Ants again

11 years ago

Some of you might remember a few years ago I mentioned (complained) about having so many ants in my side yard, it looked like I was plowing a field?

No?

Well. Lemme remind you:

A neighbor gave me 11 dumptruck loads of dirt he had when he dug out a driveway. I was thrilled, given the grading on the side of my house was, for lack of a better term, "swampy."

I didn't have $$ for sod or seed at that point, so there was some washing away of the nice top soil layer (since remedied). Soon after, I noticed an incredible number of large, tall ant houses. Hills, I guess. Many coming up from the vague tired treads of the bobcat. All I could think of was fire ants, but luckily, not.

I had an exterminator over for my reoccurring termite problem. He looked over and asked, "What are you growing this season?"
I replied, "Ants."
He was absolutely horrified. Said he'd never seen anything like it.
He sprayed the yard at no charge, since he could foresee them invading the house. 5 years later, not a noticeable problems. Mice are.

Getting to the point of this story, I haven't mowed my lawn in 4 weeks because my mower is broken (again.) I was just out trudging through the knee high grass for some crazy reason.

I kept kicking ant hills that were as all as the grass. Horrifying. I can't tell you how many smaller ones I stepped on. All I know is I can tell the difference between earth and hill with my bare feet.

Since insecticide doesn't seem to work on them, I went around the yard and puffed Boric Acid into the hills. I will report back as to whether or not they take this back to their Queen (s) and the population diminishes.

Thought you'd like the story.

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Comments (5)

posierosie_zone7a
11 years ago
Well, that certainly makes me think twice about fill dirt! Yikes!
sequoiadendron_4
11 years ago
I wonder if it was just a bad year for ants this and 5 years ago. I've had an unusually high amount of ant colonies around our house and yard this year. This includes two intrusions into the house.
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CEFreeman_GW DC/MD Burbs 7b/8a
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago

Perhaps where you might be.
For me, it's been the norm since the fill dirt installation. I'm even fighting them in the house now.

Oh - the boric acid. A friend kindly came and mowed my yard while I was at work. Blew that idea.

(Whine coming:) I appreciate the help so much, but there's always a cost. I don't get why people seem to be oblivious to blowing grass into gardens. This isn't the 1st nor 3rd time someone's done this over the years. I spend YEARS trying to kill the weeds that come from those seeds. With my grass over knee high, the seed pods were waving in the wind. Now they're in the garden.
Even after I unburied many of the border plants and shrubs, I know next year it'll be a new fight all over again. Just another reason I don't accept well-meaning help. Yes. Gift horse. Mouth. Pass.
If I can mow to keep the grass out of my immense gardens, I know it can be done with just a little thought...
User
11 years ago
CE,

Amdro. You buy it at Home Depo. Read the instructions, and use it fresh. Use it all, you have a bad ant problem. I use the one for fire ants, works on all kinds of ants, doesn't have to be fire ants. We have all kinds of ants where I live, and trust me, it works.

Wear shoes when you go outside. I'm surprised you haven't been bit up bad yet. The reason you had so many ants on that dirt wasn't the fill, it was the fact that you said you had a dampness problem. The ants LOVE dampness, so there you go. Nice fresh dirt and dampness to tunnel in, equals LOTS of ants. They LOVE water, dampness, anything that is wet.

I hear you about the mower, someone stole ours from out of our yard. You know we had to borrow a mower from my daughters boyfriend, (we hate doing that), and of course there is no bag attached for the seed heads, so, we just mowed it. I am hoping mabey some of those seeds will grow for us, LOL, save us on grass seed.
CEFreeman_GW DC/MD Burbs 7b/8a
Original Author
11 years ago
Ok! Sounds like a plan.

Sorry about your mower. I think that's far worse than mine just not working!