Best Way to Kill an Ant Colony

Рет қаралды 147,138

3 жыл бұрын

If you have a garden, you probably have ants. In most cases you should simply leave them alone, because they do more good than bad in general - but in the event that they are a problem that must be dealt with in the most serious of ways - Author of Gardening Myths 1&2, and Master Gardener Robert Pavlis is here to tell us what's the best way to make that happen.
Here's a link to Robert's recent blog on Any myths:
www.gardenmyths.com/get-rid-a...
Here's links to Robert’s books:
www.https//www.gardenfundament...
www.gardenmyths.com/garden-myt...
www.buildingnaturalponds.com/
Here are some links to Robert’s other content:
Blogs:
www.gardenfundamentals.com
www.gardenmyths.com/
KZfaq:
kzfaq.info/love/JfY...
Facebook:
/ garde. .
If you enjoyed this content, please like, share and/or subscribe to my KZfaq channel. You can also check out my free audio podcast (maritimegardening.com ) where I discuss how to grow healthy food the cheap and easy way!
Also, check out my sponsor, Veseys Seeds, who has provided a coupon code for all my listeners & viewers:
Veseys Seeds (www.veseys.com) offers a Promo code (GAVS20) that allows you to get free shipping on items in their 2020 Seed Catalogue as long as one pack of seeds is included in the order. Free shipping is not applicable on surcharges on larger items. Promo code is valid until the end of 2020.
Podcast: maritimegardening.com
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Пікірлер: 170

@firstnamelastname2552 2 жыл бұрын

TLDR: Borax + Sugar 50/50 with a little water to bind it together. Ants bring it back to the colony and they all die.

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

You must be awesome at parties.

@firstnamelastname2552 2 жыл бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 Parties are a waste of time. I just have someone call me the next day and tell me what happened.

@iishuffle28 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the TLDR. Such a boring and badly edited video.

@sourcherry8928 Жыл бұрын

thank you 🙏

@berkyberry Ай бұрын

@@firstnamelastname2552lol

@z4dude131 2 жыл бұрын

Borax mixed with grape jelly works very well. I think I used 1 teaspoon of borax to 5 teaspoons of jelly. I then put the mixture in several pop bottle caps and put those near the ant colony and within a week the ants disappeared.

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

Good system!

@r4ng3rownz8 2 жыл бұрын

Wow maybe I'll try that. The cinnamon method definitely doesn't work I just went through three bottles and they just go right through it.

@hookrug9832 Жыл бұрын

the jelly powder or made into actual jelly?

@z4dude131 Жыл бұрын

@@hookrug9832 I used regular grape jelly. I suppose any fruit jelly will work. I just had grape so that’s what I used.

@LilDirt12 2 жыл бұрын

What's funny is the ant colony at my house was congregating around my leaky water pipe in the garden! We had to dig up the ground to get to the water pipe that was leaking and the colony that was under there was incredibly huge. So these ants love the water. Not to mention living in my potted plants. Back to the drawing board

@joellandry9349 3 жыл бұрын

I've been using the borax sugar trick for about 15 years successfully...it works great. You can also add a pack of yeast.

@fragtall 3 жыл бұрын

And im in stupid europe where borax is banned. Ffs...

@iishuffle28 Жыл бұрын

What does the yeast do?

@WilliamVG Ай бұрын

Is Borax safe or toxic on grass?

@midget_lover69 Жыл бұрын

No animals were harmed in the making of this video

@randallmarsh446 Жыл бұрын

I have a persistent problem with harvester ants , what kind of bait can i use on them? I tried cornmeal ,pecans crushed mixed with borax and they just haul it off and not into the nest.

