Ant Control?

Does anyone have a good, preferably organis and non-toxic way to get rid of ants?

Aphids can be a problem in this area and there are a lot of ants where I am planning to grow. Don't want the little buggers farming aphids on my plants.

I've never seen ants harming a ganja grow, except once, when there was an ant nest inside a container, under the roots.

Also, usually in the ant/aphids equation, the aphids are supposed to be there before the ants, not the other way round.

hth


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Herbasaurus said:

Does anyone have a good, preferably organis and non-toxic way to get rid of ants?

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Dig the nest out and put it under a bush

lol jk..


I heard citrus peels or extracts will deter them.. Iunno how true it is.

ants love sugar, like most insects. honey traps work wonders. put a bit at the bottom of a halfed pop bottle and place around or on the "ant track" they always follow. they'll get in, get stuck and die. but as noted above, aside from esthetic purposes, ants do no harm and wont realy attract bad bugs either. good luck ,d

1 really must disagree..fireants will naw a stalk from outside to the center and kill it..7 dust is really the only way to go here apply it and water it in.. wont hurt nothing, long as it 2 wks before harvest...idk about other ants but fireants are badass little things lol

Thanks guys,

Thankfully they aren't fire ants.

Will go with live and let live for now at least.

hanuman said:

I've never seen White ants termite Sydney harming a ganja grow, except once, when there was an ant nest inside a container, under the roots.

Also, usually in the ant/aphids equation, the aphids are supposed to be there before the ants, not the other way round.

hth


h

Click to expand...

Hello,

Ants are a social insect that lives in colonies. Treatment plans should include killing the entire colony. Just spraying an ant with a typical ant spray, particularly a repellent spray will only kill a few at best.

I have had ants that farm up aphids on other plants near my cannabis. You can use Diatomaceous Earth (DE) you can get at any big box store like Home Depot for about $6 for 4 pounds. To people it feels soft, but to an ant it feels like busted up glass shards and the ants bleed to death. It is fairly inert and it is made up of little small seashells that lived in the oceans many millions of years ago. They actually mine it somewhere. I figure the lime seashells are fairly close to organic.

I had em last year in my smart pots. We got Terro outdoor liquid ant bait stakes. put one in each container and put them around the garden on the ground. it seemed to work

Borax (12 Mule Team, in laundry section) is a great natural ant killer. Use a bit of sugar mixed into the borax powder. The ants will take the borax/sugar back to their nest where it kills the whole colony.

Use any leftover borax in your dishwasher and washing machine, it works great.

I believe borax is the main ingredient in Terro brand ant killer.

Chickens are Hell on ants.

I'm thinking of letting my setting up some lights and letting my chickens go in the crawl space underneath the house - just to be sure.

Best termite control in the world.

If you don't want the noise of chickens, one possibility is "Silkies". It's related to the chicken, with an extra finger on each foot. And much smaller. And they don't squawk loud, which makes them not usable to growers in urban areas that don't allow chickens.

Silkies seem to have 2 feather styles - snowshoe with a beard, and "snow man" - feathers on the head like they went crazy with a Mohawk. They're fun to watch, QUIET, and they love to eat bugs.


One think though - chickens can be hard on pot plants too.

tobacco from smoked cigarette //from cigarette butt// keep around plants or house

OP's question was asked 8 years ago, but hey... Since this place serves as a records vault for all issues of gardening/cannabis concerns, and then some, what the hell, eh?

The Borax comment is a good one. It's effective. But Borax in concentration is also a weed killer. And we're talking about THE weed here, so using it in sufficient concentration to affect ants, might also kill the plant you're trying to save... unless the application of Borax is kept away from the weed.

An old folk-remedy for ants included grits (yes, the southern corn-based breakfast <or lunch, or dinner> food). I believe the instant grits are even preferred, but can't tell you why. Perhaps increased rate of expansion when consumed?

I haven't searched that issue in a long time, so any interested parties may wish to do so.

We had outrageous ant populations here this year, especially in the yard, and around the foundation of the house. When I saw several of them in the grow area and in my basement, it called for a 'nuclear solution.'

I don't often use pesticides of a serious nature, beyond organics, but I sprayed the insides of the dwellings involved, all around the walls, both interior and exterior walls (not in the inhabited areas, or the areas friendly critters like our pups hang out in), with ant medicine.

I also sprayed around the garden area outside, making sure not to spray where the plants in the raised beds, etc., would be in direct contact.

It put the hurt on them in a serious way, and there were no ant problems beyond those. I haven't had to resort to such measures but for about every 10-15 years. Seriously.

As uncool as it is to use such things for pests, when I get a serious ant infestation, the gloves come off. They'll eat the base framing, and more, right out of your home, if they're the right sort.

My old lady boils water and pours it on the nest.

I have heard that cinnamon works well