Posted: 3/29/2013 6:20:57 PM EDT
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Ants have finally infested my worm bin and I need a way to get rid of them so I can get back to using the bin. Does anyone know of a good organic control that will get rid of the ants? Whatever solution I end up using needs to be non-toxic for the worms and micro organisms that inhabit the bin.
Thanks for any help. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Corn meal. I came here to post "I've always been told that corn meal works, but, fire ants around here just seem to appreciate the snack." OP, why not use a teaspoon of Amdro and call it good? TRG Just googled Amdro: (3) Amdro cannot be used on food crops
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdro The ants have swarmed the bin. I can't locate a trail going to a nest, so I'm thinking they are actually living inside the bin. There's a bajillion of them in the bedding and food scrapes. Exclusion, baking, etc. isn't going to work because the bed is about 10 feet by 3 feet by 3.5 feet. I'm going to try to crank up the moisture content and see if they can't be persuaded to move on. I will also try the corn meal tip. Does anyone know why corn meal is suppose to get rid of them? |
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I have used DE to take care of crickets. It might take out your worms though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth |
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http://thebayougardener.com/smf/index.php?action=printpage;topic=6839.0
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/live-bait/155217-ants-my-worm-bed.html On the topic of corn meal. I grew up around fire ants. I had never heard of people using cornmeal until I was in my late teens. Oddly, this is about the time that Amdro began to make its way in to use in my area. Amdro looks a lot like corn meal. I suspect someone saw a neighbor putting a yellow, crumbly, product on a mound, stuck their nose over a fence and said, 'Why Ethel, that crazy man is pouring corn meal on those ants...and it worked!" Back in the mid 90s, I had a fire any infestation here at my place. You could not walk without stepping from mound to mound it seemed. I tried the corn meal. I did not want to buy Amdro or other products (I was cheap back then too). The ants ate the corn meal and asked for seconds. I bought three different products. One bait, two powders and went to every mound I could find and sprinkled all three products on each one. I've never had a problem with ants since then. BTW, one of the links mentions putting the legs from your worm bed in to a bucket/bowl of water. Old folks did the same thing with picnic table legs and kitchen tables. They got smart though and used mineral oil, it does not evaporate. Ants can swim, but, the water an oil prevents a scent trail from forming so the others cannot follow them to a nice place to live or eat. TRG |
| I've always used jelly with a bit of borax. They will eat the jelly up and the borax will kill them. There is a risk that if they are living in the worm bed that they will take it back to the colony and it may eventually kill some of the woms but I would say the damage would be localized only to where the colony is living vs a broad-spectrum application that will kill everything. |
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Quoted: I have used DE to take care of crickets. It might take out your worms though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth DE would definitely kill the worms... but you could place it all around the bin and lure the ants out with some sort of bait. They could deliver the DE covered bait to the queen. |