@leahvoit2350 2 жыл бұрын

I’m actually curious what is classified as an ant problem… I recently put in pavers, 20” pavers with polyseewep in between & the ants went right through the poly sweep CREATING A HOLE in the polyseeep on the 2nd day it was installed… (still a little wet in some spots i THINK that’s how) but I also noticed when lifting some pavers before the poly sweep was installed that there were these bubbles of dirt on the pavers (there is 6” of rock & crushed limestone between pavers & dirt) so the only thing I can think of that could have created that was the ants… I don’t mind ants.. but I’m wondering if this will cause a problem in the future….?

@eternalfizzer 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you kindly. I was fine with ants ... til a giant colony erupted (literally) out of my lone rhubarb plant ... they ate the root and built a mount half again as high as the planter it was in. You've given me hope of winning the war.

@trollforge 3 жыл бұрын

I just spent an hour scouring the internet for anything substantive to backup his claim that Borax is harmful to plants and could find nothing. Boron is an essential element to plant growth and borax is regularly added to both hydroponic and Aquaponics systems to ensure availability.

@maritimegardening4887 3 жыл бұрын

I just spent 2 minutes: npic.orst.edu/factsheets/boricgen.html It's a question of how much - like with many chemical compounds. Trace amounts can be good, if not essential for some plants; too much can harm them

@trollforge 3 жыл бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 "However, too much boron can be toxic to plants affecting their growth. Citrus, stone fruits, and nut trees are most sensitive to boron." falls far short of the meaning of "substantive" Greg.

@angelanicke2567 3 жыл бұрын

Rock

@dh4094 3 жыл бұрын

@@trollforge what you fail to realize is the general public are stupid and would most likely dump the acid All over their lawn and thus becoming very toxic.

@trollforge 3 жыл бұрын

@@dh4094 That is a very sad statement of our society...

@Brandogamer293 2 жыл бұрын

Antscanada: **Intense Screaming**

@encycl07pedia- Жыл бұрын

It was really fun seeing AC pour boiling water over the red ant colony.

@awesomereviews1561 Жыл бұрын

@@encycl07pedia- I was about to type the exact same thing

@kathymeyers9446 10 ай бұрын

Great Information

@pascallaplante3742 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!!

@ENQUBATEE1 3 жыл бұрын

Very informative video best way to kill an ant colony, thanks for sharing to us such amazing tip for gardening work

@brigittederoch 3 жыл бұрын

I usually put boiling water on them. It always work.

@a.ced.2052 3 жыл бұрын

I did that & it killed my grass

@elizabethbrady7339 3 жыл бұрын

Thank u!!!!!

@jesusismyking4070 3 жыл бұрын

That might pull my plant roots…

@samii8694 2 жыл бұрын

Are you sick? Why would you do that! 🤮

@shanggao 2 жыл бұрын

@@samii8694 Bruh, so you want a anthill right in front of your door? And won’t even think about destroying it? Especially when it’s a invasive species?! Okay, suit yourself!

@xCarxMellax 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you , I have a real problem! I noticed while using a hand tiller we had ants, Rollie Pollies and I planted my vegetables, I sowed some green bean seeds and those little suckers ate them ! Then I noticed around the garden beds , in between the pavers little piles of dirt/sand with holes , as I looked closer I noticed ants ! Ther are everywhere! Like I mean it’s possible to have thousands of them ! I’m so upset I can’t control it . I used cinnamon, I made a borox mix but it’s been raining so much in Oregon this year it’s almost impossible the cinnamon or borax with help . I don’t know what else to do without using chemicals or ripping out all my vegetables that I planted , peppers , cucumbers, zucchini, herbs , green beans (what actually made it since they ate half of my green beans )

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

It's very unlikely that they ate your bean seeds - that's just not what ants eat. Just replant your beans. As Robert and I discussed in the full podcast, ants, with the exception of their tendency to protect aphids, are beneficial in the garden 99% of the time. The only reason to need to kill them is if they've made a huge nest in the middle of your garden, or if you have fire ants (nasty stinging ants). Regardless, if you still want them gone, stay with your borax/sugar mix, find ways to keep the rain off it (I have a couple vids where I show tricks for doing that).

