Re: Megan Kuklis article July 7.
I too, have been fighting the ants in Prince George for years and have found that the ants seem to be immune to the ant dust poisons and avoid the baits.
I have however found a way of keeping their populations under control, successfully wiping out large ant hills that resisted my efforts for years.
I bought a container of diatomaceous earth from Spruce Capital Feeds, they sell it for deworming horses.
I mix between 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the powder with four litres of water, and add a teaspoon of soap to act as a wetting agent so that it will stick to surfaces better, put this into a garden sprayer, shake well before use because the diatoms do settle out, and spray wherever the ants congregate.
This will kill most exoskeletal critters, provided they come in contact with it, so I avoid spraying flowers to protect the pollinators.
This is not a poison, but a physical destructant of exoskeletal joints, causing the organism to bleed to death.
I originally used this to control millipedes in my vegetable garden. Since I dig in lots of leaves, millipedes are attracted to the garden, and once there, attack my radishes eating holes into them. Spraying the rows of radishes at ground level pretty well stops the damage each spring.
It proved so successful that I shifted to the ants.
Paul Wodchyc
Prince George
