Ep 121. Admiration for Ants & Safe Remedies

I have a newfound admiration for ants and how they benefit our gardens and work as a team which may contradict treatments to solve ant dilemmas shared over the years. 

This episode discusses safe remedies and ways to invite ants to live away from your home and patios.

 Related Stories and Helpful Links    

 Admiration for Ants & Safe Remedies 

Carpenter Ants and Termites in Mulch

 Ants be Gone

Let Lichen and Moss be

 No-Mow May helps Pollinators

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I'd love to hear about your garden and nature stories. And your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. Thanks so much for tuning in.

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
                     AskMaryStone.com

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

 Ep121. Admiration for Ants & Safe Remedies

Sat, Aug 12, 2023 6:45PM • 10:44

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

ants, carpenter ants, dilemma, garden, termites, part, remedy, mulch, patio, kill, moss, sprinkling, learn, mix, newfound, crows, porch, move, plants, dilemmas, mary stone, garden, nature, inspiration

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:25

Hello, there, it's Mary Stone, and welcome to my screened porch. It's quite cool here. It's so good to be home after the ten hot days in Texas. Although I fell in love with Gene's neighbors, I now consider them my friends. I want to thank those of you who sent kind words about the loss of my dear friend Gene. It seems many of us have families that are not biological. Friends are the families you choose. Isn't that right? 

Mary Stone  00:56

Anyway, I am developing a different appreciation for ants. Over the years, we've shared a lot of ant dilemmas I look forward to sharing with you. In addition to my newfound fascination, you probably know that they sell kits for kids called ant farms to help children learn about nature. And hopefully, they'll learn to work together as a team and with nature to improve our world. But big kids can also benefit from the ant lessons bringing me to this week's story. It starts like this. 

Mary Stone  01:28

Hello fellow listeners and readers. I have a newfound admiration for ants, which contradicts remedies to ant dilemmas shared over the years, such as when Sandy found colonies of ants and termites in pine bark mulch, which coincides with an invasion of carpenter ants on my screen porch. She wrote Brian bought pine bark nuggets to mulch the garden, and tons of huge black ants and some termites were in it. What do I do? 

Mary Stone  01:57

The close-to-home part is I'm tackling carpenter ants that nested in the screen porch as we speak. So Sandy's dilemma is my dilemma too. I wrote back, "Oh my, Sandy. If you have already spread the mulch, sprinkling it with diatomaceous earth should work well to kill both critters. But I'll learn more about what to do with the carpenter ants and termites and mulch. I feel a column coming on - smiley face. 

Mary Stone  02:23

So looking up diatomaceous earth for those unfamiliar, the acronym is DE. They are actually fossilized remains of microscopic oceanic plants that destroy the waxy exoskeletons of bugs such as ants, termites, bedbugs, or fleas. Yet it's safe for people and pets. It's used in grain-based foods to keep bugs from eating them. I didn't know that did you? All these interesting things we can learn on the screen porch. 

Mary Stone  02:54

My go-to neem oil is another remedy that Sandy could use on our mulch. Mix half a teaspoon of liquid soap in four cups of water. Then mix in one teaspoon of neem oil. The mixture breaks down in about eight hours you have to use it right away. 

Mary Stone  03:09

So back to my dilemma here on the porch, a pile of sawdust caught our attention in the corner behind a potted plant that clued us into our dilemma. Termites make small holes in wood and toss their frass, which is their extriments, that look much like sawdust. The same is true of carpenter ants, but carpenter ant frass contains ant parts that they throw in mounds near the holes. There are no insect parts and termite frass, and it's often scattered rather than rounded. You can DIY by mixing one part of natural dish soap with two parts of water and apply using a sprayer. So I devised the idea of boiling pots of water, a remedy dear old mom used to do to kill ants. And then, I was going to mix in some prescribed dish detergent. But I vacuumed up the frass to find the entry holes on the side of the wood molding too high to get the boiled water into them. Dang. 

Mary Stone  04:06

Speaking of this-- a little side note here. While moving a garden pot a while back, I found a new colony of ants underway. A swath of eggs not yet hatched. The pot was near the back door. So I used my mom's remedy of boiling water and felt terrible. But I couldn't move the eggs, I reasoned. Although I have to admit I didn't try because they looked stuck on the limestone tread. Remembering the moment brings a twinge of guilt now that I have a new appreciation for ants, inspired by my lovely editor Alice Peck. During a conversation about my book underway, she mentioned her love of ants right up there with her love of crows. So dear Alice, perhaps I will also manifest an admiration for crows too. Even though they snag the bird babies, I grow to adore. It's true. They are very smart crows, so I will learn to appreciate them. But let me get more familiar with my love of ants first if you don't mind.