@northernforest2687 3 жыл бұрын

Whenever you recommend borax; please explain to people how to use borax against ants without harming other insects. Borax has come on a poison list in the EU and has been removed from stores as bees, butterflies and other insects became innocent victims in the war against ants.

@maritimegardening4887 3 жыл бұрын

We spent a good time in the podcast explaining why in most cases you should see the ants as beneficial.

@Thelittlemommashow 3 жыл бұрын

Couldn't you dig into your lawn below the grass roots and put the mixture there so the ants can get it but other insects won't be harmed?

@Life1233_ 2 жыл бұрын

Shut up

@encycl07pedia- Жыл бұрын

@@darylyumol7081 How did ants do that?

@ewok7075 Жыл бұрын

@@encycl07pedia- theirs a type of ant that is attracted to electricity and will build their colony’s in peoples computers

@TheMasonator777 3 жыл бұрын

I like diatomaceous earth. I get good results with it, if I really lay it around thick. I use a powder duster in the house. Another way to deal with carpenter ants in particular, that’s worked for me: I make sure that once I deal with a colony I make sure there is tempting habitat for new arrivals, AWAY from the area I’m trying to protect from ants. They don’t eat wood, they excavate wood to live in.

@gdawg4ever119 3 жыл бұрын

I like DE too for indoor areas but the problem with it is if it gets wet at all it’s basically useless

@greyhnd001 2 жыл бұрын

lol. my Safeway store said they can't keep it in stock so they never have it. I had to drive 10 miles away to find it at a home depot.

@jenniferjames346 Жыл бұрын

Same. I had to go to four different stores before I finally found some.

@user-pb5fe4xu2b Жыл бұрын

My ants like chicken and borax!

@GGA007Gaming 2 жыл бұрын

What if you squirt the diatomaceous earth in the nest? This is in my house not garden though and I think they may be in the walls gonna take me day off to look for the nest outside first and go from there.

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

I can't see that working. It only kills the insects that it touches. The vest majority of the colony would be unaffected.

@GGA007Gaming 2 жыл бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 ok I've seen ant KZfaqrs use a 10 gallon tank and make it a home to get ants out of Thier walls and stuff so you know the odds of this working and if so where can I get good accurate info I do have an empty 10 gallon. Reason I ask is cause landlord wants to chem bomb the apts but I have fish and stuff so I can't. 😢😢😢 So if I can find a way to inexpensively move them or catch them would be cool. I know where they are coming in at though. If that helps me at all lol.

@elizabethdryjas6635 2 жыл бұрын

How can I destroy the colony of ants in one acre yard. They are millions of ants.Please help me, I have a dogs and I don’t won’t any chemical

@gokusaiyan252 2 жыл бұрын

Wrong calculation. There are trillions

@710totem 2 жыл бұрын

I'm in NC and the ants are HORRIBLE this year! The worst I've ever seen. I usually have the small ants to deal with in the early spring, but this year I have the carpenter ants too. I discovered those had invaded my little "she" shed. They were everywhere! I had my exterminator, who only comes for my annually treatment for termite checks and other ant and bug stuff to treat around my shed area. Never much going on till this year! Today I discovered another nest of them at husbands shed where his yard equipment etc. is kept. I need to make some Borax food for these suckers! Thanks!

@loriboyters4171 Жыл бұрын

Interesting that you say the ants are the worst this year. Same here in San Diego - 3000 miles away. I think it's because this is the hottest summer since I moved here in 1981. Is it hotter than normal in NC too? I'm from VA and my cousins live in Gastonia.

@710totem Жыл бұрын

@@loriboyters4171 Hi Lori, I think it is a little hotter than normal, yes. We've lived here 20 years. The ants, spiders and yellow jackets are real bad this year. We live near a woodsy area. The good thing this year is the nice rains we have had. Normally the grass is dry and crispy this time of year. We live close to, (about an hour drive), from the Blue Ridge mountains. It's beautiful in our area and would never move back north. I hope you are not near all the fires out there. Is the drought affecting the entire state? I really feel for you and the people of CA. Take good care and stay safe🙏🙏

@saracollins4860 2 ай бұрын

What about a colony with multiple queens and is self populating?

