Evil little fire ants won't leave my pond alone

[Ouida]

Ok so first I posted on here about termites eating holes in my liner. Lucky the tree they infested came down. I repaired and even put in a modest waterfall and added a 55gallon barrel filter. Ok moving forward. I now notice both the biting fire ants and the tiny red ants all around my pond. I treat the yard yearly, but what is safe for along the edge of your pond? Oh I now have been posting on this site for a year. So once again thanks for all your help.

 

[Lisak1]

We don't have fire ants but we do have red ants. We use diatomaceous earth to control them. Just sprinkle it directly on their hill or nest or in the path they crawl. It won't harm your pond. You do have to reapply anytime it rains, but it's cheap and easy to use.

 

[Mmathis]

We are neighbors, so I understand about fire ants — I love all of God’s creatures, but I draw the line with these guys! I hate, hate, hate them! We’ve been fortunate not to have a significant FA problem for the past 5 years or so (knock on wood), but am having a terrible time with carpenter ants. They’re not as bad or as aggressive as FA’s but are a problem because I have a box turtle habitat and they are a danger to my turtles!

Because of the turtles, I have to avoid pesticides, so I too, pretty much depend on diatomaceous earth — at least around the pond and the turtles. You want to use it judiciously or you risk impacting your beneficial insects. AMDRO is the best thing against FA’s though — just be sure not to use it too close to the water. I don’t know if FA’s will take regular baits, but for the Carpenter ants, I’m currently experimenting with boric acid solutions (ask me for more info if you’re interested). Inconclusive so far.

@Lisak1 I order my DE from AMAZON, and it’s in my “frequent flyer” file, LOL!

 

[Lisak1]

Same @Mmathis ! We get ants in the house any time we have lots of rain so we sprinkle it across the doorways coming into the house and anyplace I see them trailing. I've heard boric acid is good to use also, but DE is so useful in the garden for so many things that I just keep it on hand.

You do want to be careful with it as @Mmathis said - I limit my use to insects that creep on the ground to keep it off any plants that bees might land on.

 

[addy1]

We fight ants constantly trying to come into the house, the little sugar ants. The worse is when we are processing the honey. They just show up. We do spray in the house every week or so, outside we use the DE but with the rain this year it is a constant replace battle. I have some stuff I bought on line that stops them in their tracks. I only use it in the house.
Tractor supply sells huge bags of it cheap.

 

[Ouida]

We are neighbors, so I understand about fire ants — I love all of God’s creatures, but I draw the line with these guys! I hate, hate, hate them! We’ve been fortunate not to have a significant FA problem for the past 5 years or so (knock on wood), but am having a terrible time with carpenter ants. They’re not as bad or as aggressive as FA’s but are a problem because I have a box turtle habitat and they are a danger to my turtles!

Because of the turtles, I have to avoid pesticides, so I too, pretty much depend on diatomaceous earth — at least around the pond and the turtles. You want to use it judiciously or you risk impacting your beneficial insects. AMDRO is the best thing against FA’s though — just be sure not to use it too close to the water. I don’t know if FA’s will take regular baits, but for the Carpenter ants, I’m currently experimenting with boric acid solutions (ask me for more info if you’re interested). Inconclusive so far.

@Lisak1 I order my DE from AMAZON, and it’s in my “frequent flyer” file, LOL!

Thanks for the info. Yep I hate to put anything down as we love all the stuff in our little pond. From walking sticks, tadpoles, a bluish water spider, fish that are not goldfish, lol, but ants and mosquitoes get no love from us. Can anyone tell me if this DE stops working if wet? And can it effect tadpoles? Thanks

 

[Lisak1]

Can anyone tell me if this DE stops working if wet?

It does - as I mentioned in my first post, you need to reapply any time it rains. And no, no harm to tadpoles.

 

[Ouida]

It does - as I mentioned in my first post, you need to reapply any time it rains. And no, no harm to tadpoles.

Ok, wasn't sure if you meant because it gets washed away when it rains. Will get some today. I really never heard of it before, but I dont really use pesticides, except "over and out" for fire ants. I love that stuff, no ant hills all summer, but cant apply that by pond or food gardens. Again thanks.