The problem is that the queen is usually in the deepest parts of the nest. And if you don't kill her they'll just keep repopulating. But, I am way more for doing this over and over again for forever than using poison that could hurt other things. It has to hurt them to lose so many workers at once like that. But, the problem is the darn queen. She lays thousands of eggs a day. But, I really really like what you are doing not using chemicals.

Awesome videos. You sure like saying "diatomaceous earth"!

A good use for Diatomaceous earth if you have chickens is to put a bag of it in the area where they dust bath to keep them from getting mites

This does work! I tried DE after watching your previous video about trying it. It worked for me. I'm a north FL native and have lots and lots of the huge mounds in pasture and big yard... (hundreds? or just tens?) lol... Lots of acres of them. I haven't been around to all of them, but have made a big dent in the total number of active mounds. I was surprised because it has been a problem for years. I came back to watch first video again and found this one. I am sharing both vids with VW Family Farm, she has a big problem in her Arkansas garden. Thank you for sharing this great information! Love your Useful Knowledge!

Great vid! I use DE and borax traps. For a borax trap, use a jar/old yogurt container, punch holes large enough for ants, and put in 1 tsp borax and 4 tsp sugar. Mix with water until you get a slurry about the consistency of honey. Check the "trap" now and then to make sure it's still moist (doesn't dry out). It's not really a trap - The ants take the blend back to the nest and feed others in the nest - including (potentially) the queen. Hope this is of use. Cheers!

This is just what I needed to see. We have a big mound by the porch near where the neighbor parks, and she has pets and probably wouldn’t appreciate the poison near them or her car.

Instead of poison, I'll boil some water and pour it over the nest. It works great. It won't totally wipe out the nest but it'll cause enough damage that it'll naturally collapse on its own. You just have to be careful not to spill it on yourself while pouring.

I've never had any luck controlling ants with diatomaceous earth. I've peppered the same colonies repeatedly and they just keep doing their thing. Sugar water with a splash of borax does the trick.

Growing up deep in the country here in northeast Mississippi , my sister fell face first into a huge mound! She was TWO YEARS OLD! It could have killed her. Yes, we were allowed to roam our entire homestead. But that was over 60 years ago. I guess one of the reasons I fight fireants with everything I can. Yes, poison in some places. But I will definitely give DE a try in other places. Great video. You have a new subscriber, my Alabama neighbor!

Thank you so much for this video. I had some make their way Into my home and I’ve made a homemade mixture of Castile soap and essential oils. It killed them immediately and also repelled more. Around other entry points I applied this powder and so far it’s worked and it’s only been about two days . I just recently planted a blue berry bush sapling and I’ll definitely apply some diatomaceous earth around there for preventative care. I also always hear people saying it doesn’t work but from my own experience and as well as this video it proves it does. Thank you so much!!

Nice fig tree. Hope it gives you some fruit. My grandma had a massive tree beside her house and it produced so much you could smell the sweetness in her whole backyard while also providing a lot of shade. One of my favorite "fruit" trees along with plums and peaches.

Is the DE actually killing the ant colonies or are they just relocating? I find that when I try natural ways to rid ants from my garden beds they actually form a colony elsewhere in my yard :(

I love diatomaceous earth for cracks indoors. Once had a ton of ants coming in from cracks near fireplace and after filling them in with diatomaceous earth they stopped coming.

A year ago, I was openning my living room window to clean the outter seal near the screen and spotted a pile of big black ants, I poured boric acid directly on the pile and shut the window (all dead),never used D E. I might get the Food Grade DE and pour it all along my foundation on a hot week!

Thank you for the tip!

I have found 2 kinds of DE on amazon, food grade and another, which one did you use if you can say?? THANKS!

very satisfying

Man thanks for the awesome video. Going to apply some now in my raised garden beds that are full of ants.

wow. those are some tenacious ants. I've taken 95% of them down with a lighter dusting. I dust it out of a hole in the bag, about 3 times a year on every mound.

Thanks! I see my problem is I don't use enough DE and I need to reapply till the mound is dead. This is very helpful. We're plaqued with fireants! I can't use poison because we have free-range chickens.

Diatomaceous Earth hasn't worked for me. Kills the ants that are on the surface. Sugar and Borax seems to be working.

very informative and helpful. thank you sir!

Thanks for posting these videos, love your channel and the values you're promoting. I'm wondering if I could use DE on a European wasp nest in my front yard... It's winter and they're still active; I was hoping they'd have died off by now but nope, they recognise me and my lawnmower- I've decided to leave a patch of grass growing wild because getting swarmed ain't worth the aesthetic of a nice clean lawn, but I do wonder if dumping a bag of diatomaceous earth on their den might be a good, non-poisonous solution?

Cause dehydration?

