Ant invasion.
Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 12:02:25 +1100
Sender: HERB@TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Jenni Ducey <jen@ENTERNET.CO.NZ>
Subject: Re: Help! Ant Emergency!
Help! we have an enormous ant invasion!
I have used up two tubes of caulk trying to close every crevice and crack I could find. But that clearly is not the way to go. The enemy always quickly reconnoiters another way in.
Could some kind soul take pity and re-post a little of the anti-ant data?
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise". (Biblical quote) - Just thought I'd throw that in there....
Anyway, about discouraging the busy little critters from being places where you don't want them to be....Ants don't like bone-meal or the scents of tansy, pennyroyal and southernwood. You can either grow these plants and keep them nearby or you can make sprays with them, by soaking them in water and using the water sprayed on shelves, etc. You can use the plants dry or fresh to make the spray.
If you want to "delete" them altogether, however, spray the nest with pyrethrum or garlic laced with white pepper.
Simply asking them to leave doesn't work. I've tried it.
Hope this helps.
From: "Paula B." <yogt@INTERSOURCE.COM>
I get ants on my cabinets and just pick some fresh peppermint and throw it on the cabinet top and the ants are gone in an hour.
From: Donna Doyle <ddoyle@JCCCNET.JOHNCO.CC.KS.US>
Tansy and pennyroyal planted near the door have worked for me. You can sprinkle green or dried cuttings from the plants around other places the ants enter. Helps also to clean, counters, floors, windows etc. with vinegar and water...you can use lemon, orange or even pennyroyal or tansy infushed vinegar diluted 50/50 with water. You can spray the pennyroyal vinegar mixture on the ant trails. It also repels other bugs and mice.
From: Dorene Petersen <australasiancollege@HERBED.COM>
>Would appreciate it if anyone has an organic repellent to stop ants from invading our household. They invade through the front & rear doors during the springtime.
Lemon and lavender essential oils repel ants. You could try making a spray solution, mix the oils with alcohol first then add water, and thoroughly spray area they around the doors. I lived on an sub tropical island off the coast of New Zealand and ants were my least favorite pest. I also found keeping the kitchen spotless not even a crumb left around helped to keep them away.
From: Cindy Jerrell <Oluwanda@AOL.COM>
Subject: FIREANTS IN THE COMPOST PILE!
AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Zillions and Millions of them. I mean I've lived in Georgia for 10 years and I've never seen so many in one place and it happened so fast.
Suggestions?
The pile is a bit far to carry scalding water (though I will if that is the only solution). I haven't had much luck with instant grits in the past, and I'd like to avoid pesticides if possible. (Am I being difficult?)
Should I just keep piling things on and try to "cook" them out?
Thanks for any suggestions. May it never happen to you.
From: Kimberly Long <klong@SPIRALNET.COM>
> Zillions and Millions of them. I mean I've lived in Georgia for 10 years and I've never seen so many in one place
Aren't they a pain? I live in Texas and have been dealing with them for a long time. I don't use pesticides thus, I deal with them in one of four ways:
1. Pouring boiling water on them. Be sure to take a stick or pole of approx. 2 to 3 inches in diameter and jam it down the center of the mound as far as you can prior to pouring the hot water in. This helps in that it enables you to reach the queen.
2. If you have more than one mound, take a shovel and put a big "chunk" of one mound on top of another mound. Fire ants are very territorial and will fight eachother to the death.
3. Lure them to a more desirable spot with food/treats. (This works well with mounds that are not quite so large).
4. Dried/pulverized cow dung is a very effective fire ant killer.
From: Maria Minno <afn10853@AFN.ORG>
> Zillions and Millions of them. I mean I've lived in Georgia for 10 years and I've never seen so many in one place
If you use herbs they will move a few feet away, and if that solves your problem, that's great.
If you use this invertebrate hormone laced bait called "Logic," the queen stops reproducing and they all die out.
I lived on campus at the University of Florida for several years, and found out they were spraying horrible toxic chemicals on fire ants in our playground and around our kitchen gardens and apartments. Since the ants did things like crawling through electrical sockets into cribs and attacking children in the playground causing serious allergic reactions, I couldn't really argue for doing nothing about them, or for just moving them around with herbal concoctions, so I did some research on least toxic pest control.
Logic is the least toxic to humans, wildlife, and most effective on the ants. Even UF changed its policy and still uses Logic there where I lived, and I've been gone for a couple of years now.
