As other have said ants need wet wood. I knock them off the splits and split the affected pieces even smaller so it dries quicker before tossing in the stack.
If you feel the need and satisfaction of really knowing ants are going to be dead. Keep a jug of Home defense max next to the splitter and spray them when they are exposed. Trust me they are done dancing and the jug has a built in sprayer. http://www.ortho.com/smg/goprod/ortho-hdm-perimeter-indoor-insect-killer/prod70044
Sorry everyone, work has been crazy. I haven't been on here for a while. Here is a cut and paste of a PM I sent to Backwoods Savage in regards to the formula I use for the boric acid: I typically mix small batches. I tried mixing a larger batch and place it in a water bottle in the frig for future use, but it doesn't seem to attract the ants as well when it gets older. With that said, I typically use about a half a cup of water and heat it up. From there I dump a little sugar. Probably about two or three tablespoons. Though I don't think it really matters if you add a lot of sugar. As long as it's a liquid, the ants will love it. In regards to the powdered boric acid, that needs to be adjusted based on the size of the ant. If I am having issues with the large black ants, I may use a half a teaspoon or a little less. But if they are the really small ants, you have to use much less. Otherwise the ants die in the cup soon after drinking the solution. You really need the ants to take the stuff back to the nest and feed it to the queen. At that point, the nest is gone in about 24 hours. I wish I could be a little more exact for you, but I always do it by eye. I suspect it doesn't take much acid to wipe them out. You will need to experiment. I remember one time I had a cup of the stuff on a window sill outside. One species of ant hit it around 6pm, then another species came around 10pm and there were literally hundreds feeding on it. The next day there was yet another species. I think I must have hit 5 or 6 nests just from refilling that one cup. The stuff is very effective.
Heres a question for the gang. An arborist told me one time that ants do not attack a healthy tree, after I mentioned to him that ants had killed a tree. He politely commented that the tree was on its way out to begin with, and the ants were attracted to the decaying wood etc... You guys think thats right? What happens first, dying tree, or ants causing the tree to die?
I see more ant damage in the ash trees that reside in the lower, swampier areas of my woods. I can't say for certain how the order of chicken/egg dynamic unfolded, but the common denominator always seems to be wet/rotten wood. That's why I never stack wood against my trees. Seems like an awfully bad idea to create a damp area at the base of a tree, while introducing migrating ants at the same time.
Does anyone know whether one can use BORAX for the ant killing solution? And, if so, how much to use?
Use the same amount of borax as boric acid. They are the same.... I have used it mixed in Jam or sugar water.
