Are ants a problem in Southern California?

Last couple weeks I've seen the return of the ants here in LA County. I'm talking about the ants that march along in visible lines to and from whatever food source they are seeking. It looks like a video of a busy freeway shot from a helicopter.

The little bastards don't seem to be interested in my cannabis plants, but I see them in a couple gardenia bushes infested by scales and I know the little bastards use scales, mealybugs and aphids like livestock and harvest the honeydew that the pests produce. Years ago I lost an indoor crop to mealybugs and their damn icky honeydew and I sure as hell don't want to repeat that, so I'd prefer for the ants to stay out of my yard.

Also, later in the year the ants invade the house and mess with the cats' food.

I just bought some Amdro "ant block" granules that are supposed to get rid of the little bastards, but I'm still seeing the little ant freeways after two days, and they don't seem to be interested in taking the bait. When I used Amdro to get rid of fire ants in Texas, it worked like a charm. Put about half a cup of bait around a big mound and by the next day you could already tell it was working and within about 48 hours the ant metropolis was history. And as soon as the bait granules hit the ground, the fire ants came running out to grab it. I'm not seeing that with the California ants.

Maybe I should just chill out about the little bastards, because compared to the fire ants in Texas, they are a minor annoyance. Fire ants are truly the worst assholes in the insect kingdom. Worse than "killer bees" in my opinion, because they had "killer bees" in Texas and they never bothered me, but you basically can't do anything outdoors in Texas without getting bit by the damned ants. And the fucking fire ants will go out of their way to bite a person who isn't doing anything to bother them. If you're sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of a 50X50' concrete slab, the little fuckers will march all the way in there to bite you. They aren't "defending" anything, they're just being assholes. At least the "killer bees" will leave you alone as long as you don't mow over their hive. Fire ants are the worst.

Adding ant hill granules to compost tea increases plant root biomass 10% in first two weeks of veg of cannabis satavia.

Don_Sequitor said:

Adding ant hill granules to compost tea increases plant root biomass 10% in first two weeks of veg of cannabis satavia.

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Really? So are those granules like vermicompost?

I've had a pretty fucked up time with ants also and went through the whole mealy bug infestation because of them, it was such a trip to find those bastards on my stalks, they swing like a stripper on a pole when you try to pick them off lol.

I've used terro ant bait along with spraying the exterior of my house with insect killer, have not seen a single ant since then. The ant bait only works for a few weeks, but having a good exterminator friend spray the exterior floor and near by walls/door cracks seems to have discouraged ants/and every other critter from entering my house.

I'll second the terro outdoor ant baits. I had ants 2014 summer....and then came the aphids. Like a mfer too. Nip that shit in the bud. Ants can be beneficial in certain situations because they aerate the soil, but after my experience I wouldn't chance it.

ltecato said:

Really? So are those granules like vermicompost?

Click to expand...

ltecato said:

Really? So are those granules like vermicompost?

Click to expand...

No, but once at the age of two or three, I walked on a really large ant mound in Arizona. The ants crawled all over my entire body until my dad saw and started wiping the ants off. They didn't bite or sting me once.

Don_Sequitor said:

No, but once at the age of two or three, I walked on a really large ant mound in Arizona. The ants crawled all over my entire body until my dad saw and started wiping the ants off. They didn't bite or sting me once.

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I had the same experience with a bunch of fire ants living in a tree stump in Mississippi except they bit the hell out of me. And then I went out the next day and they did it again. That is one of the oldest memories I have. I think I wised up after the second time.

I'm on the central Oregon coast and I've never had an ant problem like this year before! They're not having any adverse effects on my cannabis & I grow carnivorous "pitcher" plants. So at first it was no big deal. I thought cool my plants get some extra protein this spring. But they are really voracious little bastards this year! I am also using the tarro ant killer. I get the liquid stuff and put it on little discs all around my greenhouse. It hasn't gotten rid of them completely but its slowed their numbers down.

The trick to Amdro is repeated applications. The idea is to gradually kill the queen with a slow poisoning

Booger mama said:

I'm on the central Oregon coast and I've never had an ant problem like this year before! They're not having any adverse effects on my cannabis & I grow carnivorous "pitcher" plants. So at first it was no big deal. I thought cool my plants get some extra protein this spring. But they are really voracious little bastards this year! I am also using the tarro ant killer. I get the liquid stuff and put it on little discs all around my greenhouse. It hasn't gotten rid of them completely but its slowed their numbers down.

Click to expand...

Terro Baits are the only thing that worked for me. I used to have black ants everywhere in my house. If the kids so much as left a crumb on the counter the ants would swarm that crumb. After placing terro baits in the most active areas through one summer we have not seen 1 ant in the house since. Its been at least 5 years. I have fire ants in one of my compost piles though. Going to have to hit up starbucks for their coffee grounds waste and see if that works.