Garden Troubleshooting: Red Ants

How to get rid of red ants?

There are a few common ways to deal with red ants. First, you can pour boiling water and/or white vinegar on the ant hill.

Another method is to dehydrate the ants. The easiest way to do that is cover the ant hill with uncooked rice. The rice will soak up all the humidity and dry the ants out. You can also use diatomaceous earth for this purpose. Diatomaceous earth can commonly be found at gardening supply stores. Diatomaceous earth will only work while it is dry, so if it rains or the garden is watered, you will need to reapply.

There are also some natural sprays you can mix up. Most commonly, a spoon of cayenne pepper, a spoon of biodegradable dish soap mixed with a spray bottle of water can be sprayed around the base of plants and the garden.

What has worked for you? Let us know!