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Joe Tonich
06-06-2004, 11:04 PM
putting down some instant potato flakes. There was a guy on the radio a couple of weeks ago talking about how he gets rid of bugs without pestisides. He said to put down some instant potato flakes where you see ants. It supposedly expands after it's eaten and they explode or something. I tried it and the ant population in the house went WAY down. (I guess they came in to get out of all the rain we've been having. http://www.thewoodworkers.us/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_sad.gif )

Joe

Martin Shupe
06-07-2004, 12:14 AM
Hmmm....I wonder if that would work on fire ants?

Fire ants are a real problem in my neighborhood.

Gary Whitt
06-07-2004, 9:26 AM
A friend of mine tried that and sure enough, ants moved on.
After the first dew and rain, the flakes became food and attracted opossums. :rolleyes:
He's back to using diazinon now.

Greg Heppeard
06-07-2004, 9:41 AM
I've heard that spreading used coffee grounds around works too. I guess the ants don't like crossing the acidic area.

Jim Becker
06-07-2004, 10:27 AM
Simplest and safest solution is plain old borax. Works with many of these critters, including ants. It gets on them and under their "armor" and they carry it back to their nest where it affects others, including the queen. Otherwise, bait stations are a good solution as any chemicals only get taken by the ants and don't "polute" the rest of your home. If you have pets, this is important.

Tim Morton
06-07-2004, 8:04 PM
I came home friday to an "antapalooza" concert on my kitchen counter...on Saturday i went and got some liquid ant traps with "borax" as an active ingredient....they worked GREAT!!! by the end of the day not a single ant was found.

Peter Stahl
06-08-2004, 11:06 AM
Tim,

What was the name of the traps? I have ants outside onder my pavers!

thanks, Pete

Chris Padilla
06-08-2004, 11:24 AM
Peter, try Terro. It is a small bottle of gel-like clear liquid that the ants can't seem to get enough of! They take it back to the nest for everyone to eat and it is supposed to take out the queen and everything. Worked for me. Find the trail, put down a small piece of cardboard, put a few drops...add daily. They could be gone in a few days or it could take longer but it does work. Find Terro at your local h/w store.

http://www.terro.com/