Ants and more Ants

[scanchas]

I have so many ants does any one want any!!! free to collector but seriously my veg plot is absolutely alive with them and yet when i dug it over this year i found no nests I am concerned for all the seeds and plants growing Will they do any damage to all or any particular vegetable any ideas how to control them would be helpful already started putting down ant dust on them

[marmite]

Hello I have noticed ants even on my garden and untill I put the plants in I try to find point of origin. Then ant powder. The ants could be looking for a new home to start up, just dont sit on the soil . Or start an ant circus like on the telly Michal Benteen did that 30 years ago. Good luck and welcome to the forum. Regards Marmite

[scanchas]

thanks marmite for ur comments and welcome

[paulsherwin]

The normal ants found in gardens don't seem to do too much damage to veggies but they can certainly be a nuisance, and there is always the danger that they'll start coming into the house. The important thing is to find the nest. You may be able to see them taking food back there. Once you've found it, a kettle of boiling water will kill the queen and most of the eggs and things will improve a lot.

Paul

[dotcommon]

they are horrid and the formic acid they spray on you really hurts, especially bad for small children if you have any. we had a serious problem last year with ants on our strawberry beds. they decimated the plants. they sem to like to nest around their roots and they killed off or seriously harmed the whole bed. and if you dont do something, they keep producing more and more colonies. ant powder is the only way to go. you have to get it right into the heart of their nest though as otherwise the whole colony just moves. yu've got to kill the queen.

[whitedragon]

i know your pain mate i have red ants and there a pain in the bottom
i burn them when i dig them up

even the chickens wont eat them

[dotcommon]

the people who took our neighbouring allotment has 2 small children and actually gave up because it was too difficult. we still have a bit of a problem, though we blitzed them last season. my 18 month old son started screaming on our allotment this week and i ran over to discover he was playing in a nest of them ... they were crawling all over him. horrid horrid things ...

[Marquesa]

This is my first post but maybe this will help.

I haven't tried this myself because I have only just heard about it but it's cheap, pet and child friendly so I'm going to give it a go. Not today however, since it is raining with a force 8 raging!!

Apparently dot small piles of cornmeal around ant activity - they eat it - take it back to the nest but they cannot digest it so it kills them. It will take a few weeks and obviously needs to be replaced after rain. Cornmeal can be purchased in the UK but if not then polenta is the same - so I'm told!???

[riversidegc]

Originally Posted by Marquesa

This is my first post but maybe this will help.

Apparently dot small piles of cornmeal around ant activity - they eat it - take it back to the nest but they cannot digest it so it kills them. It will take a few weeks and obviously needs to be replaced after rain. Cornmeal can be purchased in the UK but if not then polenta is the same - so I'm told!???

This is a good idea as it negates the need to actually look for the nest yourself! Ant baits do the same where ants will be attracted to the substance and take it back to their nest to share with others and pretty soon the most of colony will die out.

Check out the article at: Riverside Garden Centre - Garden and outdoor furniture

[jeg]

my whole garden is also overrun with ants. they are everywhere including crawling all over my herbs, lettuces, other veg plants. majority of my plants are organic but am happy to consider non-organic treatments at this stage! so, if I put down ant bait (will have to buy in bulk!),- cos I have no idea where any nests are - will it not cause damage to my plants then? where would I put it - around the plants? or on the paths and hope they draw towards it? I ain't got a clue! thanks.

[katihannah]

I had a problem with ants a couple of years ago, and swear by Nippon ant killer, the one that comes in a tiny tube and looks like syrup. The ants take it back to the nest and feed it to the queen and any hatchlings, so while you won't see any visible reduction in ant population this year, by next year there will be no ants. Dot it around in several places especially where the ant 'runs' are.

[lottie]

what's the best kind of ant powder to use? and is there an organic/less dangerous one please?

