Home remedies for ants in the gardenare simple and quick methods to effectively get rid of ants from our lawn or plants.Home remedies for fighting antsare easily available, ecological and do not cause large losses in our wallet - they allow us to use whatever we have at hand, e.g. in the kitchen. Here are the7 proven home remedies for antsthat anyone can use successfully!
Ants in the garden. How to fight them with home methods?
Fig. pixabay.com
Do you have to fight ants in the garden?
Antsare very widespread, even ubiquitous. They eat mainly plant food, although it often happens that their diet also includes other insects. Ants play an important role in nature and are considered beneficial insects. Ants can do a lot of good not only in the forest and in the meadow, but also in our garden.
The useful activities of ants include :
- cleaning the lawn from organic plant and animal residues,
- spreading some plant species,
- loosening and aerating the soil when creating tunnels.
When ants in the garden are sparseand do not cause noticeable damage, we should not worry about them. The problem arises when there are a lot of ants, they start to damage our crops or they move from the garden to living quarters.
Ants clean the garden of the remains of organic matter
Fig. pixabay.com
- drying the soil by creating corridors ( although in this way they also loosen the soil, which is sometimes beneficial),
- destruction of plant roots, tubers and rhizomes,
- damaging buds and flowers, damaging fruit,
- destroying the lawn by building anthills on it.
- damage to elements of wooden garden architecture - arbors, fences, terraces. Some species of ants, such as common wholesalers and trunks, may nest in wooden garden structures. Wholesalers can nestle under the terrace floor. By undermining composite boards and platforms, they cause their gradual subsidence.
Good to know!
One of the biggest problems caused by ants is their intercourse with aphids. You may have noticed that plants infested with aphids are also full of ants. This is because aphids secrete a sticky and sweet honeydew which is the delicacy of ants. In order to get as much honeydew as possible, ants can take care of aphids, protect them from predators, or transfer them to other plants. In this way, the ants support the development and multiplication of harmful aphids. In such a situation, it is worth not only fighting ants, but also spraying aphids.
Ants take care of harmful aphids
Fig. pixabay.com
7 home remedies for ants
When there are too many ants in the gardenand the damage from the list above becomes very common, it is worthwhile to start fighting ants in the garden. However, in order not to overuse harmful chemicals and not to buy various expensive preparations, it is worth trying simple, home remedies for ants first.
1. Ant corn flour
One of the more interestinghome remedies for ants in the gardenis to sprinkle plain corn flour in the places where these insects pass. Ants are happy to take flour to anthills, thanks to which a large part of an ant colony can feed on it. This food, however, is fatal for the ants, as cornmeal swells in their digestive tracts, causing the ants to die. Considering that cornmeal is quite cheap, you should definitely try this homemade ant remedy.The same way you can sprinkle baking powder or baking soda against ants.
2. Pouring the anthill with boiling water
If you find an anthill, you can pour boiling water over it from the kettle. In this waywe will quickly destroy the colonies of ants , although unfortunately the anthill can be rebuilt.
Therefore, to increase the effectiveness of flooding the anthill with boiling water, it is worth preparing an infusion of garlic in advance.Its smell will effectively scare off ants for longer.To prepare the infusion, crush about 75 g of garlic cloves and pour hot water over them. Then we cover it and leave it for half an hour. After this time, bring it to a boil again and pour it over the anthill.
3. Honey ant trap
It is also worth displaying a plate of honey, which ants love. Unfortunately for them, when they approach, they stick to the honey and die, unable to escape. It is worth cleaning such a trap from caught ants every day and replacing the honey with fresh honey.
4. Sprinkling cinnamon on the ants
Cinnamon is also a good home remedy for ants. Whenants in your garden start harassing a plantor a group of plants too much, sprinkle cinnamon all over the garden to form a barrier that the ants will avoid. You can also sprinkle cinnamon in places where ants enter a greenhouse or garden gazebo, which will discourage them from moving along these paths.
Cinnamon in the garden also has several other uses (e.g. it fights mold growth on the ground in a pot, protects plants against fungal diseases and can be used as a rooting agent for cuttings). Therefore, it is worth having it at hand.
The anthill is a welcome sight in the forest, but not in the garden!
Fig. pixabay.com
5. Plant ant repellent plants
The aforementioned cinnamon is not the only spice plant that repels ants. Herbs and common weeds are also helpful here. For example,an effective home remedy for ants in the garden is water with garlic and nettlesSoak the garlic and nettles for at least 2 days and pour the solution over the ants. It is worth using this method together with pouring boiling water over the anthill.
Ants also do not toleratethe smell of fresh tomato leaves and tansy. That is why it is worth lecturing in places from which we want to chase the ants away. It is also effective to plant lavender, thyme or field mint in several places in your garden, which the ants do not like and stay away from.
6. Vinegar for ants in the garden
With vinegar, we can fight antsin places where they pass home or on paths along the terrace. Such places are sprayed with undiluted vinegar. The smell of vinegar will discourage ants from further walks along these paths.
It is worth using mainly spirit vinegar because it has a strong smell and is the cheapest type of vinegar. It is also worth knowing that vinegar in the garden has a number of other uses, so the bottle of vinegar you buy will not be wasted.
7. Sawdust pot as an ant trap
An interesting home remedy for ants , ideal for use in the garden, is to put sawdust in a pot. We take a clay pot, medium in size. We tamp the sawdust firmly in it so that it does not spill out.We put the prepared pot next to the anthill. After some time and with a bit of luck, the ants will transfer their anthill to the pot, and we will be able to easily move them to another place - far from our garden and home.
Home remedies for ants - infographic
Fig. © Łukasz Krypel
What if home remedies for ants are not enough?
Usuallyhome remedies for ants in the gardenturn out to be sufficient. Especially if we want to get rid of a small colony of ants that unexpectedly appeared in an unexpected place. It is important to act immediately after spotting ants and not wait until their colonies become very numerous.
But what, when we are dealing with a real invasion,ants have taken over the whole gardenand home remedies turn out to be insufficient?
Then, however, it is worth reaching forready-made preparations and ant trapsavailable in gardening stores.We should protect our houses, gazebos, terraces, pantries and sheds from ants, so that ants do not enter where we live and do not destroy our food supplies.
In such places, ant traps are perfect. They are filled with an alluring ant gel, which is closed in a special container. It is designed in such a way thatonly ants have access to the poisonous gelThanks to this, the risk of ingestion by pets or curious children is eliminated.
Recommended are, for example, the Fastion ant trap and the DX3 ant gel trap. Both work on the same principle and can be used both indoors (apartments, houses, utility rooms) and outdoors (balconies, terraces, driveways). A single trap lasts for about 3 months.So if you do not want to spread poisonous pellets on the ants in your home and garden, it is worth choosing traps whose contents are protected from access by other creatures except ants.
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