Hi all, I've always had small ant hills crop up along my front walk and along the driveway. My soil is sandy and this year the ants have exploded with ant hills in the grass and in my huge flower beds. I'm not sure what to make of this except it is a big problem (no nightmares of giant ants, yet). I've used Terro ant killer granules and watered that in because the problem is so extensive, but I don't know what else to do. I know some ants are beneficial but this is ridiculous. Thanks for any suggestions and/or advice. Gayle

Try placing a few of the Terro liquid ant traps around where you see the ants. Those never fail to work for me. Resist the urge to instantly kill the ants, these work by having them take the bait back to the colony where it poisons them all. The liquid traps really do work if you give them a little time.

I use the small flat plastic clear ones where I see swarms of ants and place a rock on top of them to keep them in place so the wind doesn't blow them away, and just let the ants feed and take it back to the nest. I place maybe 3 of the larger green ones around the house in spring to avoid the invasion of the big black ants that inevitably start coming into the house. Both of these work every year for me.

Ditto, Terro brand seems to work.
Incidentally, while not near you, I am in Maryland and also think ant hils are especially big this year. At least, the one making a mess of my path.

I'm very happy to hear that you don't automatically think all ants are bad. I agree that bait traps are a good answer, likely killing only the ant colonies you want eradicated and not harming ants that don't make the big hills that cause problems.

I think all the brands of ant baits work, but Terro is the most economical and easier to see that it is actually attracting ants (and working). It's the one that I use too, but you need to take precautions if non-target animals can get to it.