@hasnaintejani9307 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the advice. Can you use 99% boric acid instead? Also do mix it 50/ 50 or 1 to 5 ( sugar) and is it necessary to add water or not?

@maritimegardening4887 Жыл бұрын

Robert said 50/50 but lots of things I've read have suggested a 1:5 or 1:4 ratio - so try that for sure and see what works

@sixsentsoldiers 3 жыл бұрын

Get over my negative feelings for ants? Damn people.

@angelinah427 3 жыл бұрын

Oh my ants can’t be fooled! They are smart little buggers! Borax and sugar haha nope, didn’t work here. I tried several different variables. Soaked it in a waffle, put a container with holes out. None of them worked. I bought some ant baits, two different kinds. No activity from either in the first week. I later noticed the ants crawling in and out of the Terro liquid ant bait, so that one seems to be the start of their slow death😁

@maritimegardening4887 3 жыл бұрын

Oh no!

@Szechaun_Don 3 жыл бұрын

Terror liquid bait is the best

@jeromegarcia5396 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, sounds like my ants, they have a oak tree as a colony and it's a huge colony, and you right, once they know it's poison they laugh at you, you can actually hear there New York accent if you get low enough 😂 One day I thought I got them, I was eating a burger and a piece of meat fell on the ground, and within 5 mins tops, there were millions of ants taking it away, So I poisoned a can of chicken salad with boric acid and they went to town on it, I figured alright I got em, Seems the last few days they took it personal because I see them in the house now, they never came in my house in 2 years ,and it's like they said ok tuff guy now yous gonna pay 30% to the big guy from now on capiche, 😂 So, I'm hiring big guns now, and I've heard of torro but in the concentrate you mix like the professionals, I haven't seen any baits, unless it's a different brand... But most definitely ants are way more intelligent than we give credit...

@gokusupersaiya8067 2 жыл бұрын

your ants graduate from elon musk harvard university

@mrbill6666 2 жыл бұрын

Have you tried a mix of confectioners sugar and baking soda as a powder mix (no water)?

@markmarkmark1821 2 жыл бұрын

It works better with a small piece of waffle added to the mix The adult ants take bits back to feed the colony

@regulator7931 2 жыл бұрын

👆 this

@ranmangolf 2 жыл бұрын

I have found a few carpenter ants in my house and discovered that our woodline next to the house has 5 different colonies within 50 yards of the house. I mixed 2 cups of sugar with 1 cup of borax along with 2 tablespoons of honey and poured it into the holes of the ant colonies home. I did this two weeks ago and I still have massive amounts of carpenter ants in the same dirt mounds. I thought maybe I could dig up the colony while my wife sprays something like Dominion 2L which has imidacloprid in the colony holes. Any suggestions?

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

I don't know if pouring it on the nest works - you just need the sugar and the borax, as we said in the video, and set it up where you see them in some way that it can't get rained on. Place multiple baiting stations around the area where you see them. That said - if it's not working and you need them gone, hit them with everything you got man :)

@Jamieson414 2 жыл бұрын

Digging it up is hard as ant nests can go up to 100s of feet deep in a couple years

@r4ng3rownz8 2 жыл бұрын

@@Jamieson414 100's of feet deep, that's so discouraging. I've got them all over my backyard, can't walk out there without socks and shoes or my feet get bit up, it's so awful.

@JJDoesLife Жыл бұрын

@@r4ng3rownz8 any fix? Same here

@r4ng3rownz8 Жыл бұрын

@@JJDoesLife No nothing has changed I still have the ants. I was thinking maybe I can get rid of them by covering the ground with cardboard, then spread free wood chips all over the cardboard, I think it's worth a try.

