How to get rid of ants in the garden forever

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Tiny insects ants give gardeners a lot of problems. Black ants breed aphids and damage plants, thus causing many inconveniences for garden owners. The garden must be kept free of these unwanted guests. Consider how you can get rid of ants in the garden forever, what means and preparations are considered the most effective for this.

Why ants are dangerous

Garden ants are not immediately detectable because they do not build visible nests on the ground. If you find numerous small holes in your garden, then this indicates the presence of these pests. As for their red counterparts, they are less harmful, but they also contribute to the breeding of aphids.

Ants love to eat the waste products of aphids. Moreover, they help to spread it on the site. Thus, aphids and ants are inseparable neighbors in their summer cottages.

Therefore, the question of how to get rid of ants in the garden and in the garden is of such great importance - these insects contribute to the cultivation of aphids not only on weeds, but also on plantings. For the latter, aphids are destructive: they suck out sap from plants, which harms the harvest. Therefore, if you do not get rid of these garden pests, then this will certainly lead to the appearance of aphids.

This means that the question of how to get rid of ants in the garden for a long time is directly related to the question of aphids - ants must be deprived of their food base in order to defeat them.

Speaking about how and in what ways to get rid of ants in the garden, it should be noted that this is a serious task. It is important to choose the right remedy and develop a scheme for the destruction of ants, since mistakes can lead, on the contrary, to an increase in the number of insects. In addition, due to improper processing, ants can get used to the substances with which they were tried to be removed, and stop responding to them.

Black ants are considered pests, not only because they contribute to an increase in the number of aphids, but also because of the damage they cause to plants. These insects build their nests at the depth of the tree roots, which causes the tree to suffer.

If you find that ants have bred in the garden under the tree and decided not to do anything about it, then be sure that in a few years (usually after 2-3 years) the tree will die. In addition, plants will stop growing near the nest.

How can you get rid of black ants in your garden? First, it is necessary to carry out prevention. So, these insects choose unkempt areas, soil that is rarely cultivated - the treatment disturbs the insects and destroys their nests. Therefore, you should dig up the ground more often. Do not allow nests to form under the tree - immediately treat the trunk with a strong solution of lime. Pour the same solution around the affected tree.

Secondly, you should dig up the nest if insects have already occupied your site. But it has to be tricky shallow digging: dig as deep as possible as these insects make deep holes in the ground. To accurately destroy the nest, after digging, add ash or lime to this area.

It is also important to remember the hierarchy of ants. For the reason that the destruction of workers (and the workers in ants are wingless sterile females) is completely insufficient, since the existence of the population does not depend on the workers.

The "queen" of ants should be destroyed. For the same reason, it is not enough to stir up an anthill - this is only half the battle. To bring the matter to the end, it is not easy to water the anthill, but also to deliver the poisonous creature to the nest itself. Therefore, if you use chemicals, read the instructions carefully and follow all the steps prescribed in it.

Reasons for the appearance of black ants

The main reason is associated with aphids. If aphids start up in the garden, then ants will surely follow, for which the waste products of aphids are a favorite delicacy. Moreover, the ants will begin to relocate the aphids to neighboring plants so that there is more food.

Therefore, if you find a white sticky bloom on the leaves of your plants, then take into account this sign - this indicates the presence of aphids, which will certainly lead to the appearance of pests.

Chemicals

First, let's look at how to get rid of black ants in the garden with chemicals. It is worth noting that each method - both chemicals and any traditional methods - has its pros and cons. Chemicals, especially those with instant action, can damage plantings and even kill plants. Moreover, it is not recommended to use them during the period of fruit ripening. Homemade methods do not guarantee results.

If you decide to use insecticides to control these insects, remember the safety rules. Be sure to use protective equipment (gloves, mask) so that the chemicals do not come into contact with the skin and respiratory tract. Also, do not use toxic substances near trees.

