Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
OK if you can’t tell I am having an issue with ants. The last few years I had ants along one piece of grass in the groove where it meets up with the sidewalk. Never did anything because every time I edged, the ants would be gone until the following week when I cut it again. Now all of a sudden the ants have spread to the rest of my lawn. They are starting to piss me off and I have to do something about it. I want something that I can spray/spread but obviously do not want to kill the grass. What does the crew use to get rid of ants…..permanently!
I HATE ants.. Had a very large ant hill in my yard last year, I stuck a ground rod down and made the hole bigger, then I turned the hose on and probably put 100+ gallons of water down ther,e they never came back. You want to kill the queen then you can usually get rid of the hive.
Jimbo
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JimboS1ice wrote:
12 minutes ago, JimboS1ice said:I HATE ants.. Had a very large ant hill in my yard last year, I stuck a ground rod down and made the hole bigger, then I turned the hose on and probably put 100+ gallons of water down ther,e they never came back. You want to kill the queen then you can usually get rid of the hive.
Jimbo
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The only problem with that is that I live on a corner with a lot of grass. That is a great idea just not feasible for me.
DaveJr. wrote:
The only problem with that is that I live on a corner with a lot of grass. That is a great idea just not feasible for me.
You gotta find the hive
Jimbo
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JimboS1ice wrote:
Just now, JimboS1ice said:You gotta find the hive
Jimbo
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How big is the “entrance” of the hive usually?
Cinnamon! Ants hate cinnamon
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Look for dirt piles, that’s how I found mine, probably elevated 6 inches at the entrance but had multiple straw diameter holes throughout, part of its just luck finding it too, sometimes they live in trees as well, may take you a long time but just keep a keen eye out. Something that works well is called seven dust, out it on the ants, it’s a white powder and they will carry it back and start killing the hive off.
Jimbo
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Tons of piles none as big as 6 inches though.
DaveJr. wrote:
Tons of piles none as big as 6 inches though.
Just keep an eye out of them, takes some patience too
Jimbo
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Nothing you buy at the local place is gonna do much but Ortho Max is best imo, been there,done this several times. You gotta get a guy to come spray your entire yard front to back. It also depends on the kind of ants you have,a good bug guy should know what it will take for your area and have procedures to follow. Estimates at least around here are always free. Scope out a few places and give them a call to come out. the trick to getting rid of them is killing the queen
My good friends brother is an exterminator he charged us $50 or so. California has alot of regulations on how they are to properly apply sprays and such so i assume other states do too,you should look into that just for the knowledge. The stuff a bug guy has you wont be able to get easily because of permits(at least here in Cali).
Ortho Home Defense MAX works kinda good on ants,I usually use it for Black widows but it lists alot ofcritters on it. they normally have it at HD for like $8-$13 bucks can give that a try first. the gallon refills are cheaper I think,would work decent if you have a good sprayer just pour it into sprayer and moderately cover your yard,it shouldnt hurt the grass in anyway. let it dry before you let kids/pets and such around regardless of what you use.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ortho-Home-Defense-Max-1-33-gal-Insect-Killer-Refill-0193810/203686803
We have ants where I live as well. I’m no help though we just have a guy come spray each year and have no troubles.
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They don’t like cinnamon either, has a big guy tell me that to keep them out of the cabinets
Jimbo
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I use ortho max too, works well. If I have ant hills I use powdered ant killer, it works really well. We have a lot of ants here in FL, specifically fire ants.
I have had ants in my house every time this year for the last 3 years since I owned this house, I tried the “Home Defense” as much as I could and they still come back (small brown ants)
i don’t have much of a problem out side but I bit the bullet and called in an exterminator, due to the fact my wife and I couldn’t take it anymore, my wife was emptying out the utensil draw almost daily to wash them.
this guy came in and put about 6 drops of this “bait” around the kitchen countertop and cabinets and within minutes about 100 ants came out to take the bait back to the Queen and that was that. I was impressed. Haven’t seen an ant in weeks. Money well spent….