Glad you're looking for more eco-friendly options than big-box store poisons. That said a) how much of a bag (and what cost per bag) do you think this mound needed? b) I've gotten mounds to move just by disturbing them alot. Like you did - tearing up the mound, or sticking a nozzle in the mound for 10 minutes. Do that repeatedly as you did, and they realize it's a hostile spot and they move. Maybe 10 ft away, maybe 50 ft away. But they weren't "killed" - just relocated. That's still a bonus if you get them out of the areas you walk around in. Plus, it's still keeping their population in check because they can't spend resources on foraging and reproducing if they're busy moving all the time. But my point is that I'd like to see you pester a mound withOUT DE as much as you pestered this one and see if they don't move in 15 days, too. (without the expense of DE) Would be a neat science experiment. In fact, the county extension office and the dept of agriculture actually DOES such scientific experiments, controlling for variables and counting up the # of mounds in a given field when they try different control measures. I'mma go look at their site again because that will tell you what is myth and what is actually safely removing the most mounds per acre.

Thanks Jamie. So far, no Fire Ants in central Kentucky. But I use D.E. on out garden for slugs. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY. God Bless and stay safe.

It appears nothing works toward the eradication of fire ants. I dealt with these horrific insects for years before deciding to sell my house and property and move out of the country. I hated to leave but the fire ants won all the battles and ultimately they won the war. I am despaired and emotionally wrecked to this day.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

we use the D Earth for medicinal purposes.

Have you tried Boric acid? I think its more effective than DE.

I heard you should use food grade DE. Was that what you used?

excellent, another good video!

Thank you for the information!! ps Take care of those Fig trees and they'll take care of you!

thanks. good video

Only thing I have found to kill Coastal brown ants etc is AMDRO, will try DE next as AMDRO is expensive

I always use organic methods when possible

It's my understanding that Alabama is the 🐜 capitol of the world 🤣

Beautiful figs trees

Is it safe if I put it on top of a citrus roots?

Hey Mark I got a kick out of your comment about Jerry Mitchalc . He's most likely a better Marksman than all of us .A World Champion to say the least . LOL

You can form a perimeter around your fig trees with a mobile chicken fence and use chickens to eat up all the ants. In fact you could place a temporary chicken coop within the perimeter for the chickens to roost at night and let the birds go to town on the ants over and over. . The chickens get a healthy natural feed during this time so you don't have to spend a dime on feed and as a bonus, your fig trees get a natural fertilizer boost from the chicken droppings. You get great tasting eggs and chicken meat plus a bumper crop of figs. Super win-win. Just be sure to use adult chickes and not chicks.

Which diatomaceous earth did you buy?

More useful knowledge 🙂

Can confirm this stuff is amazing with ants. We occasionally get some kind of species that is really resistant to poison, just will not stop coming. We were so thrilled when they left almost immediately after sprinkling a little around the molding of our kitchen counter (we also gob a bit of vaseline at the entry points if we can identify them) Works like magic, no poison needed.

6:00 you can see a couple ants crawling on the bottom left corner of the video lol. I'm going to try using some DE though. These fire ants are terrorizing my home.

did it kill them or did they just move someplace else though? i guess either way they are gone from that spot .

My goodness! Why have I never thought to try this before when I know all the awesomeness that is DE??? I suppose it’s because I’ve always considered fire ants to be some kind of supernatural spawn of Satan not subject to anything short of some nuclear scorched earth chemical. Even then... Hope has dawned in my little Mississippi garden! Cheers!

Is this "food grade" DE or bedbug type?

I've been wanting to try this but I hears it wasn't good for the bees...any thoughts on that....thank you and God bless. Love your videos ♥️👍♥️👍

Thanks for all the great info and showing all of the follow up. I have a question...so if it rains, do I reapply the same day, or do I have to wait for the grass to dry out? I have two mounds of ants that have survived Ortho max, over n out and amdro...I call those products fire ant relocators 😁. I have a puppy and I need these mounds GONE!

👍

Use a damn shovel not a stick if you want to get their nest

I find them occasionally helpful if you can tolerate the bites actually. The formic acid in their venom is a great anti inflammatory. Got arthritis or a aching back? Get a few bites on the affected areas, boil up the treatment and wait for it to cool. By the time it cools you've had the venom active in your skin long enough to benefit from it. Apply the poultice for about twenty minutes and you're good to go. Arthritis takes a break for a few weeks.

What is the significance of no rainfall? I heard you say, "it's not going to rain" 3 times without any context. Is that good or bad? How does rain or no rain change the effectiveness?

you killed a lot of ants but the queen(s) were moved to another location. we call this "budding" in the insect world. you actually did not kill the colony with DE. it is a great option to deter ants around edible plants.

Works well but take care not to get it into the lungs, it kills also bees and other helpfull insects.

😮

😂

What does that earth do to the ants?

I love the sound of a real man and not snowflakes. Lol

Diatomaceous earth is only a temporary solution, they will be back after a couple of rains. It doesn't actually kill them, it just irritates the crap out of them and they dig deeper and wider next time.

under the bricks

Why kill them at all?