Ants!!!!!!!!!

[ZPalms]

I made a post a couple days ago about my coconut having ant problem but my yard has been having a huge influx of ants coming in and you can see trails of them walking everywhere and I'm overwhelmed what to do to get rid of them?? They are in my palm beds and around my pots and under my pots and everywhere!!!! I don't know what to get for them that won't harm potted plants or plants in the ground

[UK_Palms]

I had a bad problem with ants back in July/August. I put down a ton of powder, which seemed to work and I also disturbed the nests as much as possible. If you see lines of them just smash them up with a newspaper or something as much as possible to disrupt them, kill/injure them, scare them off etc. Maybe spray them off pots with a hose if possible? Target nests with boiling water, or flames if possible. Ant powder will be your best bet though, or at least it was for me. I managed to solve the problem within 1-2 weeks.

Now I have the rodent infestation back again though. I much prefer the ants over all the mice/rats to be honest. I went outside the other night with my phone torch out and about 50 rats scampered across lawn and side beds. Like a proper infestation. They eat everything and cannibalise each other on my lawn. I spent the whole of Saturday night camped out with a rifle picking them off. Now my garden waste bin/trash is full up with over 100 dead rodents and it stinks. I have never seen so many flies as today.

I can still see the rats running about as soon as the sun starts setting and I'm hearing them in my walls and ceiling too. I put a glue trap outside this evening and it was full up with rats/mice within 5 minutes flat. I couldn't get them off the pad so I just threw it in the outdoor waste bin after smashing them with a shovel. The pest control man has been out to the entire neighbourhood, multiple times. This is my 3rd rodent plague here in the past 4 years now. And it is a plague. I think they have become immune to the poisons.

[5am]

I sprinkle some Orthene fire ant powder on my potted plants (palms included) when they have ants and it doesn’t seem to hurt them. It does hurt the ants, though! And every now and then I’ll mix various neem products into jugs to pour on my potted plants once in a while and they’re generally pest free. Don’t know if it helps to control ants, though. 
 

The rest of this I learned after I found a scorpion in the house and couldn’t afford to burn it down and start over. The next best option was obviously to murder everything. 

In the yard I put down Amdro and Sevin granules with a spreader. That combo works wonders! …Except against red harvester ants. Still don’t know how to get them. 

If the ants have made it to your house you’ll want to spray the perimeter inside and out (including around doors, windows, and floors) with something like Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer. Terro ant baits work too, but it’ll be days or weeks before they stop coming. Also use set off some bug foggers when you can be out of the house for 3 or more hours. Obviously if you have children or pets you need to make proper arrangements so they aren’t around for any of that. 

[JLM]

When i get fire ant colonies in my potted plants i put down the orthene powder and they are dead overnight, the entire colony, just obliterated.

[RyManUtah]

Mostly I ignore them until they become a nuisance. At which point, dig up one nest and throw it on the other and they attack each other. A major infestation - weed burner. 

[Merlyn]

Amdro fire ant bait, all types of ants will take it back to the nest and it kills the nest.  It takes 2 to 3 days on fire ants nests, about the same on others.  

[ZPalms]

21 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

I had a bad problem with ants back in July/August. I put down a ton of powder, which seemed to work and I also disturbed the nests as much as possible. If you see lines of them just smash them up with a newspaper or something as much as possible to disrupt them, kill/injure them, scare them off etc. Maybe spray them off pots with a hose if possible? Target nests with boiling water, or flames if possible. Ant powder will be your best bet though, or at least it was for me. I managed to solve the problem within 1-2 weeks.

Now I have the rodent infestation back again though. I much prefer the ants over all the mice/rats to be honest. I went outside the other night with my phone torch out and about 50 rats scampered across lawn and side beds. Like a proper infestation. They eat everything and cannibalise each other on my lawn. I spent the whole of Saturday night camped out with a rifle picking them off. Now my garden waste bin/trash is full up with over 100 dead rodents and it stinks. I have never seen so many flies as today.

I can still see the rats running about as soon as the sun starts setting and I'm hearing them in my walls and ceiling too. I put a glue trap outside this evening and it was full up with rats/mice within 5 minutes flat. I couldn't get them off the pad so I just threw it in the outdoor waste bin after smashing them with a shovel. The pest control man has been out to the entire neighbourhood, multiple times. This is my 3rd rodent plague here in the past 4 years now. And it is a plague. I think they have become immune to the poisons.

Wow! sounds like you should burn the whole neighborhood! 😂 I hope you get clear of them eventually because that sounds crazy! everyone need to set the undergrowth on fire! I'm sure to get some Orthene seems like a good bet!

19 minutes ago, 5am said:

I sprinkle some Orthene fire ant powder on my potted plants (palms included) when they have ants and it doesn’t seem to hurt them. It does hurt the ants, though! And every now and then I’ll mix various neem products into jugs to pour on my potted plants once in a while and they’re generally pest free. Don’t know if it helps to control ants, though. 
 

The rest of this I learned after I found a scorpion in the house and couldn’t afford to burn it down and start over. The next best option was obviously to murder everything. 

In the yard I put down Amdro and Sevin granules with a spreader. That combo works wonders! …Except against red harvester ants. Still don’t know how to get them. 

If the ants have made it to your house you’ll want to spray the perimeter inside and out (including around doors, windows, and floors) with something like Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer. Terro ant baits work too, but it’ll be days or weeks before they stop coming. Also use set off some bug foggers when you can be out of the house for 3 or more hours. Obviously if you have children or pets you need to make proper arrangements so they aren’t around for any of that. 

Luckily the ants have not made it on the house or in the house and they show no interest in the house but it looks like Orthene is popular amongst this post so I will pick up some of that and if I see amdro and sevin ill also get those. Amdro and sevin doesn't harm palms or banana trees or inground plants in general?

17 minutes ago, JLM said:

When i get fire ant colonies in my potted plants i put down the orthene powder and they are dead overnight, the entire colony, just obliterated.

That's very good to hear, I need the ants gone very quick, I put down ground cinnamon where all the ants were to maybe hold them off for a while until I get some poison haha, I don't know if that even works 😂

9 minutes ago, RyManUtah said:

Mostly I ignore them until they become a nuisance. At which point, dig up one nest and throw it on the other and they attack each other. A major infestation - weed burner. 

the ants in my yard don't seem to be making hills or anything they just hide under the stones that I have my pots sitting on or they hide under the plant bed stones in the cracks. Id follow this tip if they were easy to access and watch a war go down 😂

6 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

Amdro fire ant bait, all types of ants will take it back to the nest and it kills the nest.  It takes 2 to 3 days on fire ants nests, about the same on others.  

I'll definitely get some as long as I know it doesn't affect palms?

[Krampuss]

Oh, the ant invasion struggle is real! I had a similar ordeal last summer. I found that mixing borax with sugar and placing it as bait lured them away. It's like their own secret feast. Also, a sprinkle of diatomaceous earth around pots and beds worked wonders – it's like an ant barrier. Safe for plants, but ants hate it.

[Krampuss]

Ask a specialist if these methods don't help (like richlandpestbee.com). They should know everything about getting rid of ants. Hang in there; you'll reclaim your space from the ant takeover!