PLEASE HELP: Any Tried and True Earth Friendly Ways To Exterminate Carpenter Ants?
Question:My home is being invaded/occupied by carpenter ants. I don't like killing anything but my home will be sawdust if I ignore this. I would use pesticides if there were any that did not contaminate and endanger the environment. Is there a solution to this other than poisoning my yard?
Answers:
Gosh, that is a dilemma! I work in pesticide regulation and I see the results of misuse (and sometimes just use) of pesticides in the environment all the time! I'm glad you are so conscientious, but you don't want your house to fall down in dust!
I've been to some Integrated Pest Management (IPM) conferences/talks and IPM is a nice way to control pests using non-toxic/least toxic means to manage and control the pests. The University of California, Davis, has a lovely website with IPM methods that is peer-reviewed and has information about the life-cycles, control, etc. of many specific pests, carpenter ants included! Having the information is the best way you can become armed to fight them! Anywho, the general website is http://ipm.ucdavis.edu and the carpenter ant specific page is http://ipm.ucdavis.edu/pmg/pestnotes/pn7...
Incidently, they suggest using diatomaceous earth as well. It's the cases of brown algae called diatoms which are made of silica (glass) and cut up insects or anything small. We're too big to have that happen, so it is totally safe for us! hurray!
Anywho, good luck, I use that page A LOT!
DE diamatacious earth
cinnamon powder, not the stuff with sugar!
Cinnamon powder sprinkled along wherever they are coming in will stop them in thier tracks.
They wont walk across it, and you don't kill them.
Cinnamon oil also works
I agree. Get the DE. You can find it in garden centers and feed supply stores usually. Lowes has it. It is called Diatomaceous Earth, and i use it all the time. It works great. Killed the fire ants in our yard in just a day or so.
You spread it around the affected areas, and when the bugs walk through it, it cuts the exoskeleton, making them dehydrate and die. Basically it would be the same thing as a human walking through a field of glass. yay.
I always keep some on hand. I have chickens so I CANT use chemicals or granules in my yard because they will eat it and this turned out to be a wonderful solution for me. Try it. Its all natural, made from fossilized diatomes (some sort of bug from what I can gather).
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