@thelab8800 2 жыл бұрын

A answer you haven't a problem just remember there's free housing inside their ears

@simonmills2375 8 ай бұрын

Hey your right you can get an ant colony to move. Mine were in the garden and have moved into my house. ..... off to buy some borax😃

@dansir4102 2 жыл бұрын

I love ants. Unfortunately, they love my cowpeas. And unfortunately for the, I love my cowpeas more than I love them.

@MilkyWayGalaxyy 2 жыл бұрын

I have small black ants, a few carpenter ants and lots of flying ants just came out from behind my furnace! What do I do? How do I murder the ant infestation inside of my house!?

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

same approach - use the borax + sugar

@Alicia-ig7cv 2 жыл бұрын

If I do the borax mix in my shrub and flower garden, will it kill my plants ?

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

If it doesn't kill my veg it should not kill your flowers, etc.

@blablablabla4236 2 жыл бұрын

Get to the f***ing point!!!!! Mix sugar and borax 50/50 for everyone else who don’t like wasting time. Good grief

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

it's a 6 minute video - get an attention span

@encycl07pedia- Жыл бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 A six-minute video filled with five minutes of fluff. Get a clue: people searching for ways to kill pests like ants are likely very stressed and currently dealing with an in-home invasion. Nobody wants to hear your drivel about how ants are good for gardening. People don't click on "Best Way to Kill an Ant Colony" to hear about how they fit into the ecosystem and how they're doing more good than harm. Know your audience. If you don't want comments like this, preface the title with "Gardening:". Then people will likely be more patient.

@adamtki Жыл бұрын

Hot water poured down their hole doesn’t work?

@vivekshegokar6568 2 жыл бұрын

Ants destroyed plants

@TheGamingCaveYT 3 жыл бұрын

They won't stop coming into my house and it's every year :/

@patbosher8963 3 жыл бұрын

I have a ants nest around my pond and I've been unknowingly taking them into my home.

@TheGamingCaveYT 3 жыл бұрын

@@patbosher8963 idk were the nest is but if you leave a can on the ground in my room for a little bit you will get to see them

@encycl07pedia- Жыл бұрын

@@TheGamingCaveYT Dude, just clean your room and stop leaving food everywhere. My room was in bad need of a cleaning (shamefully I had soda and sports drink bottles laying around as well as some food trash) and the ants invading were quite the impetus for me to clean up my room and only bring in water from then on. No food. No food wrappers. Eat in the kitchen or the dining room. Ideally those are going to be cleaner or at least far away enough that ants won't find it. -Diatomaceous earth is the best way to kill the workers outside of harmful chemical pesticides and generally get the message to the colony that coming in there is deadly. Don't be overzealous as it is like dust and can make you cough for a while. -Use a poison like borax to kill the queen/colony. -White vinegar will wash away the chem/pheromone trails they're following back to your room. -Just keep it clean: if there's nothing in there for them to eat, they won't be coming back there. That includes emptying trash cans regularly.

@brianwall9592 Жыл бұрын

@@encycl07pedia- Good tips, but really: old food wrappers? soda/etc bottles? ... - my room(s) are always a TornadoMess, but I NEVER leave food stuff around, I mean come on now... !? ... anybody over 12 knows that much... ? (... that said, I used to eat chips/etc in bed while watching tv, and the crumbs would inevitably fall along the wall-side of it, beyond the reach of the vacuum head (carpeted room, too) I later discovered; never once saw any critters in 4 yrs, UNTIL I finally moved out; then, oh boy, tiny beetles, ants, etc had infested under that edge of the carpet, and my landlord was NOT amused... D'oh! ... never ate in bed since (nor watch tv/etc there, and now I sleep better).)

@stig5763 Жыл бұрын

Apply 12% nicotine e liquid. You’re done…

@sixsentsoldiers 3 жыл бұрын

Diatomaceous, borax and sugar mix?

