Attack of the flying ants!

cheyannarach 4/23/2012, 9:02 pm

I was out on the porch this afternoon checking on the plant inn and I was swarmed by a bunch of flying ants. We thought they were just at our house until the hubby drove to town and he said he could see them flying everywhere. Anybody know what's with the ants?

Daniel9999 4/23/2012, 9:40 pm

cheyannarach wrote: I was out on the porch this afternoon checking on the plant inn and I was swarmed by a bunch of flying ants. We thought they were just at our house until the hubby drove to town and he said he could see them flying everywhere. Anybody know what's with the ants?

Check to make sure they are not actually termites.....many people confuse winged ants with winged termites.

How to tell Winged Termites from Winged Ants

cheyannarach 4/24/2012, 8:39 am

I really wish I would have checked this last night, now I'm at work and can't go look for one to see the difference. That is creeping me out now because that's what my mom said when she saw them too, I just thought she was crazy, lol, don't tell her that. I had no idea that termites look like ants. I do remember seeing ones with and without wings, but there were a lot more with wings.

littlejo 4/24/2012, 10:41 am

My ants are doing this too. It's the time of year when they make new queens (with wings) They fly away to make more ant colonies. Mine were fire ants and if I had known, and had some ant killer, I'd have sprayed them. They did not sting me while flying.

Jo

cheyannarach 4/24/2012, 8:54 pm

Well panic is over, they are ants, not termites, but they are still nasty, they are huge! About an inch long and they are everywhere, hundreds of them landed in this old bathtub that I came up with to use as a planter (I haven't gotten around to getting dirt in it yet) so I blasted them with the hose and some dawn dishsoap! Goners!

Daniel9999 4/24/2012, 9:10 pm

Happy to hear they were not termites too.

Sounds like you got a plague of biblical proportions there... affraid

.

cheyannarach 4/24/2012, 9:21 pm

That is exactly what they look like Daniel! pale

DIRTROOKIE 4/25/2012, 9:41 pm

Anyone out there have a suggestion for small ants in your garden. They seem to be loving my garden. what kind od damage can they do? How can I get rid of them??????

littlejo 4/25/2012, 10:24 pm

I tried using just water like last yr, but with the rain we've had, this didn't help. I bought Spectracide Ant shield at Lowes, it's a bait station (6 in a pk.) First I had ants in bed with peppers, put 2 in that bed, ants left or dead in 1 day. Found ant hill in my strawberries, moved bait stations to that bed, works well. Hubby confiscated the other 4 to put on hills in the yard.

Don't know exactly what damage ants do to veggies, but, when I flattened out the hill in the strawberry bed, there was one of my largest berries, the sweetness covered with ants!

Jo

cheyannarach 4/25/2012, 11:04 pm

I'm not sure what they do to plants either I just don't like bugs. That sounds like a good idea, the big ants here are starting to be lesser and lesser! It is nasty trying to plant seed with them around, yuck.

givvmistamps 4/26/2012, 1:01 am

DIRTROOKIE wrote:Anyone out there have a suggestion for small ants in your garden. They seem to be loving my garden. what kind od damage can they do? How can I get rid of them??????

Unfortunately, some ants farm aphids. I have this problem so searched this site and questioned people here (the search box at the top of the page works great; just make sure the little box that says "Search SFG Forum" is checked). What I decided to go with is Borax. You just sprinkle it around the ant hills, then take a squirt bottle of water and moisten it. The ants take it home, it poisons them, no more ants in a couple days. Twisted Evil

It's the ants or my veggies; veggies win!

DIRTROOKIE 4/26/2012, 12:56 pm

I will try your suggestions. thanks.

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Attack of the flying ants!

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small ants in my garden

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Thanks for the ant suggestions

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