Black ants (exterminator, grass, plants, sweet)

[cl723]

There is a mound of black ants by my rock and grass area. Should I call an exterminator or if I spray it myself will it take care of it.

[Garden of Eden]

Are the ants bothering you? Are they interfering with anything? If they aren't bothering you, why would you want to kill them?

If you don't know, ants eat fleas, so I would prefer having ants rather then fleas any old day of the week.

[Momotaro]

What kind of black ants? Ants can be good for the area. I would just treat the area around your house and let the ants do their thing keeping the other small pests limited in numbers.

[cl723]

They are the tiny ones.

[Momotaro]

Dont worry about them. They may even come in your house if you dont treat your house permiter but they are harmless. Kinda cute imo.

[ansky]

Small black ants are not really a problem unless they end up in your home. It's the carpenter ants you have to worry about as they will chew through wood, similar to what termites do. If you do need to control the ants I would highly recommend a product called Terro ant bait. Put some out and the ants will carry it back to the nest and kill the entire colony. I have used it with great results. You can find it at Home Depot or Lowes.

[wit-nit]

Google Andro, see if it fits your needs. It works. I've used it, 100% effective in control.

Sounds like you have sweet ants from your description. Not dangerous, just aggravating.

[foxywench]

perosnally unless they are carpenter or fire ants i wouldnt bother with them too much other than putting a raid barrier around your house to keep them out (because they will come in looking for food and are a pin in the tush lol) sugar ants (the normal tiny black ant is harmless, not prone to bitng dont sting (fire ants however are another story) and attracted to anything sweet...

HOWEVER, if you have roses, watch thencarefully, ants FARM aphids...they love the honey dew aphids secreete as they feed, so ants will protect aphids, they will even take aphid eggs back to the nest tend them to hatching then return the baby aphids to the host plants (most often roses)...because of this, if you have an aphid problem you will need to get rid of the ants too or they will just keep farming the aphids.

[carolyninfl]

Originally Posted by foxywench

perosnally unless they are carpenter or fire ants i wouldnt bother with them too much other than putting a raid barrier around your house to keep them out (because they will come in looking for food and are a pin in the tush lol) sugar ants (the normal tiny black ant is harmless, not prone to bitng dont sting (fire ants however are another story) and attracted to anything sweet...

HOWEVER, if you have roses, watch thencarefully, ants FARM aphids...they love the honey dew aphids secreete as they feed, so ants will protect aphids, they will even take aphid eggs back to the nest tend them to hatching then return the baby aphids to the host plants (most often roses)...because of this, if you have an aphid problem you will need to get rid of the ants too or they will just keep farming the aphids.

o my goodness, did not know this!! no wonder whenever I seen aphids ants were also around thanks for info

[Garden of Eden]

Originally Posted by carolyninfl

o my goodness, did not know this!! no wonder whenever I seen aphids ants were also around thanks for info

DITTO! Thank you, foxy! I did not know this either!! Good thing I put DE in my rose gardens this year!