pod said:I do hope folks don't take you literally.

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Yeah, you're right...I should've said to wait a full five minutes before throwing the match in the pot.

This is the approach I use.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTN...

You really use *all* the things listed in the article that you linked to?

Personally, what they list for baits I really don't want in the garden or my containers where I'm growing edible plants. The exclusion aspect is problematical if you're surrounding buy several hundred acres...hay fields, pine forest, brush, etc.

What I have found that works for container/potted plants are those foam pads that link together....folks put them in playrooms and use them for exercise mats. I can sit a pot on one of those and spray the mat down good with an ant poison and the ants don't invade the pots. I guess it creates a "no man's land" that keeps them from crossing.

The ants are bad around here. Once I even went as for as putting boric-acid peanut butter stations out around the garden...all that that succeeded in doing was to create little beeping-like sounds....I think it was ants burping.

Yep, I do. You have to know what kind of ant you are dealing with if you want to control it. Identify what they eat, then bait them. You'll kill not only the foragers but also the colony. Borate is very low toxicity to mammals, but an effective poison for ants. It is probably the safest ant treatment you can use. Of course, if you have a treatment that you are happy with, use that. Good luck.

@76Terra, thank you. I'll look into Borate. I'm an organic gardener so I don't use any kind of poisons that are harmful to us, animals or even the beneficial insects. Lord knows, we're exposed to enough toxins as it is!

This year the ants are bad, probably more than one variety, I don't know for sure. They were moving into the potted plants early. I had a big jar of outdated chili powder that I was about to throw away and decided to try putting in on the top of the soil. It seems to have worked in moving them out.

As long as they aren't invading my space, I don't bother them. I read ants are an enemy to the dreaded jumping worms. I've seen a few of those worms around so maybe the ants will get rid of them, I can hope!

Pot on front sidewalk, with the back facing the lawn. Excavated soil = telltale sign.


More in the pot, suddenly the "soil level" is higher.


Forgot to take a pic of the hill lumped up against the back of the pot. When I slid the pot down the walk a bit, there are the stupid ants & at least an interesting cross-section of tunnels exposed.


The next step was pouring a gallon of boiling water on the spot. Hopefully moving the pot will cause them to want to leave. As soon as I can get a grip on it, I'll move it. IDK why this whole neighborhood doesn't sink into the ground from all of the ant tunneling everywhere.