(asides from cornmeal, as we need a quick solution!)

i have a toddler on the lottie and don't like poison around.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Lottie, ants hate water. Follow the ants back to the spot where they are all coming from and with a trowel carefully remove the top layer of soil so you can see the activity around the nest area. If you are able to boil a kettle of water on the allotment site simply pour the boiling water into the nest area or take a flask of boiling water with you from home. The speed the ants leave carrying eggs on their back is amazing and they don't return! Even drowning the nest area in cold water should work.

[wafflycat]

About half of my lawn appears to be one giant ants' nest. Tried the boiling water.. the powder stuffed down.. even the hens digging away and gorging on the eggs has not halted the ant takeover of the known universe. Oh, and the nest(s) being flooded by the raging torrent that is the stream at the end of the garden in flash-flood mode did not work either.

So I have accepted that war is declared.

Nematodes have been purchased.

When they arrive in the post, they will be set to work on the ants.

[lottie]

thanks both - i could maybe get a flask to take up there...

i am sooooo tempted by nematodes but they're pricey lil guys aren't they? do you have a good source for them?

keep us posted on the battle please

[MarkOlliethe2nd]

Im having an ant problem in my tunnel, they been there since I put the tunnel up. I have sat and watched then mincing up and down the tunnel but cant track them to a specific place (nest) But they are becoming a real pain as they seem to of taken a liking to my pepper leaves. Some of the leaves that touched the ground or the side of the tunnel seemed to be most effected with them munching, I cut back a few leaves that were in contact with the ground or sides and the munching on leaves wasnt so bad, but seen as the peppers are growing more mucned leaves appear but not on my toms and they are bigger and more accessible to the ants, but they havent taken a liking to the toms.... I noticed in the garden centre ant powders where not recommended for crops, such a pain in the a**e!!!!

(My recent tsunami did nothing either, infact the ants told me it was better then the log flume at alton towers!!!)

[Lady of Shallots]

My growbags are full of them, they are crawling all over my lettuces and spinach... the spinach seems fine but lettuces are covered in small holes (smaller than if slugs/snails had made them). Could these holes have been eaten by the ants?
I think the nest may be in the growbag with tomatoes in. The tomato plants seem to be doing fine but they are covered in greenfly. As far as I know, ants don't eat greenfly but 'farm' them as they like to eat the sugary liquid that they produce called honeydew. Perhaps they do eat some kinds, or might move them from plant to plant. But I don't think they're doing my garden any good, especially the lettuces I was looking forward to eating!

I will try the cornmeal thing, as I have some that has been in the cupboard for ages! Will start on it today and let you know how it goes...

[Lady of Shallots]

Just found a nest... dug it up, poured boiling water on it, and put polenta grains all around what was left! Hope that gets the little buggers!

My lettuces that they have eaten... (nest was against a wall next to them!)

[PhilP]

Hi, you can get solar powered ant deterrents that work all year round without requiring any batteries obviously. They are useful when locating the nest is proving difficult here's a site where you can get one: Solar Powered Ant Repeller £9.95 Hope it helps

[Ben]

Originally Posted by MarkOlliethe2nd

Im having an ant problem in my tunnel, they been there since I put the tunnel up. I have sat and watched then mincing up and down the tunnel but cant track them to a specific place (nest) But they are becoming a real pain as they seem to of taken a liking to my pepper leaves. Some of the leaves that touched the ground or the side of the tunnel seemed to be most effected with them munching, I cut back a few leaves that were in contact with the ground or sides and the munching on leaves wasnt so bad, but seen as the peppers are growing more mucned leaves appear but not on my toms and they are bigger and more accessible to the ants, but they havent taken a liking to the toms.... I noticed in the garden centre ant powders where not recommended for crops, such a pain in the a**e!!!!

(My recent tsunami did nothing either, infact the ants told me it was better then the log flume at alton towers!!!)

Ants can be a pain in tunnels, and more especially to peppers/chillies. The clever buggers farm aphids on the plants. They'll pick them up and move them around. They even milk them like cows. They're after the honey dew that aphids secrete and tickle the aphids to make them deposit the honey dew.

The best tip I heard was to grow some mint in your polytunnel (obviously in a container planted in the ground to stop it invading) I did this last year and have not seen another ant in there since.

Don't use ant powders