Pest Control

Burns

Burns

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Rajaah said:
Natural traps being water+vinegar?

I know water+dish soap kills them, doesn't attract them very well though.

I did notice that when I left several soap traps out, the yellow one had most of the corpses the next day.

Didn't really get to do the blue light trap last night, doing it tonight. I'll pair that up with some soap and/or vinegar traps.

Not sure why they're even still in there because there's nothing to eat or drink. No plants here. Now that you mention it I did have this problem once before in the past when I had plants. Think I used soap traps back then but it's hard to remember. I don't think it was nearly this bad of an invasion then though.
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If you don't have plants, Bob Villa says to pour bleach down the sink drain. Maybe wait an hour or day and do it again, or just daily for a week; it shouldn't take much to line the drain pipe each time.

Maybe you need some of that foaming drain cleaner, if some food is partially stuck in the drain. Dunno how well the Drano foaming pipe snake really works, but a lot of people let way too much solid food waste go down a non disposal equipped drain.

The vinegar (or red wine) trap:
2023-06-02 10.55.10 plantcaretoday.com 591574082d54.png
 
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Lanx

Lanx

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Rajaah said:
Natural traps being water+vinegar?

I know water+dish soap kills them, doesn't attract them very well though.

I did notice that when I left several soap traps out, the yellow one had most of the corpses the next day.

Didn't really get to do the blue light trap last night, doing it tonight. I'll pair that up with some soap and/or vinegar traps.

Not sure why they're even still in there because there's nothing to eat or drink. No plants here. Now that you mention it I did have this problem once before in the past when I had plants. Think I used soap traps back then but it's hard to remember. I don't think it was nearly this bad of an invasion then though.
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did you use apple cider vinegar? thats the one that attracts the fruit flies not just white vinegar
 
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McCheese

McCheese

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My wife used to take a banana to work every day in her backpack. When the pandemic hit and they sent us all home, she left that day's banana in the backpack and forgot about it. She didn't need to use the backpack anymore so it just sat there in the corner of our office for literally months, kind of pushed up against the wall. One day, I decide to tidy up and move it. I picked it up and a black cloud of fruit flies just swarmed out of it right at me. The stuff of nightmares.

We were getting ready to go on vacation, so I filled a couple empty spaghetti sauce jars with apple cider vinegar, poked holes in the lid, and left them out while we were gone. When we came back a week later the jars were filled with dead flies, and we didn't have a problem after that.

All that to say, I highly recommend those simple homemade vinegar traps.
 
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McCheese

McCheese

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Adding my own question:

Any suggestions for kid friendly ant prevention? We have TONS of ants around our house. I used to sprinkle Amdro Ant Block around my house and patio each spring and it worked wonders. Now that I've got toddlers around, they'll pick it up and eat it. I need something that works well to prevent ants without killing my children.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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McCheese said:
Adding my own question:

Any suggestions for kid friendly ant prevention? We have TONS of ants around our house. I used to sprinkle Amdro Ant Block around my house and patio each spring and it worked wonders. Now that I've got toddlers around, they'll pick it up and eat it. I need something that works well to prevent ants without killing my children.
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idk about kid safe, but someone here recommended this
6898afdf0132688b78b18b14105fc849.png

Syngenta Advion Ant Gel 4 Tubes 30 Grams Each

honestly you only need 1 syring, but they sell it like this, i was selling my house and noticed a hord of ants near a few basement windows (probably touched that window once in the 4years i was there), and just put a dab of this in their path (they pick it up right away, it's like ant crack) and theyre gone within a day and never come back (kills the ant farm)

the same month i moved into my new home saw ants at 2 windows, bam, haven't seen ants in 2 years.


i learned w/ pesticides and stuff, the "home depot" big box version does almost nothing, b/c the concentration is almost non existent, in may i went to town on my weeds w/ tenacity
tenacity turf herbicide - 8 ounces packaging may vary turned half my lawn spotty white, but theres not a single weed on my property. i saw my neighbor yesterday and he said "wow your lawn is coming back and still no weeds huh?, i tried to weed my garden bed but they don't die"
(he doesn't care about the weeds on the lawn)

so i mixed him up a batch and today the weeds are already wilting. (it probably would have been better, but it rained yesterday so idk how much was absorbed by the leafs)

so you just need the pro grade concentrated stuff
 
Burns

Burns

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McCheese said:
Adding my own question:

Any suggestions for kid friendly ant prevention? We have TONS of ants around our house. I used to sprinkle Amdro Ant Block around my house and patio each spring and it worked wonders. Now that I've got toddlers around, they'll pick it up and eat it. I need something that works well to prevent ants without killing my children.
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I will assume you are talking about fire ants, but if they are regular ants (non-invasive types), and they are getting in the house, you can buy those white plastic square ant hotel type traps, then stick them in the back of cabinets and closets. Then don't worry about them outside.

