Cutter Ants wont take bait, now what?

I caught cutter ants in the act stripping my kale plants. Put cutter ant pellets all around and into the crown of the plants. This morning, plants stripped more but all of the pellets are still laying around and in the plants.
What can I get that the ants will take back to the nest and eradicate it? HELP.

Put a ring of Hormigal around the plants and put the bait outside the ring as close to the tunnel entrance as you can.

I have Homigol but I am hesitant to put it around the kale plants we eat. It is very poisonous.

sm1mex wrote:I have Homigol but I am hesitant to put it around the kale plants we eat.  It is very poisonous.

really? in that case don't worry because the ants will eat it since you will do nada-jaja!

Trace the cutter ants to their nest. This will be a hole in the ground with a slightly raised small mound of sand around it, with ants going in and out carrying bits of plant. Some ants are active only at night, so finding their nest may require a flashlight. Buy a liquid ant killer (I got mine at the garden store on the carretera in Riberas, mix it with water as instructed, and pour it down the entrances. Check after a few days to be sure the little fellers have not multiplied again and set up a new hole. BTW I am told that if you touch the ant pellets, the ants will scent you and not eat the pellets--but even with that, the pellets did not work for me.

I followed the ants and they went into a corner where I have crown of thorns, roses, geraniums, etc, so it is thick under brush and I cannot see where they go, they just go into this mass of plants. I threw pellets into the underbrush, but they are still on the ground. This is war !!

sm1mex wrote:I have Homigol but I am hesitant to put it around the kale plants we eat.  It is very poisonous.

Not on the plants...just around them. Just be careful not to put it on the plants.

won't the soil absorb the poison and the roots take it up? We have a sprinkler system so we would have to put it down every time the sprinklers run, saturating the soil with poison.

Diatomacious earth. Google it. There is a gardening store in Riberas on the lake side of the Carretera with a big sign out front selling it. Safe and cheap.

Water dilutes it to the point that it is not effective even to kill a small ant.  If you know the path of the ants, then put it further away from the kale and closer to their hidden entrance.
This will work as a diversionary tactic only...not destroy the colony.

sm1mex wrote:won't the soil absorb the poison and the roots take it up?  We have a sprinkler system so we would have to put it down every time the sprinklers run, saturating the soil with poison.  

The simple answer is "no". The plants will not absorb the poison from the ground and then become poisonous to the ants.
You must put the pellets on dry ground or the ants won't eat it.

When my Patron stopped working I got Trompa at the garden center in Riberas. I used it two nights in a row and haven't had a problem for almost a year--who would have believed the ants would be gone for that long!!

What is Trompa and did you put it around plants that you eat?

Trompa is a pellet-type ant killer.  I can't see that Trompa would hurt the plants you are going to eat or be absorbed into the plants, but I would put it as close to the nest entrance and a little way along their trail just to be safe.  Do not get it wet or put it on wet ground as they will ignore it then.  You can put it on rocks or wood laid in their path.

I put the pellets on a elevated cement wall that outlines my kale garden and they were crawling along it but walking right over the pellets. I got some diatomaceous earth from the garden store and will put it out around the plants. It was recommended above. Apparently it damages the insects covering as it is made out of microscopic sharp shards of silicon and glass. It is ok if it gets wet. I'll try it tonight.

Keep the Diatomaceous earth dry! It loses effectiveness if it is wet. Put it out near nests, along paths, even on the kale as it is non poisonous to humans or pets. It will also kill fleas, cockroaches etc so safe to use inside. Put it around baseboards for a day or two then sweep up.
There are many page of info on how to maximize its usefulness online.

How much did they charge you for the bags?

Thanks. It is a 4 pound bag for 215 pesos. Someone said it was good and cheap. I don't know if this is cheap or not but if it works, great. We bought the last bag but she has some ordered. A friend of mine said he buys it in Joco for fleas.

I use a white powder named Metilico 3. If I can find their hole I dump some down and around. If I can't find the hole I sprinkle it in their tracks. Stops them fast. That is at night with a flashlight

From observation I am convinced I have met more than one kind of cutter ant. There is a night time variety, but I mostly have the daytime or later afternoon variety. I have found that one application of whatever I use on the nests is unlikely to get all of them and they multiply fast and will build new nests. I do think that the liquid poured down the holes is the most effective. Continued diligence is required. If they develop into a large colony, they will have multiple above ground holes with sand around them, multiple doors as it were--just like the old ant farms, there are tons of tunnels below ground and the ants come up in more than one place. Our condos have concrete sidewalks, and the ants had (before my summer campaign) had taken to living under the sidewalks where they were protected. It has taken me multiple efforts to get rid of them. I suspect I could have hired an extermination service but I have found the war to be personally satisfying since I won. I don't get many victories these days;)

We buy diatomaceous in Joco for 200 peso and it is 50 kilos. as you enter Joco from the east, the store is on your right (mountainside) before the first light. Tile store on one end of the building and the diatomaceous is on the other end of the building.

Oh my gosh. 50 kilos is 110 pounds. I would never be able to lift the bag that heavy. 200 pesos is a pretty good deal for 110 pounds. Now it is raining so all of my work today is getting soaking wet. Can't win. Will try again tomorrow.

sm1mex wrote:Oh my gosh.  50 kilos is 110 pounds.  I would never be able to lift the bag that heavy.  200 pesos is a pretty good deal for 110 pounds.  Now it is raining so all of my work today is getting soaking wet.  Can't win.  Will try again tomorrow.

sm1mex, this has been the worst year for cutters in over a decade. My wife has tried to create new hotspots around the property to attract them, and bait from there. In an effort to beat them back, waits till dark, and uses home defense to beat them back while trying to better locate their nest. Local sellers told us you need to kill the queen. F M A runnin .com....there can be up to 6 queens per colony, and the colony can be 30 ft or more underground. This unfortunately will be a long term battle! 

Well, I seem to have won the battle on my home turf. But, I am curious--could I have saved effort and money by hiring an extermination service to gas the little critters underground? I would have needed condo approval to do that, so I chose the personal effort route, but I am wondering.

JayBear wrote:Well, I seem to have won the battle on my home turf. But, I am curious--could I have saved effort and money by hiring an extermination service to gas the little critters underground? I would have needed condo approval to do that, so I chose the personal effort route, but I am wondering.

Jaybear, we thought we won the battle in 2006.....unless someone more knowledgeable than I can shed the light....you can try to gasem......waste of money, as previously stated can be 30' more underground........give me gophers anyday....LOL

30 feet??? Geez Louise. I guess I am doing better than I thought if I have got rid of most of them. Glad I did not wait--those dang things multiply fast. I actually rather admire them, they have an interesting society and they work hard, but insensitive clod that I am, I admire my flowers more.

Google them....fascinating to say the least