I have ants in my pastures. I took the horses off the pastures, sprinkled Spectracide and gently watered per the instructions. NOTHING!!! Today, I looked and the ants are alive and healthy. How do you generally handle ant hills? The place we intend to buy our zero turn mower from said not to run over them with the mower as the ant hills have hard layers underneath. Basically the advice was to put a mower wheel on the mound and squish it. Any advice?
The chickens ate all of mine. They even ate all the ants out of the flower beds. Bonus that it is chemical free. I have also heard to pour corn meal on the mound. Which I tried. I can not say if it works because the chickens ate the corn meal then all the ants.
3 Likes
When you say āSpectracideā ā¦which of the products are you using as Spectracide is branding name of a family of products
http://www.spectracide.com/solutions/insect-killers/outdoor-insect-killers.aspx
1 Like
Borax powder mixed with sugar (1 to 3 ratio) into a paste with a bit of water is an ant killer. The borax is the poison, the sugar the attractant. You just place little globs of the stuff on top of the āant hillā in your case.
I tried this with those tiny red ants that were all over my kitchen counter in the spring ā and it worked, litterally overnight. Havenāt seen an ant again.
Iāve read that borax is toxic to pets if ingested in certain quantities (not sure how much), so you should investigate that if you have cats/dogs that could get into it.
Obviously horses might want to eat it too ā so you should either cover the treated ant hill with a horse proof āthingā ā or keep horses off pasture overnight and then remove any remaining globs and/or or hose down area really well with water before returning horses.
2 Likes
It was a Spectracide Fire Ant Hill Mound Destroyer, supposedly kills queen and ants. Initially I had tried Malt-O-Meal cereal and canāt tell if it worked. Then this. When I went back the next day, it looked like nothing had changed. When I went two days later, some of the ant hills werenāt active anymore. On the ones that were, I sprayed some Andro (?) Instant Ant Killer. The guy at Home Depot said it may take awhile for the Spectracide to work. My fault as I was expecting overnight results.
Borax - with or without powdered sugar. Not enough to hurt animals, but sprinkle liberally. We use it plain. But only around the house and parts of the garden.
1 Like
If they are fire ants the home remedies will not help. They have popped up all over my place after the last rains we had. Last night I picked up the hose and it had fire ants all over it and I got bitten on both hands. Anybody who had dealt with them knows how long it takes for the bites to quit hurting and itching.
So tonight I head to Wallyworld and then Lowes to get Amdro fire ant bait ( the only thing that works for me) and it was NO WHERE to be found. Lowes had Christmas trees but NO fire ant bait.:mad: I donāt need a freaking Christmas tree I need Amdro fire ant bait to kill the devilsā¦ I got some mound killer but you have to water that stuff down. With the hose covered in fire ants.
Their nests go miles below the surface ground so donāt bother with the boiling water, grits, etc. Good luck! You canāt get rid of them entirely but hopefully get them under control.
1 Like
We use Talstar granules broadcast.
1 Like
