*Borax Ant Traps in my Strawberries*
By: TooshieGalore
29 June 2016

Last year I didn't have a garden, I had a squirrel sanctuary and lost much of my fruit harvest.

This year, I'm on a mission to starve every slug, bird and squirrel. I have definitely gone overboard but like I said, I'm on a Blues-Brother's-size mission. I even enclosed my garden-tower full of strawberries in a hardcloth cage to make sure that nothing touches my sweet red morsels.

But now ninja-ants have invaded - millions of them. So far, I've lost my whole wonderful crop to the dang things. But, you know me, I'm on a mission. So on to YouTube and the Internet I went looking for solutions. I've tried them all over the past month. The one that is working the best is Borax. You know the 20 Mule Team Laundry and Cleaning stuff.

When applied to garden soil in small doses, Borax enriches soil and prevents pests. It's a fertilizer. However, according to what I've read, too much leads to toxicity in vegetables. It builds up in the soil and remains there for about three years. Vegetables die and I assume I shouldn't eat the ones that live.

That's why, instead of spraying the strawberry plants or sprinkling the Borax right on the soil, I made an ant trap. I put 1 part sugar and 1 part Borax into small disposable plastic containers (thank you KFC) and poked holes in the bottom, placed the containers on the soil, filled it with the borax/sugar mixture and sealed the lid on it. The ants move in and out through the bottom but rain won't disburse all of the Borax through the soil. If a small amount gets into the soil it's OK.

The ants will go first to the sugar, leaving the strawberries alone and while eating the sugar they also eat the Borax. The sugar is the bait, the Borax kills the ants and the ants take it back to the colony to kill the whole population. In only three days, I've already seen a huge decrease in ants and a few more berries that are edible.

In case you don't know, Borax, sodium tetraborate, is a boron mineral and salt that's mined directly from the ground. It's completely natural. It's an essential mineral that the body needs and plants need it too, but in small amounts. It's safe around pets.

If by chance Borax doesn't work for you then read this article by Pistolshooter on DE versus Ants.
http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/devsantspistolshooter.htm

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