# ANTS



## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

I don't get on this section much but I do know there are some people on here with a lot of knowledge that might be able to help. I have a problem with harvester ants. I have spent over $100 on stuff that seems to move them a little or makes them stay down a week and then come back more than ever. I sure hope one of you can help.

Thanks


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## Johnny9 (Sep 7, 2005)

Do they carry pieces of leaves and have a trail to a hole in the ground? If so they are leaf cutter ants and only work when its cool. Like you have spent lots of $ on products and nothing worked so I tried a quart of gasoline down the hole and stomped it closed. THIS WORKED and the entire colony dissapeared. But I have 20 acres on a creek with sand loam type soil.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

They are big red ants. They are not leaf cutters. These guys build a mound and have a hole big enough to stick your finger in. I have some figs and pomegranates growing around these but they are young and will not produce for a couple years except the figs did put on a few and the birds got them. I do not want to use gasoline. I could use chlorine and gas them but I don't want to go that route either. I would like to use some kind of pesticide or home remedy that I could harvest some crops in 3 or 4 years from now.


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## Muddskipper (Dec 29, 2004)

If they are not bothering the trees or tearing up the foliage then your good by doing nothing.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Ant-Red_vq1968.htm


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

I do like beneficial insects but they are coming near my house. If they get under the house it may cost me a lot of money. It looks like a gopher colony where they are. I did not disturb them for several years until they started to spread out. I like the aspertane ideal. I will try that. I really hate to use pesticides if there is some other way to control insects. I have sandy soil and no water nearby. Thanks for the info.


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## uncle dave (Jul 27, 2008)

I don't know what will work, got a big nest of them at the lease, pored a quart of old vodka down the nest hole, didn't faze them but they all had a silly grin on their face.


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## bcosf (Mar 5, 2006)

Have you tried Ortho Orthene? This stuff seems to work pretty well. You do need to stay ontop of them though, eventully it kills them all or they get the point and move to someone else's property.


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## fish-r-ride (Jan 5, 2009)

I put some gas in a pump-up sprayer one time and turned it upside down and put nothing but fumes down there then stomped it closed. Go to another do the same, and so on until I did most of the holes and stomped all the holes closed I could find. About 6 months later you would not believe how much ground was caving in. This was also a cool part of the year.


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## scwine (Sep 7, 2006)

I used about a bag of ant bait over several days. They would carry every piece down the hole. A week later they where gone.


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## castaway300 (Oct 6, 2007)

*ants*

the image on the top is harvester ants.
the image on the bottom is leaf cutters.


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Aamdro will kill them. ATM has a warning out not to over sue that stuff because it will also kill the *beneficial *harvester ant.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

The bottom picture Castaway posted looks like my back yard. Everyone has told me they are harvester ants. I don't know for sure but they have a big colony and I have not seen any of them hauling any debris in the holes just taking it out. Amdro did not effect them.


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## Law Dog (Jul 27, 2010)

Try a quart of gasoline down the hole and stomped it closed this should work.


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## Johnny9 (Sep 7, 2005)

castaway300 said:


> the image on the top is harvester ants.
> the image on the bottom is leaf cutters.


See the bottom picture and how large the is, I have pour gasoline into about a third of the holes and stomped the holes closed and within a couple of days the entire colony has disappeared and no evidence they came back. Articles say up to a half a million ants could live in one this size


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## castaway300 (Oct 6, 2007)

*leaf cutter ants*



Mattsfishin said:


> The bottom picture Castaway posted looks like my back yard. Everyone has told me they are harvester ants. I don't know for sure but they have a big colony and I have not seen any of them hauling any debris in the holes just taking it out. Amdro did not effect them.


"Amdro ant block " is good for leaf cutter ants.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

Propane gas is heavier than air. You might take a plumbers propane bottle torch, rig a tube to it, shove it down the hole and turn the gas on at a low rate. It will settle down to the lowest parts of the nest filling it from the bottom up and displacing the oxygen in the nest.


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## DuckMendenhall (Nov 5, 2007)

We used "Anti Fuego" with our fire ants in the yard. It is concentrated mix of Molasses, and Orange Citrus, and some other stuff, but organic. 1/4 cup per gallon of water, and works instantly. 

I think it is $16.99 for a large bottle, I half a bottle left and treated around 10 ant beds with it...I have only seen it at Plants for All Seasons, and of course that is where I shop.


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## 1fisher77316 (Oct 30, 2004)

Leaf cutters are very hard to get rid of.
1Fisher77316


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## donaken (Nov 25, 2010)

I have no idea, but have always been partial to fire....I would shovel a small hole in the middle, pour in a gallon of gas, let it soak a few min, then light it....


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## Johnny9 (Sep 7, 2005)

Gasoline getting cheap $2.31 a gallon and the best for these darn critters. IT WORKS TOO !!!!


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

If they are what we call just plain ole red ants,I'd leave them alone.When we got fireants,the red ants disappeared taking the horny toads with them.We fought red ants hard when I was a kid,but they never hurt a thing except you when they got between your toes in the garden.The ants in the top pic looks like something you need to get control of fast!


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

Sorry.The bottom picture looks like the bad arse ants to me.


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