Those square plastic traps are only harmful to mammals in VERY high dosages, so a kid or pet would need to eat something like 30 traps before it might make them sick. Still, before you buy, check search that particular brand on the internets.

Fire ants, on the other hand, are terrible and take terrible means to eradicate. I found a university research paper going through all the various treatments, including pouring boiling water on mounds, but all the "natural" solutions just end up making the colony pack up and move 10 yards down the road, to set up shop again. The most successful treatment from that paper, if I recall correctly, was spreading granules over the whole yard, like it's fertilizer, then put a tablespoon on top of each mound.

The government site actually looks to have a good write up on it:
extension.uga.edu

Managing Imported Fire Ants in Urban Areas

Imported fire ants interfere with outdoor activities and harm wildlife throughout the southern U.S. Ant mounds are unsightly and may reduce land values. Although fire ants do prey on flea larvae, chinch bugs, cockroach eggs, ticks and other pests, the problems they cause usually outweigh any...
extension.uga.edu extension.uga.edu
 
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Sludig

Sludig

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McCheese said:
My wife used to take a banana to work every day in her backpack. When the pandemic hit and they sent us all home, she left that day's banana in the backpack and forgot about it. She didn't need to use the backpack anymore so it just sat there in the corner of our office for literally months, kind of pushed up against the wall. One day, I decide to tidy up and move it. I picked it up and a black cloud of fruit flies just swarmed out of it right at me. The stuff of nightmares.

We were getting ready to go on vacation, so I filled a couple empty spaghetti sauce jars with apple cider vinegar, poked holes in the lid, and left them out while we were gone. When we came back a week later the jars were filled with dead flies, and we didn't have a problem after that.

All that to say, I highly recommend those simple homemade vinegar traps.
Click to expand...
For us in the country is standard house flies. Is house they get in many ways and doesn't help with dogs and a bathroom with poultry brooders right now.

Wonder how Apple cider would do. sticky traps get a few but it's a fluke
 
Lanx

Lanx

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Sludig said:
For us in the country is standard house flies. Is house they get in many ways and doesn't help with dogs and a bathroom with poultry brooders right now.

Wonder how Apple cider would do. sticky traps get a few but it's a fluke
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when i did the apple cider traps, it was like

use mason jars, and stab the top...

now i see a practically free way, just cut a water bottle in half and invert it
8a326276d8201be90f3b09e92f80ca88.jpg
 
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Cutlery

Cutlery

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McCheese said:
Adding my own question:

Any suggestions for kid friendly ant prevention? We have TONS of ants around our house. I used to sprinkle Amdro Ant Block around my house and patio each spring and it worked wonders. Now that I've got toddlers around, they'll pick it up and eat it. I need something that works well to prevent ants without killing my children.
Click to expand...


They're basically a spring staple around here. Ants will go anywhere and get into anything, so the only thing that works long term is to kill every hive that finds your house. Those don't kill ants, they go in, take the poison back to the hive, and the whole thing dies.

Basically...you drop these anywhere you see ants, and a few days later, you don't. Kids might still play with them, but they can't get to anything deadly.
 
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Control

Control

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McCheese said:
Adding my own question:

Any suggestions for kid friendly ant prevention? We have TONS of ants around our house. I used to sprinkle Amdro Ant Block around my house and patio each spring and it worked wonders. Now that I've got toddlers around, they'll pick it up and eat it. I need something that works well to prevent ants without killing my children.
Click to expand...
I've had good luck with this. Read the directions but basically mix one dose in a gallon sprayer and base of your house along the bottom. Once every year or two pretty much kept bugs of all kinds out. Pay attention to the concentration if you buy it though. Some products have the same ingredient but at FAR less concentration.

