Help!! Ants!!

[butterfly_muse]

Grrrrrrrrrr!! This morning I looked at my 'chids and there were like 2 ants hanging out on the window sill...

And I just went in to turn on their desk fan and the entire sill is CRAWLING with ants!! They're all over my sill, my orchids, my humidity tray, the cups in my bedroom....it's an ARMY!!

Ants are a common pest in this area during the summer but they just randomly popped up out of nowhere this morning!!

What do I do!?!? Is ant spray an acceptable solution as long as I spray the window frame and not the plants directly? Will they hurt my orchids? Help!

[james mickelso]

(Screammmmm!!!!!) Run for the hills!!! It's an invasion!!! Call Homeland Security!!! The socialists are taking over!!! NSA is watching us!!! The Chinese are taking over!!! (slap, slap) Oh....where am I? Oh yeah.... ants. I use window washing liquid like Windex or something like that to kill those that are visible. Hair spray works too. Then I get some home/garden insecticide and spray the top of the media. Then I follow the little buggers to where their hideout is and use ant bait thingys to kill the nest. Most likely they have a nest under the sidewalk or driveway.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

(Screammmmm!!!!!) Run for the hills!!! It's an invasion!!! Call Homeland Security!!! The socialists are taking over!!! NSA is watching us!!! The Chinese are taking over!!! (slap, slap) Oh....where am I? Oh yeah.... ants. I use window washing liquid like Windex or something like that to kill those that are visible. Hair spray works too. Then I get some home/garden insecticide and spray the top of the media. Then I follow the little buggers to where their hideout is and use ant bait thingys to kill the nest. Most likely they have a nest under the sidewalk or driveway.

We got some ant bait traps and also some insecticide spray...but primary ingredient in the spray is lemongrass oil, is the oil going to harm the plants/their roots if I spray the media? I had to get something not chemical since my cats climb in the windows all day long. =\

[james mickelso]

Not familiar with lemon grass oil. Insecticidal soap won't hurt the cats.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Not familiar with lemon grass oil. Insecticidal soap won't hurt the cats.

For now we just sprayed the window sill itself and laid out some bait, which I hope is more attractive than my orchids *scowl*

[Leafmite]

Terro (I think that is what it is called) ant baits work the best. They are basically boric acid, water and sugar. Don't let the stuff spill on the plant (boric acid can kill plants) but put it in the path of the ants. The baits are clear and Walmart has them with the other types.
The herb that really repels the ants is wormwood. They seem to avoid it like the plague.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Terro (I think that is what it is called) ant baits work the best. They are basically boric acid, water and sugar. Don't let the stuff spill on the plant (boric acid can kill plants) but put it in the path of the ants. The baits are clear and Walmart has them with the other types.
The herb that really repels the ants is wormwood. They seem to avoid it like the plague.

I wanted to get the Terro ant traps, but my fiance insisted on using Raid ant traps, lol. Don't argue with an engineer when it comes to his choice of poison, I suppose..we'll see what happens. If they don't go away I'll be going back to the store and grabbing the Terro. When we were walking inside, the point between the curb and pavement had three ant hills as big as my fiance's size 12 feet and as tall as up to his ankles. It was DISGUSTING!!!