This year ants have invaded our yard building nests wherever they can. We have interlocking stones for our patio. They love to build their nests under these with the entrance between the joints. There is lots of sand excavated on top. Sand even gets washed into the pool when it rains. We have found thousands of ants in the pool, which get cleaned up by the pool skimmer. We are researching to figure out How to Get Rid of Ants. Over the years, we have also tried a variety of chemicals to get rid of them in addition to natural solutions. The only thing that seems to work is the real stuff, Raid!
How to Get Rid of Ants
Basically, if the ant entrance is between the bricks, I spray raid all around the entrance and into the entrance. This kills them almost immediately! If the ant hill is in the lawn or around shrubs, we have used a lawn spray that is mixed with water to kill the ants and many other insects, including grubs. We have a grub problem also, so this solution does double duty in killing the ants as well as grubs.
But it is a never-ending battle. It is impossible to get rid of all of them, and they just keep breeding and creating new ant nests. You see, there is a little leaf linden in our backyard that is infested with aphids. The tree is far too big to spray, and the ants love the aphids and the sweet sap that leaks from the leaves. As it turns out, this is one of their primary food sources and provides a breeding ground and lots of food for them to consume.
The best we can do is control the number of ant hills. By the way, we also placed ant traps near the entrances to our home inside so that any ants that do come in find the traps and take the poison back to the nest. At best, we have ongoing skirmishes with no one winning the battle.