Read the instructions carefully to understand which pesticides can be used near garden crops. It is better not to do the treatment during the period when the plants are blooming and bearing fruit - there is a high risk of harmful substances entering human food, moreover, plants are most vulnerable during the flowering period.

It is not recommended to use aerosol products for single destruction of insects. As already mentioned, it is important to destroy not the workers, but the "queen", and therefore a single destruction does not make sense.

There are preparations in the form of powders, from which solutions are made, as well as preparations in the form of a paste. Aerosols are less convenient because they evaporate quickly. The most popular drugs are Muratsid, Anteater.

You can also use traps - these are biodegradable products with a short duration. It is very important to get rid of aphids, and then the ants will have nothing to eat. To do this, you can use Biotlin, Alatar, Konfidor-Extra. To combat aphids, any diazinon-based preparations are suitable. Also pay attention to Dr. Klaus - it is used for watering to combat both ants and other insects harmful to the site.

Folk remedies

Consider how you can get rid of ants in the garden for a long time with folk remedies. Of course, such funds have a lot of advantages. While they don't have the immediate effect of chemicals, they can get rid of harmful insects without harming your plantings.

As already noted, one of the most important reasons for the appearance of ants is aphids. Therefore, measures should be taken to combat it at the first sign of aphids. So, you can protect trees from aphid colonies using any obstacle, for example, from old tires.

Scented grass can be used to keep ants away from trees, which will repel these insects. It can be anise, wormwood, mint, pine needles, grease - all plants and substances with a pungent odor that frightens insects.

These measures are aimed at keeping the trees safe from aphids and ants. But how to get rid of ant colonies in the garden? Consider proven folk methods.

For example, boric acid with a sweetener is known and proven to attract ants. As a sweet ingredient, you can use granulated sugar or jam, which are mixed with acid, and then sprinkled on places where ants accumulate. With this tool, you can process the trunk of trees in a circle, under which ants like to settle, as well as anthills, beds, flower beds.

Another way to fight is to use semolina or millet, which are poured over the ant's nest. A little advice: ants can quickly peck the spilled cereal, and therefore it is better to sprinkle some straw or dried grass on the cereal so that the birds do not notice the cereal and do not treat themselves to it. Please note that you do not need to cook millet.

As mentioned above, often the fight against garden pests turns out to be meaningless, since only the caste of workers is destroyed, and not the "queen". With a strong infection, you should direct your efforts to destroy the "queen", which lives at a depth of one and a half meters. In such cases, even digging up the site will not help.

To get rid of the queen, you can place sweet bait for worker ants near each shrub or fruit tree. You can use sweet syrup as a trap. This method will reduce the number of worker ants. Then it is necessary to use adhesive tape, on which the poison is applied, which the ants will bring into the nest in order to feed the "queen" with it.

Often, ants settle inside berry bushes and harm them. The remedy for the fight is chosen depending on the degree of development of the bush. If it blooms, you can use a dry yeast bait with a sweetener.

If the berries are still green, then you can use a solution of ammonia - ants do not like its pungent smell. But if the berries are already ripe, then no chemicals can be used, since they can then enter the human body from the berries. The only possible option for pest control is scaring away the pungent smell of mint or wormwood twigs. It can also be products with a pungent smell, such as a head of smoked herring.

A mixture of ash, lime, and crushed tree bark acts perniciously on black ants.

Tomato tops are also considered to be an effective ant control agent. Green tops can be laid out on anthills, or you can even twist a kind of rope out of it and tie it around the trunks of fruit trees. In addition, you can make a decoction from the tops - it also repels insects.

Gardeners call boiling water a simple and quick way to combat pests, so the anthill can be poured with boiling water, but only if it is not too close to the plantings.

One of the easiest ways is bait. To do this, you can use any jam or sugar solution. Find an anthill and start pouring a thin line of syrup from it. At the end of such a path, pour the bait of syrup and dry yeast. The ants will leave the anthill and start running along this path to the bait, after eating which they will die.