use just anything to get rid of fire ants so it’s fire ant killer products or nothing. I sprinkle the powder around the base of the okra plant and the mound if I can find it. It’s very difficult to get rid of fire ants tho. 🙁 I don’t want them in the yard or the garden!
One season I planted okra and the ants coveted those plants! Never again. Plus, from a distance the leaves resemble marijuana.
@@creatinghanley 😂
i love watching people pour molten hot Aluminum metal down inside ant mounds
I wish diatomaceous earth killed fire ants, sadly it only kills the few that come in contact with it, not the queen of the colony. So she just keeps laying eggs for more ants.
spray tanglefoot around fire ant holes and mounds. It takes down all of the wandering female scout ants - and you decimate the ant population with no food coming in. The queen might lay more eggs - but continued tanglefoot (the goo on flypaper) will eventually depopulate and starve out the nest.
So Advice is cinnamon and diathomateous dust. Ok none of which i would use. // pepermint and vinegar mix. spray, // borax is the best imo.
Ants ants ants! Nothing really works
With diatomaceous earth you're also gettjng rid of beneficial insects like lady bugs.....every creature that has an outer chitin shell........😕
I use cinnamon to chase off fire ants.
My ants like wood... wood chips, trees, lumber... etc.
For the first time this morning I went out and in my green stalk was huge grass hopppers. WHat?????????????? Munching away
Eucalyptus results were ehhhh
Cream of wheat, Terro’s and spraying them with water not really effective
Same my ant starts harvesting freaking aphids everybody got to go and GTFO out of here