I live on a old dairy field,which is great for gardening veggies.My problem is ANTS,and i mean billions of colonies in my garden space.I live in Mo.it is so bad i cant be in the gared long enough to do anything!My husband and i take 7 minute shifts to plant.other wise you have ants all over our bodies.Help please,they are in control of my garden!!

When it comes to ants, and especially given your level of infestation, I bend my rules on only using organic methods of pest control.

My husband is deathly allergic to fire ants and we found that the only really effective treatment is Amdro. You sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of the cornmeal bait laced with some sort of poison on each hill and the workers take it back to the nest where everybody eats it and dies.

If there is a more effective, ecologically sound treatment, I too would like to know about it. Forget the suggestions to pour boiling water on the mounds. That is useless, as the tunnels go deeper than the water can penetrate.

We have tons of ants in our garden, too. I'm afraid I don't have an easy answer, but I can tell you some of the things I've done.

The ants farm aphids, or raise them for the honeydew they produce. I mess up their production by blasting them with the hose whenever I can.

Ants don't like to be disturbed, so stir 'em up!
You can also try letting chickens scratch 'em up by throwing grain in the sections of your garden you're not planting in.

Last, if you're not opposed to boric acid sugar water as a bait, it does get rid of some of 'em. I use the following recipe: 3 cups water, 1 cup sugar, and 3-4 tsp boric acid. Just put it in a container, and they'll swarm to it, eat it and die. I don't know how organic it is, but boric acid is used in eye drops... Hope this helps.

we had bad fire ants whenwe lived in georgia. my grandmother told me to sprinkle grits all around them. helped. they'd take them down and eat them i guess and swell up from them. i don't like the poison approach. entomologist told me that eventually the ants fight each other and kill themselves off. but try the grits for a few weeks.

Here are a few options you can try.
I have been successful with using pine oil injected into fire ant mounds, there is a web site that sells a ready made product.

Another method used successfully is the use of carbon dioxide, one method used is a compressed cylinder-regulator that is hooked up to a tube which penetrates the soil where the queen lives. Second option dig a hole directly on top of the mound and place a block of dry ice there quickly sealing it with a tarp or other plastic.

Safers offers several different products and of course there is the M.M. boric acid bait trick.

I live in north Texas, the fire ant capital of the world. Beneficial nematodes have completely eliminated all of the ants and termites from my property but all the neighbors (you know them, the ones that keep Amdro in business) still have active mounds. Make sure the ground is completely soaked (After a good rain is best) then apply the nematodes mixed in water. Try to get a pint or so in each hill. It takes a month or so, but it works great.

How can I get some of these nematodes?

Down here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we have just started to experiment with a predator flie imported from South America. It lays its eggs in fireants then the larvae eat the fireant popping its head off when they are through. The scientist think it will reduce the number of ants to 1/6 of the present number. The ants are suppose to be so scared of it they hide cowering in their nest during daylight hours. It's to early to tell yet but hang in there!

What exactly are grits??

Grits are dried corn that is soaked in lye to remove the skin from the kernel then ground into a coarse meal. They are then boiled to make a mush and eaten for breakfast by many people here in the South. Ofcourse they have instant grits now. Personally I think feeding fireants grits just makes them fat.

It's always so good to hear a testimonial about an organic approach that really works when you're following a thread that is suggesting things otherwise. We don't have ant troubles here in Pennsylvania, but I am always interested when organic gardeners are troubled by things that there just doesn't seem to be an effective organic solution for. All of us find ourselves in those dilemmas, where their are other EFFECTIVE non-organic options & we are so torn & tempted to just solve the dang problem. (I'm thinking myself of poison ivy & iris boreres as 2 instances where I never came up with an effective organic solution to my problem & lost battles both times & how hard it is to stay pure.) So, thanks for your post!!

My mom swears that when we lived in Texas, all she had to do was give me a digging instrument of some sort and turn me loose for an ant-free yard. If you don't mind your yard looking like a minefield for about three months, disturb their nests, THEN pour boiling water on them. I mean, make their mound look like you're digging a well. The queens are usually pretty deep. This is one of the few very organic ways of getting rid of them. As far as I'm concerned, the boric acid trick mentioned in one of the other posts is perfectly organic and fine, and might slow them down enough for you to get a running(digging?) start. Hope this helps!

We are being tormented by ants that don't live in ant hills. They live in plants and in the ground. I am trying to find out about the beneficial nematodes you've mentioned. Can anyone help?

I agree with Chilidillo. I've used beneficial nematodes for a mole cricket problem here in Florida. They work quite well. Although I did not target ants directly it has reduced the number of mounds in my yard. The only place I didn't treat was the unprepared beds consequently there is where I do have an ant problem. That will change in the spring. If your local garden shop does not sell benefical nematodes, try online at www.rinconvitova.com for a large quantity at a good price. Good Luck

The problem with boiling water on ants is that it kills everything. If you just had a couple of mounds that would probably be o.k. For the type of infestation you are talking about, I would go with the nematodes. I have not tried them yet but I am fixin' to. Diatomaceous earth is supposed to work too.