Mary Stone  05:07

 My carpenter ant dilemma story has a funny, or maybe not so funny, preamble before finding our intruders. First, I noticed a single black and sizable one climbing the wall in front of my writing spot. Then each morning at about the same time, one came trailing by in the same place. It made me think of Groundhog Day. Every day, the same event unfolded at the same time. I knew it wasn't the same ant, though. Let's just say, unlike most insects that I release back into the wild. I hadn't done so for ants. But now I do. It turns out the single ants were the worker carpenter ants looking for other places to nest. Then they leave their hormone signals to call in their buddies. So move your uninvited guests to the woods and release them on a downed tree. Isn't that a great idea? I am so tickled pink by my newfound love of ants.

Mary Stone  06:03

Ants have extraordinarily planned societies, with ants filling various roles working as a team for a communal goal. It's fascinating to watch. So much so that you can buy ant farm kits to observe them. We can all learn a lot from ants. They live worldwide, surviving in extreme conditions, and can carry things well over their body weight. Plus, they help aerate the soil, break down organic material, and pollinate plants. Sure, maybe they aren't as beautiful as butterflies and bumblebees. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? 

Mary Stone  06:37

Another time nature-loving clients, also dog lovers, were wrestling with ants. Pam and Ed of Sparta, New Jersey, have a charming bluestone patio on a shady spot, encouraging moss to take up residence, which is lovely. You know how much I love moss. We spoke about that in episode 103 - No Mow May & Marvelous Moss you may wish to tune into. 

Mary Stone  07:00

The dilemma is ants have moved into Pam and Ed's beautiful patio. And their previous attempts to evict the ants had caused the demise of their treasured green fuzz in the nooks and crannies. "What do you recommend for keeping ants out and the moss in?"  So I gave them a list of all sorts of remedies. And I'm looking at it now; many involved killing the poor ants. Certainly, pesticides would wreak havoc on the patios, moss, and surrounding plants. But you can mix with equal parts of water and a squirt of dish soap with distilled white vinegar. While the combo effectively cleans or kills weeds. It's very acidic, and it harms desirable vegetation. 

Mary Stone  07:44

There are bait traps that you can buy the same kind of things you use with the same ingredients that are in the indoor traps, and feed on it and bring it back to their nests. But the kind part is that Borax is also a natural mineral found in the base of lakes that evaporates seasonally, but it's also made synthetically, and it's in many household products—somehow using though something natural doesn't sound as cruel. But again, it's designed to kill the poor ants. And there are some ways to deter them instead. 

Mary Stone  08:17

They say sprinkling chili powder, cinnamon, cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes, powdered garlic, or cloves is best to deter ants. It will encourage ants to move elsewhere, which is a good thing, right? Another big tip is to keep your compost pile and trash bins away from your patio, which seems obvious, right? And while you can buy insecticidal soaps and make your own with one teaspoon of dish soap and two cups of warm water, which you can spray directly on plants and around your garden to kill ants. Rather than do that, there's a kinder way, and that is to add a few drops of peppermint or citrus oil to two cups of warm water to deter future ants from moving in. 

Mary Stone  09:01

I do have to wrap up the story, though, with a not-so-kind way of killing ants, but it's kind of funny, and I think we could use some humor right? They say to sprinkle instant grits. Once eaten, the grits will expand and kill the ants, reminding me of My Cousin Vinny's scene in the film. "No self-respecting Southerner uses Instant grits." Good thing we're dealing with Northern ants. Garden Dilemmas? Ask Mary Stone.com. 

Mary Stone  09:31

So really, in all fairness, try the peppermint or citrus oil. I think that's the best bet, along with the other sprinkling items we spoke about. It just seems kinder to invite them to live elsewhere or move them into the woods, as I mentioned before. So thanks so much for coming by. Always enjoy our time together, and I hope you have as well. And if so, please share the podcast with a friend or two so more can join us. I really appreciate it. It's been fun to watch our community build. I'm learning so much from you. And I can't thank you enough for your kindness these last few weeks. It means so much. Have a great day. 

Mary Stone  10:14

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.