ants

Hi,

We have hired exterminators and they have not worked to get the ant problem that we have under control. The ants are no longer in the house but as soon as the outside of the home that has been sprayed wears off they again show up in our home. We have located numerous nests and would like to handle the situation ourselves. Can you please advise us on the products that may be most helpful to control the outside ant population. We live in an area with a few smaller trees but very few. All nests that we have located have been in the ground and 1 in a stump that has been removed since. What type of treatment would you recommend to kill ants in the outdoor nests and to control our problem? The nests have all been located in mulched areas and two main nests with multiple other satellites have been found.

Thank you,
Andy

The good news is it sounds like you’ve done most of the work needed to solve this problem. As explained in our CARPENTER ANT CONTROL ARTICLE, knowing where nests are located can make solving problems easy. And based on your detailed message, you know there are several nests and you seem to know where they’re located. This is big.

At this point, I’d say all you need is the DRIONE, PHANTOM and TERMIDOR. Use a CRUSADER to get the Drione applied to any nest you see. This will kill the nest within minutes. The benefits of Drione are explained in our article and in this case should be able to handle 90% of the problem.

Next, spray the foundation with the Termidor. This slow acting active will get the ants by surprise. It’s non repellent and insects can’t detect it which makes it lethal. As they come to the home and start foraging over treated areas, they’ll be picking up the Termidor and ultimately bringing some back to the nests you’ve missed. Once the Termidor kicks in (which will take 3-5 days), these hidden nests will be shut down. This should take care of the 10% you miss with the Drione.

Lastly, keep the Phantom Aerosol for use inside the home. Phantom is like Termidor in that it’s slow acting and non repellent. Use it sparingly inside the home where you see ants. Phantom is unique in that it goes on dry and when applied properly, can’t be seen. I use it in my home which has nothing but hardwood floors. Even with all the shiny surfaces you can’t see anything has been sprayed.

Follow this process and you should have the problem resolved in a week. Here are direct products to the products and information listed above:

Carpenter Ant Control: https://www.carpenterants.com/carpenter-ant-control

Drione: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/dust/drione-dust

Phantom: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/aerosol/pt-phantom-17-5oz

Termidor: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/termidor-sc-20-oz

Crusader: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/dusters/crusader

I’m wondering if the Maxforce carpenter ant gel will work for my problem. I’m seeing ants going up a tree but I don’t know where the nest is located. Can I apply the gel to the tree trunk, close to the ground, and expect that ants feeding on it will bring it back to the tree and it will kill the nest? I don’t want to loose this tree and there are a lot of ants in it.

This could work. I’ve used this technique in the past and it has done the job. Just be sure to “refresh” the Carpenter Ant Gel every couple of days. I’ve noted the gel will dry up much faster than normal when applied to a tree trunk so it won’t be as readily available as it is when controlled out of the elements.

Alternatively, you could opt to apply some Optigard to the tree trunk. This will prove to be very effective since the ants will have no choice but to walk over the treated surfaces if the nest in the tree is to survive. This could prove to be the most effective approach in terms of timliness and effectiveness.