We are suffering an infestation of small black sugar ants this spring. I think our neighbor has put down enough chemicals around his house over the years that the ants have moved to our house! In his defense, he is no longer using pesticides as he participates in our experiment with us.
The first step we took was to pull the dirt and mulch away from the foundation of our house. At the bottom of the limstone sill that runs around the house, there is a rubber membrane. It seems we have more problems with ants when the dirt and mulch of our plant beds are above the level of that membrane.
Then we spread a line of diatomaceous earth around the entire foundation. This natural product dehydrates the ants. You can use a clean, dry mustard bottle to spray the earth into weep holes around the base of your home as well.
To combat the ants already in the house, we put down 3 Terro ant baits in the 3 areas where we were seeing ants. Terro uses borax to combat the ants. Perhaps not perfect, but better than the arsenic I saw in other baits. The ants swarmed the bait for a day and a half and now they are gone. Be sure to let them swarm the bait and carry it back to the nest to make sure you eliminate the entire nest.
So far it seems like the ant problem is over!
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