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Ant control

Judy:

If these are the species from Argentina that invade homes (Argentine ants),
they will be invading your flats and pots on the bottom, where there is both
heat and moisture.  The most damage they do is spreading lac-producing
insects (aphids, mealys, scale, etc.) through the greenhouse.  They also
feed on root growing tips.  These critters are often called perfume ants
because they have a citrusy odor when crushed.  It is caused by the trail
pheromone, a compound closely related to citral. 

I've been told, and have confirmed, that they have a poor sense of smell.  I
found out by making a strong solution of 1 part boric acid to 4 parts of
sugar in enough water to keep it from crystallizing out.  Having been told
that ants have a good sense of smell, I added flavorings that were supposed
to be powerful ant or bee attractants.  These include maple and strawberry,
made up in part by flavorants derived from sugars cooked with proteins.

I put some of this syrup down on their trails.  I had to shove some of them
into it to get them to start consuming the bait.  It didn't seem to work
very well, even though the pools of bait disappeared after a week.  Other
formulas call for making a dough of boric acid/sugar/flour and placing balls
of bait at the end of open pill vials laid on their side.

What worked for me was the use of rubbing alcohol-moistened paper towels to
mop up the ants and their eggs from the underside of my flats and the
propagation mat before they had carved out nests inside the pot.  The
alcohol kills off the ants and their eggs; hitting them with a Foggit nozzel
mist to wash them off doesn't control them.

I'm hoping to get good ant control by putting granular ant bait at the
bottom of the holding flats for my pots.  Hopefully they'll take the bait if
it is practically shoved into their prospective nests.

I would also like to get more ideas on ant control

Rich Dufresne
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