Natural Home Pest Control: How To Stop An Ant Colony From Budding
February 26th, 2010 Posted in Ants & Roaches
Ants can attack your home in the thousands or even millions, leaving you with a huge problem on your hands. Ant management can be quite complicated, but practicing the proper control methods will go a long way towards stopping the problem.
Some control methods can cause an ant colony to bud, which is the splitting of one ant colony into multiple ant colonies. Budding can make a small ant infestation into a much bigger problem. Therefore, learning how to prevent budding is extremely vital information to know.
Want to learn more about budding?
What Is Budding?
Ants establish new colonies by either reproduction or budding. Regular reproduction is the most common way for more ant colonies to form. A male winged ant will leave the colony and impregnate another queen. This will start a brand new ant colony wherever the queen and her winged companion decided to set up shop.
Budding begins when a one or more queens leave their nest by themselves or in a group to establish a new colony. When the queen is accompanied by a group it consists of another queen and some workers carrying larvae.
Some species that are prone to budding are Pharaoh ants, some species of fire ants, and Argentine ants. The use of some chemical pesticides can actually stimulate budding, which makes solving an ant problem difficult.
How To Prevent Budding
Toxic chemical pesticides and dust often spur budding in many species of ants, which is the opposite of what you were going for. If you have one colony of ants in your home or on your property, it can quickly turn to multiple colonies at the drop off a hat.
Using traditional chemical pesticides on ants you see around your home is not successful because you are likely to only kill 5% of the colony’s worker ants, leaving the other 95% of the colony to thrive. Since you did not spray the colony directly, you may have merely disturbed their order and caused them to move locations.
When this happens many queen ants (some once dormant) will split to form different colonies. This is a biological safeguard of the ant to ensure the continued success of the species.
To stop this you must locate the colony itself because simply killing outlying ants will cause a stir in the ant colony and can stimulate budding. By locating the source of the colony, you will hopefully eliminate the queen ants. Since locating the actual colony is not that simple, it is best to use an ant bait product that uses the foraging ants to take the bait back to the colony and hopefully eliminate the queen. It is important to follow the label directions on any ant bait product to better ensure its success.
Another way to prevent budding and an ant infestation in general is by practicing proper sanitation throughout your home and property. Making sure waste is disposed of properly and that your kitchen, bathroom, and other living spaces are cleaned often will help dramatically.
An Organic Control Method
EcoSMART has a line of organic pesticides that will drastically help in your fight against an ant infestation. Our natural ant killer is the perfect solution for your problems.
When sprayed directly on ants our organic pesticide works on contact. Like we said above, to prevent budding spray the natural home pest control directly on the ant colony if possible to kill any of the queen ants and their workers. If you cannot find the actual nest, then it is best to use an ant bait product to reduce the liklihood of budding and get to the queen.
After eliminating the queen and the nest, spray the organic pesticide where ants are commonly found (like near sinks, around appliances, or around waste containers) to prevent them from returning to that area. Since it is organic it safe for use around your pets and most importantly your family. Don’t let the ants control you, control the ants with EcoSMART today.
14 Comments | The First 1,000 to Comment (Starting 12/21/2009) Will Become EcoSMART Product Testers!
By Johnson on Apr 5, 2010
I would love to try out thsi product. I have had an ant problem for 5 years in my condo. Neighbors obviously have lots of problems as well.
By Johnson on Apr 5, 2010
I would love to try this product out. I have had pest problems for the last 5 years that I’ve been in my condo. Obviously the neighbors do too.
By Frank on Apr 5, 2010
Can I spray the outside of my house with it?
By EcoSMART Brian on Apr 6, 2010
Dear Frank,
Of course you can! EcoSMART products are safe for use indoors and outdoors. Since our organic pesticides are engineered to only target receptors found in insects; people, animals, and the environment are safe from any negative side effects of our products.
By shannon on Apr 16, 2010
i would love to try this product i have an infant and a dog. this product seems to be just what i need as every year i have ants in my kitchen and laundry area
By Arlene Schoonmaker on Apr 22, 2010
Every spring into summer my kitchen is invaded by “sugar ants”. I can not find where they enter or their nest. They are driving me crazy! I’ve tried all sorts of sprays and “organic” type ant deterrents or killers, but they are back the next day. I have several cats and a dog, so hesitate to use poisons. I’d be happy to give this product a try.
By Judith Walton on May 16, 2010
Every year we fight a constant battle with small sugar ants in the house. Because of pets and children we have to be careful what products we use. This year we have started doing some home gardening and have discovered some of the larger carpenter ants around the outside of the house. I was very excited to see that your product can be used outside and inside. My question is that we live in the Northwest where it rains a great deal. How often should we apply the product to the outside of the house?
By Laurel on May 25, 2010
I live in Hawaii and have a big carpenter ant problem. I have dogs so avoid toxic chemicals, but can’t let this go on any longer. Recently I started using the ant bate stations (before I knew you existed)and then found your product. By mistake I bought the bottle that’s suppose to be used with a hose. Because there’s an area I need to treat indoors and didn’t feel like hosing down the inside of my home, I poured some of this solution into a plastic spray bottle and diluted with water. I’d like to know if this is ok to do? And, is it necessary to dilute or can I just use in a spray bottle as is?
I’d love to try more of your products.
It sure smells good!
By EcoSMART Jocelyn on May 30, 2010
Hi Judith,
EcoSMART does not persist in the environment for weeks or months because it is natural and leaves no toxic residue, however applying per the label directions should do the trick.
By Nancy Childers on Jun 21, 2010
I have small black ants in my kitchen and bathroom. I have tried ant spray and it kills them at the time but does not prevent them from returning. I am looking for something that will prevent them from returning for at least 3 months or so. I have tried sprays that you hook up to hose and sprayed all around my deck and still have small black ants. I want to get rid of these pests. Help!
By Marla on Jul 6, 2010
I am actually looking for product information regarding being safe around grazing animals also. I’m not having any luck with finding this information. Can anyone tell me if they know where to find out?
Thanks,
Marla
marlapretty37@yahoo.com
By Christy Lewis on Jul 11, 2010
Hi, we have a problem at our home. One day I started noticing what looked like ants, coming through a tiny crevice near our sliding door. Hundreds of them! But i noticed they had tiny wings on their really tiny bodies and they can hop and fly away from me quickly..and nothing will kill them off. I have children and pets and like to keep them away from chemicals. Using cloves and cinnamon worked for about 6 hours now they are back and so are tiny black ants. What are the teeny tiny ant like bugs? They come in through windows too and are everywhere..please help. I have caulked anything I can get to and it doesn’t stop them..they are into everything..earwigs, too. And I have noticed a few spiders who are probably eating the pests but scaring me! lol..Thank you, I am so happy to be able to use a product without harmful chemicals..Awesome!
By hiller on Aug 4, 2010
HI I HAVE A MAJOR ANT PROBLEM THE QUEEN ANT ISN’T DIEING FROM MY POISON
By Maureen Dowd on Sep 6, 2010
Does your product work on carpenter ants? I have just discovered carpenter ants inside my house. I have pets and would like to use a product that’s not toxic to my dog and cat (and, of course, to me). What’s in your product and how does it work? I’d love to try it and see if it works on these carpenter ants.