How do you get rid of ants on a wooden swing set? Spray? Kid Friendly?
Question:I just put up a real nice wooden swing set and I've noticed I'm getting really tiny ants (or at least they look like ants) all over the swing set (mostly the wooden areas). When I say tiny I mean really tiny! I don't know if a spray will work to solve this problem or if anything else is out there for a job like this...
I am worried aobut the saftey issues if I would spray bug/ant spray all over. I've sprayed the grass that it's on and all the bottom areas of the swing set that aren't touched by the kids. Any thoughts or ideas? I'm sort of desperate becaue I can't keep up with killing these things. I don't know if they are attracted to the wood or what! Thanks!
Answers:
Purchase pipe tobacco from your local store.
Soak it in warm water overnight.
Decant the liquid and throw away the soggy tobacco.
Pour the liquid over the anthill - they overdose on nicotine and die.
Follow the trail of ants to determine where they come from.
Locate the holes, apply the holes with soap or white glue.
Apply baby powder on the trail of ants. Ants that come in contact with the powder will die soon.
Apply more baby powder or red pepper to kill the remaining ants. After they are dead, sweep away the ants and excess powder or red pepper.
You can also add two to three drops of lavender essential oil. That will keep away ants away, too.
Dish soap doesn't always work as it doesn't always kill off the queen.
Tips
Try a natural repellent such as ground or powdered chili, or used coffee grounds. Citrus peel (ground) works well too. They hate the smell of vinegar; make a solution with water to spray around.
For a more permanent solution, find the ant mound, and destroy it using boiling water.
You can also leave a jar of honey somewhere else, this will show you if they are nesting elsewhere too.
Douse the entire swing set (especially the wood, it's most likely their nest) with vinegar - it's well worth the hassle.
There's a brilliant article I found here:
http://www.epestsupply.com/ants.htm...
pepperment oil mix it in water with your sprayer and spray the entire swing set
Just spray it
And tell the kids not to go near it
They could be termites?
What kind of wood??
It sounds like you probably had the misfortune of placing the swingset in the ground where thee is an ant colony. You will have to either get rid of the ant colony under ground with some sort of chemicals, or move the whole thing to another spot.
Dish Soap. That's it, just plain old Dawn, or what ever you have. After the ants walk through it they will die within a few hours. Since its just soap don't be shy, put it all over their trails so you can get them faster. I learned this fighting fire ants in here in Texas, and it works like a charm.
Orange oil is a natural pesticide that is about as safe as you can get. It is in most "orange" cleaners, but if you arent sure look for "D-Limonene" on the label. That is an extract of orange peel.
you can also use anything with Pyrethrum, or Pyrethrins on the label. Those are pesticides that are from Chrysanthemum flowers that will kill on contact but have no residual effects.
go to walmart and buy ant and sugar ant poison its in a tube marked ant killers and place a dab on each leg in between rains and replace a dab every week just do it when the kids arent there it kills the nest also theres ant bait traps for all ants
i use a product called KERO. its sold at most hardware stores, and looks like corn syrup. the directions are on the bottle. attracts ants instantly, and kills them in a few days. the only safe thing that worked for me!
Why don't you coat the bottom of the structure where the ants are climbing with ordinary axle grease? It works better than spray. Also if you put down ant bait around the structure it might tempt them there instead. Good Luck!
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