We'll see

We bought a new-to-us house with a two story deck on the back. Much to my chagrin, I noticed shortly after moving in that the prior owners did not take the carpenter ants that live in the deck with them. It's now a war. I've used this DE inside a home years ago with good results, so I bought this one again. I first studied the ants to see where they were coming from and where they were going. After gathering the necessary intel, I sprinkled the DE everywhere I'd seen the ants, as well as in all the cracks and crevices of the deck. I didn't use any special equipment...I went to the dollar store and bought a large plastic container with a lid and punched a bunch of holes in the top for sprinkling. I also bought one of those condiment bottles to shoot the DE in the crevices. Both work perfectly. Spent $2 for dispensers, so keep that in mind if you're eyeing expensive equipment. It's been two weeks and I'm still seeing ants; far, far fewer, but I am still seeing them come and go. I've started becoming much more heavy-handed with the DE. Instead of sprinkling it (rather heavily), I'm covering areas with it. Ants won't cross a line of the powder, so I make sure it comes out several inches from the deck supports, etc. I've seen ants walk thru it and go back in the way they came. I suspect the reason I'm still seeing them is that the nest is where I can't get to it, so it's going to take a while to get enough of the buggers exposed to this stuff to get the whole nest. Watch out when spreading this stuff around...it floats around in the air for quite a while. I ended up getting it in my eyes and all over my clothes (yes, the instructions say to wear protective gear). I'm only giving this 3 stars for now. As I said, it's been two weeks, and I'll come back in another couple of weeks or so with an update to let you know if this has evicted the tenants living in my deck.

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