yardwork question...

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Anyone have any tips on getting rid of an ant hill?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I bring you wisdom from the land of fire ants. Just to let you know I don't play when it come to killing ants.

Ortho powder. Sprinkle some on a hill on a dry day when the air is still. The instructions tell you how much. I don't measure. I've gone through an entire can in an hour I've had to take on so many fire ant mounds in one place. I take the lid off, punch a few sprinkle holes in the paper seal and then use it like a shaker. Don't breath the stuff. I try to cover my mouth with a rag if I'm doing a lot of mounds.

If you have children or pets, stick a weighted flowerpot or bucket over the mound to keep them off the treated area.

Just so you know, the first time I opened a can of Ortho, I wasn't hip to the smell, and it caught me by surprise and made me spontaneously dry heave into my flower bed. So be ready for an absolutely horrific stench.

[Mishi]

We use boiling water, straight from the kettle down the main entrance. Luckily, we don't have fire ants, otherwise I'd be calling the DPI. Over here, you have to notify the Department of Primary Industries if you even suspect that you have fire ants. A team then comes to identify them and if they are fire ants, the team then unleashes a can of chemical whoop-ass for a several house radius.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, that's wise that they are doing that, they breed like rabbits and can and have killed people and animals. They are very, very serious. You do NOT want to get those things established in your country. I think you all have enough deadly stuff over there. I've gotten to where I can tell them just from the look of the nest and the "scramble" pattern of the ants when you disturb them.

The problem with the boiling water is that if often does not kill the queen. If you don't kill the queen, they'll just come back.

[jedimaster91]

We use a product called Terro and have had good results.

[Frantic Freddie]

Take off & nuke the site from orbit.It's the only way to be sure.

[Seshat]

So long as the ants aren't nesting in a building, I tend not to bother. I just ensure that they don't actually enter my building - usually by becoming extremely picky about cleanliness where the ants are. I figure that in the garden, they're part of a healthy ecosystem.

However, there's a great trick you can use on ants. Provide them with food: poisoned food. We have a product called ant rid, which is basically a honey-like gel with insect toxin mixed in. Put that on the ant trail, and they'll take it home and feed it to the rest of the colony.

Of course, if I were to discover fire ants, greenants, or other species that I do NOT want around my family or pets, all bets are off. Ant rid, boiling water, or whatever else...

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Down here the problem is that the fire ants are killing off native species. Provided they aren't coming in my house, I don't bother natives. In fact, I make sure they aren't fire ants before I treat them. Unfortunately, things being the way they are, they usually are.

But I leave natives alone. They have enough problems right now.

[pitmonkey]

I have a nest of thatcher ants that move about the yard. They are not a threat so I leave them alone, they actually are beneficial so having them is good. Just don't get in one of their paths, the guard ants bite and it hurts.

[Seshat]

Down here the problem is that the fire ants are killing off native species. Provided they aren't coming in my house, I don't bother natives. In fact, I make sure they aren't fire ants before I treat them. Unfortunately, things being the way they are, they usually are.

But I leave natives alone. They have enough problems right now.

That seems perfectly wise there. I feel much the same way about natives vs exotics. If I had the resources (physical endurance myself, or money to hire someone), I'd be gradually replanting my garden to be native species & food plants only. That way the native fauna would have a haven of native flora in our little patch of suburbia.

Back to the original topic: sufficient boiling water to flood the colony and kill the queen will rid you of the ants without lasting harm to the surrounding ecosystem, and without risk of children/pets coming across it while you're not watching.

A variation on boiling water: drive a stick, shovel, or posthole digger into the nest, open it up a bit, then make a baking soda-and-vinegar volcano. Put a large amount of baking soda - a cup or more - into the nest-hole. Pour about the same quantity of vinegar onto it. Cheap vinegar will do fine. Watch the resulting chemical reaction. When it's fading, try adding more vinegar. Once adding vinegar results in no more reaction, poke around in the hole to see if you can find any living ants. The remnant salts from the reaction are non-toxic, and your garden plants or lawn grass will gradually 'eat' them.

Ant Rid or other poisoned bait WILL catch other species as well as the ants, so place it carefully in locations accessible to ants but not species you desire to protect. (Some such baits are also nummy and fatal to roaches and other pests, which may be a desirable side effect.)

Poisons such as Recovering Kinkoid's poison-of-preference, you do need to take precautions like the ones she suggested.

If you have a non-native, dangerous species like fire ants, try to hit them fast and hard. This is the case where I'd probably go for a major ant poison, call in a professional, or call in to the Department of Primary Industries and ask if it's a pest of interest to them.