I had these stupid ants (look different than fire ants with black butts with a sharp tip) come out and infest/colonize my container tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, everything with aphids for them to milk.
We had some weird ants at work a couple of years ago. They were much faster than any other ant and were hard to kill with the stuff our “pest contractor” used. We were not allowed to treat pests. I sneaked some Boric acid and spread it in our infected area and they were gone.
You know what can work well against all that?
Diatomaceous earth.
It's completely harmless to mammals etc, but will kill any bug it contacts. The diatoms cut up their shells and they dehydrate to death. IIRC, it's what's used in flea powder.
It's cheap enough and can be bought at a pool supply place and sprinkle it around the base of the plants and on them. It does need to be refreshed after it rains.
Another thing that works well is sugar and borax. I was having trouble with carpenter ants in the house from the tree outside, so I mixed a 50/50 mixture of sugar and 20 Mule team borax and spread it out along where they were traveling. They got to it and I NEVER saw another carpenter ant around after that.
That too needs to be replenished occasionally as the sugar tends to absorb moisture and if it's really humid out will get funny, but even that level of borax mixed in doesn't deter them from going after the sugar and then they get the borax as well and it kills them.
Just store it in a really airtight container.