1685753176546.png
 
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Gravel

Gravel

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For ants, use this shit. Mix 1-2 ounces with water in a sprayer. Spray your baseboards aiming for the gap between it and the floor. Spray around the outside of your house (I go about 3 feet up).

It's the kind of stuff pest control companies use (anything -thrin). Once it dries, it's safe for everyone. Kills fucking everything, not just ants.

I do recommend also wearing gloves, eye pro, long sleeves and pants, which kind of blows in the summer.

 
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Rajaah

Rajaah

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Burns said:
If you don't have plants, Bob Villa says to pour bleach down the sink drain. Maybe wait an hour or day and do it again, or just daily for a week; it shouldn't take much to line the drain pipe each time.

Maybe you need some of that foaming drain cleaner, if some food is partially stuck in the drain. Dunno how well the Drano foaming pipe snake really works, but a lot of people let way too much solid food waste go down a non disposal equipped drain.
Click to expand...

Bleach in the sink drain? I'll try that before I go to sleep.

I've got a disposal. The drain still seems to be a source of them though. Got it covered up.

Not sure I need to put out gnat traps because the zapper light is in there popping off and I assume it's taking out the gnats. The fruit flies are probably gonna be more of an issue if they ignore the zapper. Edit: Oh the vinegar traps also work on the flies? Alright awesome, I'm gonna get those set up tomorrow.

All of that said, they do seem to be heavily in decline since I removed all possible food sources / water from the area. Haven't run the kitchen sink in days, there's nothing in it, and the only light source in there at night is the zapper. No trash anymore either, sealing that up.

I sorta went nuts last night and put some alcohol in a spray bottle and just went around the kitchen blasting every bug I saw. Took out probably 20 of them before the coast was clear. So between that and denying them any sustenance, their numbers are way down.

But yeah, the battle isn't quite won yet cause the fruit flies are evading the zapper. I wish I knew how they were getting in. Windows closed, drain covered. Probably did some reproducing before I switched to war footing and started engaging them proactively. Better to deal with something like this immediately when it happens.
 
Aldarion

Aldarion

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Every time I see this thread gets bumped, I'm disappointed to find out no ones talking about motherfucking gophers yet.

I love my property but may consider a small thermonuclear device in the near future, these fucking pieces of shit
 
Rajaah

Rajaah

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Seems like they're all gone, just saw one bug this morning when I got up. It got away. Didn't do the bleach thing yet, haven't even uncovered the drain. I'll get that done in case there are more in there. As far as the place at large goes, they seem to have all cleared out or died. Electric trap had a couple of them in it but not much. I think the main thing that got rid of them was just getting rid of whatever water sources were in there, covering the drain, and waiting them out. If it ever happens again I'll put out apple cider vinegar traps right away. If you see a few of them show up, safe to say a lot more are following if you don't handle it.
 
Sludig

Sludig

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Aldarion said:
Every time I see this thread gets bumped, I'm disappointed to find out no ones talking about motherfucking gophers yet.

I love my property but may consider a small thermonuclear device in the near future, these fucking pieces of shit
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should see the amount of fucking snake and mostly crawfish holes I have all over my yard from the pond.
 
Sludig

Sludig

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Gavinmad said:
Zatarains.
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Most of the time holes look empt,y, not sure if there's an easy way to extract them. I've thought about trapping the pond, though I hate crawfish, but the assorted poultry eat them up live.
 
Aldarion

Aldarion

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Sludig said:
should see the amount of fucking snake and mostly crawfish holes I have all over my yard from the pond.
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I mean, the holes are one thing. And the holes are annoying dont get me wrong.

But its the mounds and the eating our garden that really rustles my jimmies.

Theyre not hard to shoot if you spot them but theres just so fuckin many of them, I dont have time to chill in the yard all day with a 22. But its the only thing I've ever seen work.
 
yimmien

yimmien

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Aldarion said:
I mean, the holes are one thing. And the holes are annoying dont get me wrong.

But its the mounds and the eating our garden that really rustles my jimmies.

Theyre not hard to shoot if you spot them but theres just so fuckin many of them, I dont have time to chill in the yard all day with a 22. But its the only thing I've ever seen work.
Click to expand...

 
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