Ants,ants n more ants

[Tony]

Hi all.
I was wondering if anyone else is having problems with ants at the moment. They are everywhere at mine. In the house. in my garden, the little bleaders are in my vegie garden destroying everything. Even eating out my tomatoes before they are ripe. More inportantly they are in my aviary. They are those little reddy coloured ones, Argentine sugar ants I think, and they are pretty much indestructable. I have coopexed the whole aviary and they still pop up, I have dusted them poisoned them and still they keep coming. Does anyone have a fail safe method they can share. It would be much appreciated if so.
Cheers Tony

[Mickp]

try mixing your coopex stronger. when ants get bad here I mix it 1 sachet to 2 litres of water (instead of 5 litres)
seems to do the trick

[Tony]

Thanks Mick I'll give it a go!

[GregH]

Tere's not fool proof way. Every time you spray you're selecting for resistance so son't forget to rotate your chemical groups or better still co-apply chmicals with different modes of action. Coopex is good but don't alternate with another pyrethroid try something like Fipronial. Also make sure that you make sure that it's registered for the application because not only are you compling with the law you know it's been tested for effectiveness and co-lateral damage. Since you are spraying on the vegie patch as well make sure you take notice of any with-holding period for the sake of you, the birds and whomever else you're feeding the produce to.

[jusdeb]

We have the normal ants which Coopex keeps at bay and we have meat ants which council is coming out to treat again .... The rain has got them moving .

[Redwing]

Must be something going on. I live in Perth too and have never even thought of doing anything about ants.... but you're right Silverfox they are everywhere and have reluctantly decided that I'll have to at least do something around the aviary. They're into the mealworms and and leafy greens before the birds have a chance to get to them. also excavating in all the brick paved areas and pathways... little piles of sand everywhere.

[desertbirds]

Double check on hte safety of this product before using but cislin works really well.I tried Coopex too and found it didnt keep them at bay for long. I thinkThey use cislin at work around the outside of aviaries and we use around the workshop .Check first as i said but it does work well .

[Diane]

Cislin 10 was used in the chicken industry about 15 years ago. I used to work at a chicken farm, the chickens were used for egg production to produce meat birds. Cislin 10 was sprayed around the outside walls of cool room to control flies.

[Pete Sara]

mate if you have argentine ants i think the ag dept can help deal with them , they are on the pest list , they are relitivly small but the soldier has a larger head than the rest, you probably have meat ants which may require the services of a pest controller as they can get hold and cause some damage but once controlled away from the aviary coopex at micks recommendations will be sufice...pete which could mean with all this ant movement we may be having a wet winter......

[jusdeb]

Council will take care of meat ants here , might be worth a phone call to your local council to see if they can help .... they will actually find the queen then spray underground to kill the entire nest or if the problem is slight then they will lay poison above ground .