@EuropeanOnion 3 жыл бұрын

Can’t seem to find any borax in Dutch stores

@maritimegardening4887 3 жыл бұрын

Maybe look for the dutch version of sodium borate? "borax" - a brand name - is sodium borate.

@zoewhite7705 3 жыл бұрын

You can’t buy it in the EU as it’s classified as hazardous.

@MrPaprikajuice 3 жыл бұрын

Laboratoriumdiscounter.nl

@user-oh5pn3py4p 3 жыл бұрын

Move

@orlandojohnson5742 2 жыл бұрын

Try sevin dust on ant mounds!? Or flamethrower 🔥😂ikr!👌

@rajindernijjer 2 жыл бұрын

What about boiling water

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

We covered that during the podcast - doesn't kill the nest, just kills some of the ants

@rajindernijjer 2 жыл бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 I think I've made them angry

@encycl07pedia- Жыл бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 It will kill the colony if you pour it over the colony and the queen.

@kathymeyers9446 10 ай бұрын

The Bites Hurt ‼️‼️Bad ‼️‼️For Days

@TheFreezzy Жыл бұрын

Pass the joint

@a_coloradan8689 2 жыл бұрын

Ima go full monke mode on these ants

@gort400 Жыл бұрын

Will Borax hurt Dogs and Cats? Thanks

@maritimegardening4887 Жыл бұрын

Too much borax can hurt anything. Just keep them away from it.

@diamond4829 2 жыл бұрын

diatomaceous earth is a complete waste of time and money on a nest.

@susieiacuessa4538 3 жыл бұрын

Ant infestation in my goat and chicken coop ???

@aaronvandrei3052 2 жыл бұрын

The chickens should take care of that if you let them ria.

@pegasus8987 Жыл бұрын

Malathion at high dose always works old school insecticides work best

@isaacbarnett7341 2 жыл бұрын

People can eat it with no issues. Just saying

@maritimegardening4887 2 жыл бұрын

eat what?

@lindasands1433 3 жыл бұрын

Sounds awful! I use boiling water, more than once

@maritimegardening4887 3 жыл бұрын

Robert discusses that method later in the video. He explains that it's very unlikely to kill the colony - but may cause it to move.

@lindasands1433 3 жыл бұрын

@@maritimegardening4887 good enough for me 😁 Thanks for all your videos and podcasts. I get lots out of them. Even if it's only watching you work while I relax! 😂 Seriously though, I learn lots from you

@tba1879 2 жыл бұрын

Usually if ants invade a space then the nest is close by. There's no need to kill them--they are, after all a vital part of the ecosystem--so what I do is to pour white vinegar over the nest area. I usually repeat the application 2-3 times every half hour or so. Very quickly the ants will move the nest and the problem is gone.

@michaelsallee7534 3 жыл бұрын

ants nurse aphids for the sugar. so bated sweets good to deture this

@kathymeyers9446 10 ай бұрын

Yay ‼️‼️

@kb2825 2 жыл бұрын

I pour gas.

@shmeck7413 2 жыл бұрын

Goddamn ants

@ivanw3656 Жыл бұрын

I just use gasoline...problem solved, grass will rebound

@maritimegardening4887 Жыл бұрын

No one in their right mind would pour gasoline on their garden soil

@Gremlin-Glizzy 3 жыл бұрын

Who’s liking these? And why is everyone alright with it, you should only do it if it’s fire ant or something that has an extremely painful bite

@maritimegardening4887 3 жыл бұрын

I think if you watched a little more of my content - or even the whole podcast you'd find that I completely agree with you

@Gremlin-Glizzy 3 жыл бұрын

Maritime Gardening I found this while searching to be annoyed so I don’t really want to watch more

@Taldaran 3 жыл бұрын

Being woken up in the middle of the night with an ant in your bed crawling along your leg or across your face will definitely make you not mind exterminating them and besides carpenter ants will destroy the very home you're living in.