MikeyB wrote:
3 hours ago, MikeyB said:I have had ants in my house every time this year for the last 3 years since I owned this house, I tried the “Home Defense” as much as I could and they still come back (small brown ants)
i don’t have much of a problem out side but I bit the bullet and called in an exterminator, due to the fact my wife and I couldn’t take it anymore, my wife was emptying out the utensil draw almost daily to wash them.
this guy came in and put about 6 drops of this “bait” around the kitchen countertop and cabinets and within minutes about 100 ants came out to take the bait back to the Queen and that was that. I was impressed. Haven’t seen an ant in weeks. Money well spent….
The home defense stuff is perfect to use now, it creates a barrier that keeps bugs out. The food-type poison is what you need to kill ants when they’ve set up, the home defense is what you use to keep them from coming back.
I got some stuff from our local co-op that works wonders!!!! I don’t know what it’s called but it smells like rotten eggs. Sprinkle a little bit over the mound and in 24 hrs the whole mound is DEAD!!!!!
Rewind wrote:
I got some stuff from our local co-op that works wonders!!!! I don’t know what it’s called but it smells like rotten eggs. Sprinkle a little bit over the mound and in 24 hrs the whole mound is DEAD!!!!!
You’re just like dewalt you going to tell us what it is or we have to wait for a release date on that info lol
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BMack37 wrote:
16 hours ago, BMack37 said:I use ortho max too, works well. If I have ant hills I use powdered ant killer, it works really well. We have a lot of ants here in FL, specifically fire ants.
Like Bmack said …. Lots of ants in Florida and they are Bad Ass !!!!
i have used Borax detergent in the past they really don’t like it ……
KnarlyCarl wrote:
54 minutes ago, KnarlyCarl said:
You’re just like dewalt you going to tell us what it is or we have to wait for a release date on that info lol
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I’ll take a look when I get home this evening and let y’all know.
Borax based stuff works but the problem is it isnt fast acting and to really knock them down you wanna nuke em good to begin with.
Borax basically puts holes in the critters carapace and they die from disease and what not.
That’s pretty cool to see. Not sure I would have guessed what that was if I had just seen the finished casting.
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Yep remember seeing that, nature’s very own casting! From what I read, it’s an abandoned nest so no ants were harmed in the process
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KnarlyCarl wrote:
24 minutes ago, KnarlyCarl said:Yep remember seeing that, nature’s very own casting! From what I read, it’s an abandoned nest so no ants were harmed in the process
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That’s what I’ll say when PETA starts protesting my ant casting project. Yes, PETA it was an abandoned nest, I found a few dead ant bodies and I buried them at sea after a small ceremony.
There is a science museum that has a casting done on a fire ant mound showing the mound above and all the tunnels below ground……..it’s INCREADABLLY LARGE!!!! It’s amazing to see the network of tunnels and nest underground!!!
Rewind wrote:
55 minutes ago, Rewind said:There is a science museum that has a casting done on a fire ant mound showing the mound above and all the tunnels below ground……..it’s INCREADABLLY LARGE!!!! It’s amazing to see the network of tunnels and nest underground!!!
I agree, I’ve seen a few different displays of mounds and beehives and they’re really neat. I’m a bit of a nature documentary(I literally have all the BBC HD nature shows on my computer) fan and museum fan so this stuff is really cool to me.
I just use an ant spray from HD it doesn’t seem to kill the grass
Napalm!!!!!! But yeah, F*** ants, especially those tiny little piss ants, than invade our kitchen beginning of every summer.
WigWagWorkshop wrote:
3 hours ago, WigWagWorkshop said:Napalm!!!!!! But yeah, F*** ants, especially those tiny little piss ants, than invade our kitchen beginning of every summer.
My bug man told me use cinnamon, they don’t like it and it’s safe for food cabinets, works pretty well for them tiny ones.
Jimbo
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See I wasn’t kidding when I said use cinnamon
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I’m gonna try this out fellas I was watering in back yard today and DAMN I have a lot of ants!! ??
KnarlyCarl wrote:
31 minutes ago, KnarlyCarl said:See I wasn’t kidding when I said use cinnamon
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pretty effective, I’ve only used it though for the little ants
Yeah. Oh and cloves keep ladybugs away
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Ants aren’t much of a big deal up here, at all. I have had really tiny ones around the kitchen and bath sinks the last couple of weeks. I finally got around to spraying, and that’s seems to have taken care of it, at least for now.
Ticks, now that’s a whole nother story – a couple on myself a day as of late.