ants

[deedub]

so after splitting some wood, a lot of logs had ants in them. all variously sized ants ,but ants whose home was just recked. granted my wood stack is about 50' from my house. what do some of you do as a preventative measure to keep them out of the house ? i'm looking to spray the perimeter of the foundation and don't want to spray any crap inside my house ( daughter is crawling on floor ). is anything that is sprayed safe for people / environment ? something natural.

thanks

 

[Vic99]

When that happens, I leave the split in the woods on my property for 3-4 days and then go back and check. With large splits the ants try to make that split work for a home. They usually vacate smaller splits and go someplace else. Thus that wood is recoverable. If you want those larger splits, you could split the wood again a few times.

I usually let the ants have the big splits if its only a few and just abandon it. In the big picture its not a lot.

Preventive: Your wood is 50+ ft away. You'll be fine as long as you don't take the wood into a warm space for the whole winter. You could store a couple of days worth of wood in the house as long as it is next in line to burn. Usually take bugs in wood a few days to wake up or acclimate from cold temps to your warm house.

I try to stay away from chemicals. Often, too many unintended targets get sick or die.

Good luck.

 

[deedub]

thanks vic,
good point about leaving some rounds alone for the ants. though it's a little late for that, i did split all the rounds, but haven't seen any ants ?? i plan on moving my wood to a covered porch in late october / november when everything is dormant and from there, moving only what i burn inside the house.

 

[Vic99]

"i plan on moving my wood to a covered porch in late october / november when everything is dormant and from there, moving only what i burn inside the house."

That's why I plan to do this year . . . it gets cold enough. I hope I can fit 1/2 a season's wood there.

 

[spot]

You are right to be concerned about the application of pesticides in and around your home -especially if you have small children or a baby. Because babies spend so much of their time on the floor, they are significantly smaller than adults, and tend to put their hands and other objects in their mouths, they are at a higher risk for ingesting sufficient pesticides residue to cause adverse affects.

Fortunately, ants are one of those pests for which pesticides might be used as an absolute last resort. Depending on the type of ant, there are many non-toxic alternatives which you can try first. Ants can be repelled by vinegar, cayenne pepper, citric extracts, bone meal, cinnamon, cream of tartar, salt, and perfume. You will have to keep trying different repellents to find the one your ants aren't willing to tolerate. Place lines of the selected repellent at points of entry and at various points along their path.

There are two ways to kill ants. The first is to dehydrate them by laying out piles of instant grits ( a corn product usually located in the cereal section of the grocery store) at the point of entry and along their trail. They will think of the grits as a food source and consume the pellets. The grits will in turn absorb moisture from the ant's body, thus killing it (instant grits are specially formulated to absorb water more rapidly that regular grits, thus they are more effective). The second method to kill ants is to feed them a mixture of 1 part active dry yeast, 2 parts molasses, and 1 part sugar. They will be attracted to the sugar in the mixture and will eat it readily. Once consumed the yeast will produce gas in the ant, and because they can't expel the gas, it will kill them.

Another method of elimination involves the elimination of the nest. If you can find the nest, you can try pouring boiling water over the nest. If that isn't sufficient, you can try adding cayenne pepper to the boiling water, or using citrus extracts. If you have multiple nests, you could dig up a bucket of ants from one nest and dump it on another nest. Ants are very territorial, and they will readily hunt and kill invading colonies.

Finally, if you make way through these alternatives and have not found relief from your ant problem, call in an exterminator. Let the applicator know that you have a small child.

 

[efoyt]

A safe way to get rid of ants is Diatomaceous Earth.

It is not harmful to humans pets ect ect. Unless you are very small with an exoskeletons Diatomaceous earth will not hurt you. You sprinkle it over or around any area you don't want ants and if they walk over it they will die.

(broken link removed) the only risk is if gets air born while he are spreading - lots of good info on it on the net

still don't think it would be a good idea to put it around an area that small children will be crawling, more of somthing to spread outside around your house or wood.

 

[countrybois]

DON'T WORRY.......BE HAPPY

The ants will go away once the wood is split and starts to dry. Trust me, I have split a lot of oak that is full of ants and have yet to see any live ones in the house once I start burning and the dead ones just add to the btus.

 

[FireWalker]

What looked like the prize winning 16' red oak log (24" round) in my delivered $700 tandom load I found to be completely infested with carpenter ants this past weekend. I chunked and split the wood and left it laying on the ground. This afternoon I could see only a few ants, they all went somewhere I don't know where. the wood, although its riddled with holes and punky in areas will burn fine next year and will be ready to stack this weekend. As long as the wood is dry they won't bother it.