Ants on my strawberries

[NCW_Woodnymph]

This happens every year! I have nice big berries this year and a day or two before they were ripe enough to pick the ants got them. I am so sad because the kids have been checking them everyday to see if they were ripe yet. :( Does anyone have any ideas of how to keep the ants away?

[kalohabreeze]

dust them with cinnamon , I use cinnomon to keep them out of my kitchen, they come in every year..some people use cayenne but with little ones I just use cinn and it works about the same.

[LIBRA]

give them something else to eat, and they will leave your berries alone, hopefully ;) try some sugar water nearby??

[NCW_Woodnymph]

Thanks ladies! I tried both of those and propped all the berries off the ground and the ants seem to be leaving them alone. They are so yummy I guess I can't blame the little guys. :D

:hippie:

[hedgewitch]

LOL!

Pasta is a good alternative food to give them - they go crazy for this stuff.

(the ants that is - not the kids)

:ufo:

[LIBRA]

I just read in mother earth news last night that if you put grits out they eat it and swell up, not a very nice thing to do. But they were doing it to red ants, and had a real problem with them.

[hedgewitch]

What is grits?
I've always wondered this as I see the word around now and again.

[LIBRA]

basically its ground up corn, its rougher then corn meal but pretty much the same thing.