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How to keep ants off the bird table
Mike160304
Posts: 69
The bird table is about 5 foot high and the stem, in one section, is single and square, around 2.5" (62mm) square, so that may be the best area to apply a deterrent, but what?
Not Des O'Connor CDs, presumably?
Yes, I know they do little harm, but they can do it somewhere else. 
Mike
0
Posts
Ants can't swim so could you put it in a bucket?
Try smearing the post with essential oil of cloves, available from pharmacies and health shops. They can't stand the smell and won't climb up any more.
LOL. Yes, or I could flood the garden so that the bird table is standing in water.
Mike
Thanks, I'll look into that.
Mike
Neem oil also deters ants. I've had a few wandering indoors to forage so have used it to keep them out.
I tried wrapping 2" brown packaging tape round the stem, sticky side out. An ant managed to cross it, just. Then another.
Then I wrapped 2" duct tape (Duck Tape?) round the stem, sticky side out.
Ants tapped it with one foot and turned back. I've only seen one ant (there's always a nutter, isn't there?) succeed in crossing it. Most of them have given up.
I guess it'll lose its "stick" in a few days, and I'll have to replace it. Do they still sell "fly paper"? I'll look it up.
Mike