You will have to find a plant/human safe means of controlling them. From what I can tell with a problematic ant mount of my own (they don't bite me thank goodness, they just major in aphid farming) pesticides like Sevin simply do not work on them.

I am currently researching my options so will watch this thread to see what ideas are presented.

Ants love cowpeas. They are feeding not on the flowers, but on a substance produced by the bumpy pads located on the stem just below the flowers. I grow a lot of yardlong beans (which are just climbing cowpeas) and they attract ants, wasps, and ladybugs... but it is the ants, not the wasps, that are the biggest nuisance. They defend the vines vigorously. The wasps seem to get intoxicated, they act very subdued.

When picking yardlongs, I just thump the stem to knock them off. But then, my rows are far enough apart that my body is not in contact with the plants. I used to have serious ant problems on my okra, biting me as I brushed the plants... so I know how you feel, Faeriedust.

What you need is to find one of the "killing ants" threads. There are many ways to do so, most of which are only partially effective, but would keep the population down to a tolerable level.

Boiling water poured on the nest at night will kill most of them; adding some insecticidal soap will increase this method's effectiveness. Watch for new nests popping up near the original site, and repeat as necessary. There are also poisons that can be applied to the nest (such as diazinon), but if the nest is inside your garden, I wouldn't recommend their use.

For the most part, I have put up with ants, since other than their propensity for farming aphids, they are beneficial. And as an organic gardener, I use chemicals only as a last resort. But one year my garden was invaded by carpenter ants, which became destructive. They also were attracted to the yardlongs, and their bites were painful. To get rid of them, I used the liquid ant baits, placed along their runs. Since they are for indoor use, and to prevent any animals from getting into the bait, I covered the baits with overturned nursery flats. Within a week, the ants were gone.

Zeedman - What does "farming aphids" mean? I have tons of ants in the garden too, mostly just the tiny ones. They seem to REALLY like the straw I used as mulch. I never used straw before, and I never had such an ant problem before. Does the "farming" mean that they attract aphids into my garden?

Fanfortony, ants won't attract aphids to the garden - they will bring them there, and spread them from plant to plant. They feed on a substance that the aphid produces; it's mostly a symbiotic relationship. So sometimes when a gardener observes an aphid problem, what they really have is an ant problem.

Generally, this aphid infestation occurs early in the season, and is only temporary... if left alone, natural predators (ladybugs, lacewings, predatory flies) will usually control the population naturally. I've even observed wasps feeding on them.

So normally, ants & their aphids are just a minor inconvenience, and no action is required. I'm watching this process take place right now in my garden; the aphid population is much less than it was a week ago, and soon there will be few left.

The problem is that ants, by spreading aphids plant to plant, can quickly spread disease. In such a case, killing the aphids is only a temporary solution - the ants will just bring more, and the loss to disease can be catastrophic. You need to first control the ants, then the aphids.

Interesting. Thank you Zeedman.

I thump the fences for my peas or spray my peas with a firm water spray to knock the ants down, and then pick quickly.

I need to kill the ant hills, but I don't like the idea of pesticides so close to my garden.

Thanks everyone! I have been thumping the vines as I go thru' to pick and it seems to knock off some of them, but there are an unbelieveable amount of ants out there. I'll just have to try to pick what I can, endure some bites and next year I think I may plant them to climb up a fence or teepees thereby keeping my legs out of the knee high vines.

Zeedman - thanks so much for all your great info! I'll check out the ant threads and may even put a few of the ant traps near the vines to see if it will keep the population down a bit.

I've looked for the ant home and can't find it, but I do have straw down in the garden and it could be just about anywhere. I sometimes wonder if straw is more of a problem than a help. (??)

Thanks again!

Ants here are a real problem. I just recently learned about aphid farming when I lost half of the large plants in my garden...cucumbers and squash mostly.

Go to your local organic gardening center and ask for orange oil. It can be mixed in water (1-2 oz per gallon) and a touch of cheap generic dish liquid to help it mix in the water. I have a 2.5 gallon sprayer that works well. It can be sprayed weekly on plants that have an established root system. The orange oil is safe and suffocates pests on the plants, including ants. I have also sprayed it at the base of the plant and in the soil to deter them.
It is best to spray the orange oil at night or early in the morning when it is cool. Spraying in the heat will burn your plants.
If you have younger plants, ask your organic gardener what they recommend for them.
Be careful of any organic "pest and fungus control" sprays as they are tough on young plants as well, but can be great for controlling pests and the fungus and other disease spread by aphid farming ants. They cannot typically be used on young plants - I learned that the hard way. (o:
Best of Luck!