Need Advice on Ant Beds in Our Yard

Hi C.,

I have gotten rid of several fire ant beds over the years using a combination of citrus oil, water and agricultural molasses. You can find the citrus oil and agricultural molasses at a feed/farm store or even Lowes, Calloways or Home Depot might have them now as organic gardening and pest management are becoming more mainstream.

This mixture or drench is very child friendly, but keep the bottles of oil and molasses away from children. The recipe and other information can be found at the link below.

It is possible that some of the ants will survive the first drench and will move the mound. Keep a watch out for new activity somewhere else in the yard and repeat the drench program until they have moved on.

http://www.nopesticides.org/alternatives-insects/fire-ant...

Good for you for thinking "green"!

N.

1 mom found this helpful

C.,
I am originally from the Houston area and fireants were always a huge problem for us. We used hot water mixed with beer and joy (liquid dish soap). Combine everything in one bottle. Whatever you do DON'T shake it! Just stir in with the end of a spoon. Gently poor it over the top of the bed and stand back. Your grass will not burn and it won't affect the children.

Dene'

Melaleuca contains orange oil. Which most bugs hate; even spiders. GooGone does too. I use these if I'm out of orange oil.
I spray 1 part orange oil to 3 parts water mixture on ant mounds when I find them in the yard and the ants usually move out by the next day. You can buy a large bottle of orange oil at HomeDepot or Lowes in their organic gardening; or cleaning supplies area for about $15. One bottle will last you quite a while (probably longer than Melaleuca and GooGone).
I also lightly spray the baseboards in my home with the same mixture to deter spiders and other creepy crawlies. An application lasts about 3 months.
RPocai

Sprinkle Malt-O-Meal (cereal) on and around the beds. It works.

Hi C.-

I went to Lowe's or can go to Home Depot. There is stuff you can use a broadcaster to spead not expensive $15.00. It will definately help.

Try Diotematious Earth (sp?) It's totally chemical free and works great, but not wet. It has to be dry. It works by destroying the exo-skeleton of the ant. Also, you can get a lot of good organic tips on Howard Garrett's website:

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/

My husband uses Over and Out in our yard for ants and it works very well. You can get it like at Home Depot or Lowes.

Hi C.,

Try pouring boiling water on the ant beds or feed them grits. That worked for us when our children were little.

Try corn meal. I used that on my ant problem and they have yet to come back and it's been 6 weeks. Hope this helps you.

A.

I would look into a pest control service. They come spray every 2 months and claim that the spray isn't harmful to children or pets. We used Value Pest Control. They spray inside and out. Their number is ###-###-####. Tell them Tim Gray referred you. We had little ants in our house and a mound outside. The ants died in 24 hours inside.

Cornmeal!! It has the same effect that cream of wheat has.

I know a company that has very kid friendly products and you can use them on ants also!!!! I can get you set up and see if it helps with your problem and you will be surprised how many other products can help you and your family!!!! Send me a message and I can give you all of the info!!!

~C.

I don't know about the beds, but Absorbine Jr. works really well on the bites. I learned that from my 96 year old grampa.