Exactly HOW do you get rid of ants that harvest aphids?

I always hear this, but have never heard HOW you are supposed to do this. I have no earthly idea where all of the ants are living, unless they are fire ants and reveal themselves by making mounds. I can get rid of them with my Anti-Fuego, but for other ants that are just "there", how is this done?

While I'm on the subject, I have large ants that are on my passionvine, which is ok, but I started seeing these same kind (big) crawling along the back of my house. I don't have any idea where they are coming from either. How do I locate them, much less get rid of them?

Just one of those things I've always needed to ask...

kb,

I haven't tried this yet - because I have to find my notes for the right ratio - but the head hortuculturalist at the Mercer Arboretum said they handle ants with a solution of agricultural molasses and water. I think it's 1/4 cup of the molasses in a gallon of warm water (so it will dissolve thouroughly.) Pour it where they live, they will eat it and it makes them explode. It doesn't harm plants, worms, or other good stuff in the soil, in fact it's good for the soil.

Anyone else?

And we have a winner! ;) That actually makes sense maggiemoo. I do know that the dry molasses that we put down on our lawn does keep the number of fire ants down. I put it in the beds too tho, but maybe I should put more around the plants where I see ants or the aphids. Ummm...how exactly do they eat the molasses if it's dissolved in the water? I think I'll go sprinkle some out tonight and just see what happens.

Maybe they're drinking it? (glug, glug, glug)
:-)

if these are the harvestre ants that horny toads eat, i leave them alone. spray them away from where i don't want them, and they tend to take their aphids to the sunflowers, which survive just fine...

read it in companion planting link... http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

"SUNFLOWERS: Planting sunflowers with corn is said by some to increase the yield. Aphids a problem? Definitely plant a few sunflowers here and there in the garden. Step back and watch the ants herd the aphids onto them! We have been doing this for years and it is remarkable. The sunflowers are so tough that the aphids cause very little damage and we have nice seed heads for our birds to enjoy! Talk about a symbiotic relationship! "

just another angle on those critters, if i didn't like horned toads so well, i might prefer blowing up the ants :-)

Do you actually have Horned Toads?! I haven't seen one, close up, in years. I saw one while driving on a country road recently, and that's the first one I've seen in years.

I do not know one ant from another. Well, I do know that I have fire ants, and suddenly now have some large ant that is crawling on the fences and a few other places. Other than those, they are all the same to me. I don't normally try to get rid of just ants, but if I see a mound I try to get rid of anything in the area.

I am having a really bad time with them this year. Normally we have a few bouts with fire ants, but I think I'm going to have to go to something stronger than orange oil. I have some cosmos that the ants are all over, which is strange to me. ?

The only ants I want to get rid of (besides fire ants) are the ones that are building mounds around certain plants, almost burying them, and the little ones that swarm up on my feet and sting like crazy, right where I have to step to do some gardening.

Tamara, that's interesting about the sunflowers. I have some in my wildflower bed, and some that scattered themselves in other areas. I haven't seen any ants or aphids on them though. Does it need to be a specific type of sunflower?

not that i know of, guess they just aren't growing close enough to the ants home or trail

saw a short film on ants today at the museum, seems the ones that look like fire ants, but have a FLAT mound, with a large barren area around it, and trails up to 50 feet loing, are the harvester ants, called so because they are after seed of any kind. so that is what i stopped killing & now the horned toads come in to eat & we get to see them. they are there, just not much in civilized places. There was a newspaper artcle recently, will link if i find it

don't recall the names of the little black ants, i call them sugar ants, and thoise are the aphid herders, they love the sweet sap that comes out of your plants

the scariest & deadliest ant is the bullet ant, over an inch in length (100 times the size of most ats) bullet refers to the pain of their sting. Very many would kill you. Only in N. America in captivity, native to S. America, which is where...

true fire antsa came from. their sting causes papules in the skin in 2-3 days time, which, if scratched, become infected. 2/3 of the public are allergic to the fire abts stint, which makews it more dangerous & potentially fatal. we have no native predators of fire abts, which is why they are spreading at a dangerous rate. don't know what the S.A. predator us, or why we couldn't import it...

you don't want to hear what i learned about scorpuions, hopefully i will have forgotten by tomorrow LOL

btw, fire ants (i think), can be killed with gasoline and a match!

Maggie, I don't know if there is a difference, but in my world, those ants that make mounds inside plants and the ones that sting you are all fire ants. I guess I should do some studying, but I just don't have the time to research ants. I do try to leave them alone if I just see them wandering around the beds, but groups of them and mounds are getting doused with orange oil.

I'm betting that fire ants can be killed with fire, but so can my garden and my house! No thanks!

well, that's kinda why i hadn't tried it! please let me know if the orange oil works, we have a group that started a NEW trail right across our front walk!!! Grrrrrrr....

