Ants are undoubtedly amazing creatures. With large, complex societies, empire-building techniques, the good thing is that they are so small and have not yet developed an overwhelming hive mind. But if their active life position runs counter to your understanding of order, you will have to take action.
- What types of ants are sensitive to boric acid?
- How does boric acid work against ants?
- Top 5 recipes for preparing ant bait
- How to Place Boric Acid Ant Baits
- Duration of fighting ants with boric acid
What you need to know about garden ants
The ants themselves in the garden are beneficial, by the way. But many species of ants feed on honeydew, which is secreted by aphids that feed on plants. Ants protect aphids from other predators, such as ladybugs, to provide a reliable food source. Increased aphid activity in your garden, especially when they have bodyguards, can have disastrous consequences for plant life, as aphids can move unhindered through your garden, sucking all the juices out of your plants.
Before you turn into Rambo and unleash righteous fury on the unsuspecting ants in your garden, ask yourself these questions:
- Are they in an isolated area of my garden?
- Are they a threat to me or my family?
- Are they threatening my home?
There is no need to fight just for the sake of fighting. Now that the moralizing is taken care of, let's get down to business. A fairly simple and effective way to get rid of ants is to spread baits with boric acid. Boric acid can be found at your pharmacy as an ingredient in some medications, including eye drops. You can also find boric acid powder in the fertilizer section of large garden centers. We will be happy to tell you how to make an effective remedy against garden ants from boric acid powder.
First measures
Ants live in colonies. Eliminating individual individuals will not bring the desired result. Even if you can physically destroy most of the individuals, they will soon be replaced by young from the eggs. The farmer's task is to force the colony to leave the territory. And to do this, make their living in a greenhouse unacceptable.
Where do ants like to live:
- in a warm and protected from the sun environment under sheets of roofing felt, slate, and boards lying on the ground;
- in the wooden frame of the greenhouse building itself;
- in old rotten wood;
- right on the beds (black ants).
A complex and radical method against ants in a greenhouse is to excavate an underground “city”, find the queen and destroy it. The colony will scatter. The ants will die or join other relatives. But in the second case, they will already know the sweet spot and can bring new individuals here.
Advice. If you find ants in the ground, grab a hoe. Loosening will destroy their underground passages. Carry out the procedure as often as possible. This will negatively impact the population and health of the colony.
What types of ants are sensitive to boric acid?
Boric acid-based ant repellent is not effective for all types of ants. Poison baits work best against house ants, but boric acid powder has been reported to be effective against garden ants, but forager ants, or fire ants, are not as susceptible to boric acid baits. Therefore, several approaches to the projectile will be required :)
You can learn more about other areas of application of boric acid in this detailed material >>>>
Prevention at home
- Clean the house, take care of the trash can.
- Keep the table clean and do not leave crumbs or food behind.
- Keeping the bags tightly closed is what interests the ants most.
- Always take out the trash.
- If you have an animal at home, do not leave food in the cup all the time.
An important factor in exterminating ants is that the entire entrance or house must be eliminated. If there are a lot of ant families, then they will eventually come to you. Of course, you can use expensive insecticides, but they evaporate, which can lead to poisoning, and if you have pets, this is not permissible. And although the product will be advertised, the effectiveness of destruction is zero.
10 ways to get rid of ants in the garden
How does boric acid work against ants?
Baits with boric acid powder act as contact-intestinal agents, and those based on sweet water (wet) act mainly as intestinal ones. Gradually, as it accumulates in the insect’s body, its intestinal effect appears.
Boric acid is effective against ants because it affects the functioning of their nervous system: serious disturbances lead to insect paralysis after a few hours. A very tiny amount of poison is enough to kill one ant, so this is a very effective and cheap remedy. The simplest application is to sprinkle boric acid powder in places where ants most often make their route or at the entrances to an anthill.
The option of using dry and liquid baits gives the best results. The ants not only eat the bait themselves, but also take it to the anthill, to the misfortune of their relatives.
Remember that the bait should be inaccessible to pets and beneficial insects.
The pestilence of red ants
Unlike black ants, red ants are united. One colony can have up to 3-5 nests. If one of the anthills is endangered or destroyed, then this nest will soon be populated by relatives and quickly restored.
At home or in an apartment, these are the insects’ favorite places:
- building foundation;
- behind the wallpaper;
- in the pantry;
- behind the stove;
- in a warehouse;
- behind the electric heater.
R
The red species of ants is active throughout the year. As the weather cools, they require moist, warm conditions and darkness. That is why they move to home buildings for the winter.
Inside the living quarters the following are used as food:
- food products;
- home water supply system;
- garbage;
- electricity supply;
- leather items;
- natural fabrics;
- paper and wood.
People living in a house or apartment, including animals, often become victims of red ant bites.
It is very difficult to get rid of insects, as they can quickly adapt to unfavorable living conditions.
Top 5 recipes for preparing ant bait
Some ants have a sweet tooth, while others are more inclined to seek out fats. Before choosing a recipe, mix boric acid with a couple of different foods to see which one attracts the most ants. You can dissolve sugar in water, use honey, vegetable oil. Here are 5 basic recipes for anti-ant baits:
1 Dilute 5 g of boric acid in 100 ml of warm water, add 1 tsp. jam and 2 tbsp. l. Sahara. Mix the mixture and pour into a flat container, which is best placed near ant paths. Cover the top from the rain with a piece of plastic.
Grind 2 2 egg yolks with ½ tsp. boric acid, make small balls (the size of a pea or smaller) from the resulting mass and place them in key places.
3 1 tbsp. mix a spoonful of water with 2 tbsp. l. glycerin, add 1 tsp. honey, 1/3 tsp. boric acid and 1.5 tbsp. Sahara. Mix everything thoroughly and roll bait balls from the mixture. This recipe is good because the bait remains wet and soft for a long time.
4 3 medium boiled potatoes in their jackets, 3 boiled yolks, 10 g boric acid, 1 tsp. Sahara. Grind the peeled tubers and yolks, add boric acid and sugar to the mixture. Mix thoroughly again and roll the resulting dough into balls.
5 Mix 1 tsp. boric acid powder with 1 cup of aromatic food. If using sugar water, add about 8 tsp. sugar to 1 glass of water, and then add 1 tsp. boric acid. If ants are not as attracted to your baits as you would like, reduce the amount of boric acid to 1/2 teaspoon. per cup of 1 percent solution.
It is important to remember that increasing the amount of boric acid in the bait does not increase the effectiveness of its use - the ants will die before reaching the anthill, and the colony will simply raise other worker ants to replace it.
Use fat or glycerin as an adhesive for boric acid powder for baits.
