Ants taking over my hours-old cedar raised bed
femc
8 years ago
Just finished filling our new raised cedar bed. Cardboard + mulch + triple mix + compost. Literally a few hours later the thing is crawling with small brownish black ants (not red and not carpenter). They`re inside and out. Having a grand old time. What gives? What do I do? The netting is to temporarily discourage our visiting cats from giving me a high five for the new litter box ;-)
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gumby_ct
8 years ago
digdirt2
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Raised beds made with old shutters
Comments (13)Fostina, bad in what way?, can you elaborate? i.e. A recent newscast on TV mentioned drinking water out of garden hoses is not something that you'd want to do. They showed by a chemical analysis that the vinyl chloride in a sun heated garden hose containing water was leach out into the water in the hose. So the water in the hose was not something that you would not want to drink. What came to mind when I saw this newscast was all of the schedule 40 PVC piple in use today for supplying underground water into homes. Well, turns out that not all plastics are equivalent. Some have stabilizers that prevent the above from happening. Also, the PVC is underground and not exposed to sunlight. So these are apples to oranges to grapes comparisons. YOUR specific question is does the material in your old plastic hard jon boat get absorbed into the plant material then transfer to the vegetables then into you. Did you find anything on this different case? If so, can you post your references? .. because folks who do container gardening may want to know....See MoreTreating raised bed for ants
Comments (6)Yes, diatomaceous earth does seem to be somewhat effective against ants. They make some with bait mixed in that seems more effective than the plain food grade fossil shell flower against ants. I mix the food grade stuff with the pet food to help keep ants out of the feed bins. It is safe enough for us to eat (and we likely do since they use it in grain storage to discourage pests.) Only drawbacks I've experienced with DE is the dust, it isn't really good to breath it or get it in your eyes and it will have a drying effect on your skin which only makes sense as that it how it kills the bugs, by cutting their cuticle and drying them out. DE is safe even for the earth worms but avoid dusting it on any flowers since it would be bad for the bees. I've also used sticky stuff around the stems of some plants (like Okra) to stop the ants farming aphids or chewing on the pods and that worked well. We are in Florida and the ants seem to rule here. The other half has a steadily worsening allergy to ant bites so we have had to resort to to using some stuff against them. In the garden area we are trying some spinosad product and hopefully that will help. Here is a link that might be useful: www.TCLynx.com...See MoreHelp my lawn is being taken over by ants...
Comments (69)The ones who are "cringing" at polluting the earth with pesticides......you must be from California. I promise you the earth will not fall off its axis nor will it cause you another quake if you take the ants out with a chemical. You allow the government to pollute millions with a flu vaccine that contains harmful ingredients. You probably are first in line to get it. Your government produces radioactive materials and your worried about a chemical killing an aggravating pest. Your oceans are polluted with gas, oil, fecal matter dumped from heads on boats. Yet dont spray a chemical for ants? I'm so sick of tree hugger mentality. Show me action instead of reaction "words" to problems. How about you get out and plant trees to replenish what loggers have cut to build your table, couch, chair, doors, and house. Tell the gov to stop polluting your earth. OR ACCEPT THE FACT THAT THIS IS LIFE.we are the top of the food chain as long as we use materials that God gave us the intelligence to produce. I will never support your beliefs as long as you are the type of people who tell others ...you can't put a barrel to catch rainwater coming off your roof to be used as you wish! GOD MADE THAT WATER! I understand that aquifers need to be replenished. But does the rainwater caught by the few actually hurt the water supply? It's a 55 gallon barrel. And it doesn't catch 1/3 of that after a rain. So spray for your ants, put out granules to kill or run those pesky ants, termites,roaches,spiders,Grubbs,beetles,etc to your neighbors yards, who use natural deterrents(vinegar and water). Sorry I'm so harsh but by gosh sometimes you fight fire with fire. Death to ants...lol...See MoreHelp: Bees under my raised beds!
Comments (8)If they are Yellow Jackets, it can be a safety issue as they can be aggressive defending their nest. I had a similar problem a couple of years ago. I couldn't go anywhere near the raised bed, so I had to use chemicals. The raised bed was built with old RR ties and they were deep in the rotted areas. If you can see where the entrance is(there may be more than one), get a can of pesticide that shoots a long stream, go out at dusk(or later)when they're not active, stay a safe distance away and shoot as much into the hole as you can, then retreat quickly. Dress covered from head to toe just in case. It may take a few days for the nest to die, but over time you will see less and less activity around the entrance. I know it sucks to have to do this, but you and yours need to be safe in your garden. I accidentally stepped on a Yellow Jacket nest once, and a swarm of them chased me for a block, and yes, I got stung. Whatever you decide to do, be safe! If need be call in pest control to take care of it for you. You can also check out the pests forum for threads on bees/hornets/wasp nests. HTH Here is a link that might be useful: garden clinic...See Morestevie
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agofemc
8 years agohabjolokia z 6b/7
8 years ago
Labradors
8 years ago
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
8 years agogumby_ct
8 years agofemc
8 years agoWhen I checked yesterday the corners of the bed where black with ants, all in the crevasses where the cedar boards meet. The soil was crawling and I'm not exaggerating, its like the bed IS an ant hill.
This morning my husband says he's figured-out what they're going bananas over: He whipped the corners with mineral oil to prevent the wood from splitting.
I had tried to see whether they liked fatty or sugary treats and they definitely loved the sugar and ignored the peanut butter. But there's surely something in that oil that they like. A lot.
Sherry8aNorthAL
8 years agogumby_ct
8 years agofemc
8 years agoclg7996
8 years agostevie
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agodigdirt2
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
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LoneJack Zn 6a, KC