The orange oil works great. I put some in a gallon of water and pour it on the mounds. It's really good for dissolving those mounds too, rather than the ants just leaving it. I used to use Amdro, but I eventually thought the ants got immune to it or just stopped eating it because they would never die or leave. Most of the time they are gone after using the orange oil. I'm having some trouble with some now tho. It will kill those it comes in contact with, but not sure how that's going to get the queen.

I went out and sprinkled instant grits on some trails the other day, but then there were so many that I got disgusted and sprinkled boric acid along the cracks instead. I don't use that in the beds tho.

Ok...on the topic of ants and you haven't slept yet (maybe) ...now what kind would the ones be that are climbing on my passionvines? They just run up and down the vine all day, no aphids.

well, there MUST surely be aphids? if not yet, soon. follow them to their hole, and see what they are up to?

i would have signed off by 12, but was reading how bluecat got rid of her ground hog!

the quenn & other unaffected will move about 25 feet away. just keep on until they move far enough to suit you...

Nope, no aphids. They vine is growing good and is healthy. They are just going up and down it. It's starting to get buds on it now and I see them around the buds more. ? I know that my Peonies had ants on their buds and everyone said that was normal, just knock them off.

I kind of figured I was just killing the top ants. I'll have to try some of the stuff with Spinosad in it now.

I should have been off the computer too, especially since I was on late last night reading some thread that I stumbled on to! I better go now...

oh, of course, they are harvesting pollen! they may do no harm wait & see...

GREAT thread - questions, info, and solutions! :)

Okkk....harvesting pollen...isn't that interesting. So they would be the Harvester Ants? I'll have to go get a good look at them today so I can try and learn the differences.

If they are harvesting pollen then they are possibly acting as pollinators.

I've seen the same thing in my raspberries. I haven't seen any aphids but I have seen ants in the blossoms. There are some lady beetles hanging around so perhaps if there are aphids they are eating them as fast as the ants are delivering them.

th e h. antas i have are red and black, and often called fire ants (yther sting does hurt), but don't know that they harvest pollen, so i may be confusing you & me both :-) sounds l ike your are pretty small to get into the flower, maybre i will ask today at the insecyt class...

They aren't small tho, and not going inside the flower bud, just on the outside. Ok, you're going to force me to go out and take a pic, aren't you?

Ok...after a new battery and pics of other things too...here they are

kb, if you put some boric acid in your molasses mix, that will help eliminate the colony, even if you don't know where it is. They take it back to the queen, and when she eats it, that's taps for the whole colony. Google for "ants boric acid" and you can find a recipe.

Also, I keep a spray bottle of liquid soap and water (2T/gal) in several areas around where I see them outside. It kills the ants on contact, and after several hits, a day apart, they seem to leave in pursuit of more hospitable surroundings, even though I know I haven't gotten the queen. I also keep a spray bottle near my houseplants--kills those pesky little fungus gnats. I spray around the potting soil, and I spray them in mid-air and they fall down dead.

Don't know how well the soap/water would work on big ants--mine are those tiny ones.
.....Pen

ok, i made you ytake a pic, you made me do a search.... were even :-)

http://www.ghorganics.com/page11.html

has a boric acid recipe, and tons of other info, the whole page is how to naturally control ants.... here are 3 recipes, but first read the rest of the info...

Cora's Ant Control Recipe:
Mix together in a container that will not be used for anything else:
4 ounces of peanut butter
4 ounces of sugar
4 ounces of boric acid
Set in place where the ants are congregating. Leave in place for several days allowing the ants to feed. May need to be repeated.

Here is another ant bait recipe:

Mix three parts peanut butter with two parts jelly and add one tablespoon of boric acid per six ounces of mix. Place the bait on pieces of paper so stuff it into large straws and place where you see the ants foraging. Again keep out of the reach of pets and children.


Boric acid: Mix 1 cup of sugar, 4 teaspoons of boric acid and 24 ounces of water in a glass screw top jar. Shake thoroughly until you can see that all the crystals are dissolved. Now put 1 cup of this mixture into a smaller jar which you have filled halfway with loose cotton. Firmly screw the lid back on, seal around the band with weatherproof tape and using an awl punch a few small holes in the center of the lid. Put this near the entrance of the nest or wherever they have made a path to your house. The key is the ants will get into the jar to eat the sugar and return to the nest and pass it on to the rest of the colony. If you find many dead ants by the jar dilute the solution and try again. With a proper mixture the colony may be destroyed in a few weeks. It does take the destruction of the queen to completely eradicate a colony. Keep this away from kids and pets.


AND FINALLY, A WORD ON BORIC ACID
Boric acid is a white, inorganic powder chemically derived from water and boron, which is mined from vast mineral deposits in the ground and used in consumer products such as laundry additives, toothpaste and mouthwash. Deadly to cockroaches, boric acid is low in toxicity to people and pets, and is even used as an eyewash. It is also odorless and contains no volatile solvents. Boric acid has been a favorite weapon against roaches for more than a century, and is one of the most effective cockroach control agents ever developed, provided that it is used correctly.

there you have it... :=]