Diatomaceous Earth for ant control

[Kelby]

Ants have found some ripening figs on an unknown, they were making trips to and from the eye. This being an area my daughter likes to play and pick fruit, most insecticides are out of the question for safety's sake. I dusted the fruits and stems with a generous coating of diatomaceous earth, I will report results in a day or three when it ripens.

Hopefully it works well, it's cheap and easy.

[Kelby]

[sppsp]

Hope it works. Where did you get it? I want to try it.

[Kelby]

I got it at a garden center. Amazon sells it cheap, 20lbs for $20 or something similar. You need a duster to apply it.

[mountainfigs]

Used coffee grounds have been all the ant deterrent I've needed for figs so far. Plus it's great fertilizer. Had to step up to diatomaceous earth to protect a few citrus trees where the ants farm honeydew parasites of some sort.

[71GTO]

Do you just spread the grounds around the base of the tree?

[mountainfigs]

Exactly

[71GTO]

Nice. I haven't had to many any problems yet... But it's good to know what to do.

[AscPete]

The first year growing figs I used Food Grade DE purchased from a local feed store ~$20.00 for 50 lbs. because I had it on hand for dusting the chickens and chicken coops. I have since switched to "salting" the pots and surrounding areas with used Coffee Grounds

The Coffee Grounds cause colony collapse but takes ~ 1 - 2 weeks. One or two additional applications ensure no new colonies get established near the trees. Good Luck.

[Kelby]

Thanks Pete, I've been meaning to save my coffee grounds. Ants have been bad in the yard this year!

[Dave]

The only problem with this is when it gets wet it doesn't work anymore and be careful when using this apparently it is pretty harmful to breathe it in Dust mask recommended

[Tonycm]

Yes D.E. Is soft to the touch but microscopically it looks like broken pieces of glass. When breathed in it scars the lungs. To an insect it is like being stabbed multiple times and dries out their body. It can be used safely, you just need to take precautions, like Dave said use a dusk mask.

[don_sanders]

I like the idea of coffee grounds if it works.

[AscPete]

Its worked for the past three seasons. It keeps the pots (containers) and area where the potted fig are located free on ants. I've posted about its efficacy in the past.

[jkuo]

If coffee grounds really work to repel ants from around my fig trees, I'm going to be super pleased. I've been getting a ton of grounds just to dump in my compost pile or around the garden.

[AscPete]

It doesn't 'Repel' ants its carried back to the nests where it causes colony collapse...
The small amounts that's sprinkled (salted) over the tops of the potting mix and surrounding ground does little to affect the pH or Nutrients

[don_sanders]

Oh, so it's not even a thick layer? Just a light sprinkling?

[rusty hooks]

here's a little interesting DE information for the National Pesticide information center

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html

[WillsC]

The Coffee Grounds cause colony collapse but takes ~ 1 - 2 weeks. One or two additional applications ensure no new colonies get established near the trees. Good Luck.

Pete,

Do you have links to any studies showing this to work? I'm very curious. Is it species dependent or is it effective against many ant species?

[AscPete]

I don't have any more info than that found with a Google search, which is where I found it a few years ago. I simply tried it and it works on the common ants at my location. The ant mounds that are 50 or more feet away are still active but there are no mounds or ants in the treated area. BTW, we don't have fire ants and I've not seen any claims that it works on them.

[WillsC]

Thanks Pete,

I will give it a shot and see.

[AscPete]

I have no idea how it actually causes colony collapse, but it does at my location. The 2 posted explanations are 1, the ants transport the grounds back to the nest and 2, the grounds interfere with their sense of smell and prevents them from returning with food (following their chemical 'trails').

[Dave]

[rusty hooks]

excellent video Dave

[sppsp]

Kelby, thanks for this info

[Kelby]

As an update, I dusted the fig pictured and haven't seen any ants on it since. I'll probably pick them today since heavy rain is forecast today/tonight.

[cjmach1973]

What about putting about an inch of vaselene on the trunk so the can,t go up? It was used during a gypsy moth caterpillar invasion one year near us. worked well

[rusty hooks]

or tanglefoot

[Kelby]

I could, nice thing about DE though is I can use it all over. We get a lot of spiders in the house that are prone to biting pets and people, so I dust the windows and doors as needed.

[Erick]

When I brought my potted fig trees in before the cold weather hit they had the little fruit fly larvae inside. I know this has been talked about on here alot so I was wondering what would be best. I got some gnatrol and have used it and it seemed to have helped. But I also want something to put down on the soil to completely wipe them out before I start my cuttings. So I was wondering would you all use gnatnix or would this DE work because I think I could get a better deal on it and didn't know how far the gnatnix would go. Maybe you all can point me in the right direction. Thanks

[Erick]

I read a few more articles on this that stated that DE didn't kill gnats. So I will get some gnatnix..