Ant hill

[JenVarsity]

We are starting our 3rd year on our lot. We have ants everyehere! We hat an exterminator spray the house for carpenter ants. Two of the trees in the front yard are tunneled by them. I can't even think to walk in the yard without shoes. The house has been here for over 150 years and the land around it is farmland. I'm so frustrated, I'd like to lite the whole thing on fire to see if that helps. Eventually we will landscape with nice grass, but I want to be able to go barefoot withoit stepping in mounds of ants. (We have other kinds too.)

Any ideas?

 

[gardengirl]

Carpenter ants love evergreen, cedar, and Douglas fir trees.
I use dry grits for ants.
They will eat it and it expands in them causing them to die. I sprinkle them around the whole foundation of my house and in the window seals.
Ants will not cross a chalk line. I don't know why they just won't. You could get that chalk that they mark lines on ball fields and football fields and use that around your foundation and the sprinkle grits in the yard and since you have a bad problem there I would mix the grits with "Diatomaceous earth" I would get food grade type.
Won't harm kids and pets.
You could also get a product called "Sevin" It's a powder and non toxic to pets and kids.
You can get that at garden centers or maybe even Wal Mart.Sprinkle that in your yard.

Make sure that there is no wood up against your house or even close to it.
These ants tend to build satellite colonies when one colony gets too big. The queens can live up to 15 years and they can lay about 70,000 eggs in their lifetime. She only stays in the parent colony.
These ants come out at night usually at sunset.

Other helpful advice...Correct any water leaks on your property.
Eliminate any wood to ground contact points, especially where soil has been pushed up against the house.
Make sure that there are no tree limbs or bushes touching the house.
Firewood should be a good distance from the house and elevated off the ground since this is their favorite location to nest.

Good luck with this problem.
Hope something helps you.

 

[sissy]

I prefer natural also those pest guys use god knows what and can cause more problems than you want .I even use the store detergent 20 mule teem borax that boosts your laundry detergent .It has worked for me .I like the grits idea so may try that .Here in VA we get tons of those teeny tiny ants and they are terrible .

 

[gardengirl]

Those teeny tiny ants your talking about are sugar ants.
As I mentioned earlier the above post that product called "Sevin" is a good product. It is organic so it's safe to use in veggie gardens too. We put it in the dog houses outside to keep them tick and flea free.