In order to control ants you HAVE to know what SPECIES of ant it is in order to control it. I have been in the pest contgrol industry for 30 years and ants are becoming the number #1 pest in Texas. If people in Texas want to know what they are dealing with you can drop off you specimes in alcohol at The Pest Shop, 2231-B west 15th. Plano, Texas 75075. or go to my webstite at www.pestshop.com. I have had the most success with a liquid sweet ant station that contain boric acid. 90% of the time it works on 85% of the ant species in Texas.

If 85% of the ants in Texas die with sweetened boric acid, then we don't need to know the species for those. 85% of the time I can put out a mix of sugar and boric acid and get good results. For the rest I can probably put out corn meal or chicken skin dusted with boric acid. Do you have better suggestions for the non-sweet-eating ants?

Will the sweetened boric acid harm trees. I have a large tree with lots of ants around the truck.

I would not use boric acid on the soil. Although boron is a trace element needed for plant health, it is easy to get too much and effectively sterilize the soil.

I do have another concoction that worked great for me back in the 70s. Mix equal parts (1/2 cup) of sugar and molasses with a teaspoon of bread yeast. Dab that goo onto pieces of cardboard and place the cardboard out in the ant tracks. If they are sweet ants, they will eventually find it. When they do they eat the stuff and take it back to the nest. I'm not sure what magic happens but you will see fewer and fewer ants coming until they stop coming altogether. I have a feeling the yeast in the nest disturbs the delicate balance of their food storage and is essentially spoils.

I am running some experiments on fire ants this spring using instant grits. I've read about grits working, and I reported a bit on them on the blog I started in the member blog area, but I'll report here as well. From my understanding it is the INSTANT variety that is most effective (and probably has the least nutrition for humans, anyway, so they're better left to the ants!)

The results are mixed. When a new bed appears I have sprinkled the contents of a packet around the perimeter of the bed (I found the pre-measured instant grits first, but since then I've found a bulk box of Quaker instant grits at Kroger, and will use about 1/4 cup per bed). I've knocked out new beds with a couple of applications, a couple of days apart, but I have (I think) only managed to annoy and/or move ants on a couple of other older and more established mounds (thus deeper beds, one presumes).

The dogs have licked up the corn off of the concrete when the ant mounds were next to pavement. Better they lick up grits than Amdro or something like that. They're idiots--I think they must get a few ants at the same time.

Sounds like a science fair experiment.

Yup! And grits are cheap.

Whether I end up killing ants or simply spreading some corn around and fertilizing spots on the yard, it looks like a win/win situation.

I'm curious about the relative efficacy, so after a little while I'll switch over to "regular" grits.

If the grits work, the reason (I suspect) is that the plentiful supply of corn somehow disturbs the normal food supply stored in the ants mound. Perhaps the Trichoderma fungus that decomposes the fungi that decompose corn will also decompose other food supply fungi in the ant hill.

I've had about a 6 foot long fire ant bed in my front yard for years now. Ive tried many of the organic treatments and have miniaml positive results. Last week I bought a $1.24 cannister of quaker 5 minute quick grits and sprinkled it around each of the mounds. Yesterday I went around stomping on the treated mounds. None of those mounds are active any more. I would say the quick grits are a hit around my house and its cheap.

That's great news! I kind of slacked off treating ants when we had heavy rain and then with my other tasks keeping me busy. I'll go hit a few new ones and see if it takes them out and report back. I had better luck on new mounds rather than the deep established ones. Did you use the grits quite heavily?

Not really. A tablespoon or so for smaller mounds and then half a handful for the six footer I had in the front yard. I cannister took care of about 20 mounds or so.

HI
I AM NEWLY HERE.


THANKS

I used boric acid on the ants on my farm and it worked miracles for exterminating ants. Depending on what city you live down here in Texas, you can find some get info on ant control. Texas Ant Control

Visit http://eliminateem.com/pest-control-services/ to find various kinds of ants and other pests.