# Ants in my lawn - How to kill?



## Kyle (Jun 24, 2008)

I bought a house in October last year. There are a few ant hill in my lawn. I want them gone. I've tried dumping gallons of water on thier home, but they keep bouncing back. I haven't tried any of the 'big guns', yet.

I went shopping for a commercial ant killer, but found all the ones at my local home depot were full of pyrethrins. I know I have stronger things in my orchid chemical arsenal then pyretrins.

I though about using orthene. 

Anyone have any good solutions for getting rid of any colonies, either homemade or chemical? 

Kyle


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## cwt (Jun 24, 2008)

If you have orthene, use it instead of bying other stuff. We use it for a wide variety of insects in the nursery, even crickets die from it. I think it is the smell that kills everything.
charles


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## NYEric (Jun 24, 2008)

Didn't you see 'The Ant Bully'!!!???


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## Kyle (Jun 24, 2008)

Yes, I aspire to be the ant bully.


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## cnycharles (Jun 24, 2008)

once a while ago at my father's I dumped a bottle of rubbing alcohol on a mound and lit it on fire; I don't remember if there were survivors or anything like that. they were right in the middle of our lawn and of course when mowed would run all over and all


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## benilaca (Jun 24, 2008)

the queen must DIE! flush them out & kill the queen! only one queen per colony. keep flushing & rid off new queens. w/in 45 days all drones are matured & all new queen are dead/killed! colony'll start to shrink. all workers have to search and join those that still have queens. sounded terrible, but one must do what must be done. some use home made [less toxic] w/ 1 Tsp dish soap, 1/2 cp mouthwash, 1/2 cp rubbing alco., 1 tsp tabasco sauce, mixed w/ 1 quart of warm water, and spray aways. don't expose plant to direct sun if spray! wooly aphips are their honey cows! they cultivate [yes, move and put newly hatched aphids in new, tender young leaves, then tickle the w. aphids for honey [a rich source of food]. spray the cracks / cravices w/ rubbing alco. to kill all those tiny w. aphids that you can't get to.


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## NYEric (Jun 25, 2008)

In college I killed off an ant swarm w/ carpet cleaning crystals.


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## Kyle (Jun 25, 2008)

Were they inside or outside?


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## NYEric (Jun 25, 2008)

inside, long story about pitchers of rum and coke, hurling, and passing out.


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## Ron-NY (Jun 25, 2008)

NYEric said:


> inside, long story about pitchers of rum and coke, hurling, and passing out.



"Still going strong after all these beers" :rollhappy:


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## Ron-NY (Jun 25, 2008)

I keep seeing this recipe on the net

Ant Killer recipe
1 or 2 cups of grits

I am from South Georgia, and in the South we have "fire ants." These ants actually inject small amounts of venom into prey, so that's why they hurt so bad when you get bitten by them. This also explains why a lot of people have allergic reactions when they encounter these pests. You could go out and buy expensive ant killers but they are very harmful to children and pets. Instead this method works great. All you need is something you may have in your kitchen: Grits. just take a cup or two of grits and sprinkle them around the ants mound in the yard. When ants see food, they immediately tell everyone in the colony and then start working to feed the colony. An ant's body is made almost entirely of water. Grits are food that soak up water. When an ant eats these grits, his body gets all the water soaked up out of his little body and dies. This is a much better alternative to getting rid of ants in your yard than wasting money on expensive bags of ant killer or bills from your local pest control.


But what are you going to watch when you are bored??? Ants are great entertainment..Drop a dead grasshopper near the mound and watch the fun...Guess I really need to get a life, LOL


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## Heather (Jun 26, 2008)

Hrm...I'd been avoiding this thread as I just didn't have much time but my, what an amusing topic! Between the comment below and Eric's rum debacle...Curious!



Ron-NY said:


> But what are you going to watch when you are bored??? Ants are great entertainment..Drop a dead grasshopper near the mound and watch the fun...Guess I really need to get a life, LOL


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## NYEric (Jun 26, 2008)

_"Some people say "There's a woman to blame"; but I know, it's my own damn fault" _


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## cnycharles (Jun 26, 2008)

grits!?? wow, what does that do to people?..........


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## Kyle (Jun 26, 2008)

Ron, grits are pretty hard to come by this far north.

Kyle


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## Ron-NY (Jun 26, 2008)

I bet you can find them...I see them in the large markets here in upstate NY. They may carry them just for ant treatment :rollhappy:


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## Yoyo_Jo (Jun 26, 2008)

Actually, I bet the average Canuck wouldn't have a clue what grits are...:rollhappy:


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## Kyle (Jun 26, 2008)

Ron, do they sell perogies where in your parts?

Kyle


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## Ron-NY (Jun 27, 2008)

Kyle said:


> Ron, do they sell perogies where in your parts?
> 
> Kyle


 I assume you mean pirogies....potato and potato/cheese but not sauerkraut or mushroom filled ones.  I can only find good, fresh (non smoked), keilbasa at Easter but I can find Krakowska, with or without garlic at one meat market. 

If you want to try grits but can't find any, let me know and I will mail some for you.


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## Ron-NY (Jun 27, 2008)

Yoyo_Jo said:


> Actually, I bet the average Canuck wouldn't have a clue what grits are...:rollhappy:


 and the average Yank wouldn't know how to eat smoked salmon like they do in Canada. (This thread just whetted my apatite and I am off to the store for some smoked salmon. Without grits... thank you, LOL)


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## NYEric (Jun 27, 2008)

Fresh omlette w/ smoked salmon grilled and added in, add grits and its a perfect breakfast! Ummmmmmm.


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## Kyle (Jun 27, 2008)

Ron-NY said:


> I assume you mean pirogies....potato and potato/cheese but not sauerkraut or mushroom filled ones.  I can only find good, fresh (non smoked), keilbasa at Easter but I can find Krakowska, with or without garlic at one meat market.
> 
> If you want to try grits but can't find any, let me know and I will mail some for you.



I think perogy has many spellings. I'm impressed that they are available in your area.

Do you think the grits will ship? I wouldn't mind trying them, for the ants, I may even eat some.

Kyle


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## NYEric (Jun 27, 2008)

You shouldn't have any problem getting grits it's just corn meal.


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## cnycharles (Jun 27, 2008)

Kyle said:


> Ron, do they sell perogies where in your parts?
> 
> Kyle



I know they sell pierogies in binghamton, syracuse, utica and I assume also in buffalo and albany. I know people who make home-made ones with saurkraut and other stuff... lots of eastern european populations along with italian in upstate and general ny state


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## cnycharles (Jun 27, 2008)

i thought to be grits the corn meal had to be treated in soda ash or something like that...... I think they are just 'powdered' (ground up) or such in a box, like lentils and rice and barley. Other option is I know you can find specialty places that will sell them online. I did such a search looking for blue corn meal and found several places and options. maybe a search for 'hominy grits' or just 'grits'?

wow, quite the turn this thread has taken!


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## NYEric (Jun 28, 2008)

"Men, the Army marches on it's stomach!"


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