I am having problems with ants in my raised beds and in my patio (where I have several container plants/veg). At first, i just left them alone as they didnt seem to harm my plants. Then I saw them eating through the stems of my choi sim, and also a cauliflower seedling (they like brassicas??). At the same time, i noticed they were starting to farm aphids on my camomile, my sunflowers, and some of my herbs. And I got mad - very mad! I tried using cinnamon, using chilli powder, using bicarbonate of soda (all solutions I googled)... no use. Not even a dent in the population. Next, I bought DE and spread them all along their paths. No difference. In the end, I harvested all the choi sim and poured jugs of boiling water on them and where they congregated (be very careful of hurting the surrounding veg though!). I am happy to say that got rid of most of them :) I do this whenever they start damaging my veg too badly now. Cheap, easy and organic!I also have a couple of ant baits around the patio. This also works well for me. Its not possible to get rid of them completely and I can tolerate their presence fine if they dont eat and damage my plants too much. As Dave said, most of the time, ants dont really do much harm. I hope yours are not like mine!

Did some research on here and learned of the aphid/ant relationship. Very interesting!! Anyway, I took the water hose to the squash plant and got rid of all of the "dots." None of my other plants show signs, but I'll keep the hose handy. Thanks

Lots of discussions here about 'aphid control' that the search will pull up to read but average numbers in the average home garden can be just hosed off plants with a garden hose or spray bottle of plain water. You can even add a small amount of dish soap to the water in the bottle to kill them if used with care. And there are all sorts of soapy-water based commercial aphid sprays available. With small infestations or in small gardens all you need is a pair of gloves and squishing fingers to eliminate most of them. But the big attractant for them, what leads to major infestations in any garden, is an over-abundance of nitrogen use in and around the garden. Excess nitrogen vaporizes into the air and acts like a flashing neon beer sign for aphids. ;-) As for Amdro, in addition to the points Dan made, you use it in such small amounts directly on the mound that any that could somehow migrate to your garden would be miniscule and still pose no threat to you. Dave

You can make a moat from a spray paint can cover, make a hole large enough for the hanger of the feeder to go through and fill the space the nozzle protector ring and outside with water. Or go to a bird feeder store and buy a moat. Just be sure to check the water level every other day or so. https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEV0Pq7i9ZdCwAri1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyampwdTE1BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjM2OThfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=hummingbird+feeder+moats&fr=mcafee