Topic: ANTS?

[KevB]

I seem to have ants in my green house! do they cause any known problems?

[saddad]

Yes they get up your trouser leg! I would tolerate them anywhere else but not in the greenhouse!
 ;D

[kitty]

wot?even up yer trouser leg dad?
lol!
i have ants in lots of places(apart from pants!)and currently they are helping me out by munching the aphids on my cherry tree in our fruit-cum-cat run......
so...live and let live i say.....
kitty

[Leonnie]

I have ants, not in a greenhouse, and they are a nuisance. I've lost a patch of potatoes, a couple of sweet potato plants and a chilli plant. They seem to mine underneath where the roots are and the plant dies off.

[saddad]

That can be a problem, dig that bit over to brek out the nest and let the Blackbirds etc thin them out a little!
 :)

[kitty]

...but if you thin them out dad.....wont the ones that are left grow REALLY big?like revenge of the killer ants?



oooo-i'd leave well alone me!lol!
kitty

[Merry Tiller]

They "farm" aphids, seeing off any predators, get rid of the blighters

[littlegem]

bugger, we have ants, they like the raised beds and the pots with courgettes in, OH said they were good cos they do something to aphids! do i need to get rid of them, clear answers please, yes or no?

[teresa]

answer is Yes,
the aphids produce a liquid to feed the ants in return the ants protect the aphids. Well organised the little blitters are.
I had a small pile of manure on lottie covered with carpet all winter I have just moved my rhubarb down there.
So uncovered it and a huge mound of soil an ants nest so spread it around loads of white eggs oblong ones. Gave them 15 min to move the eggs ( tea break) and planted my rhubarb when I watered it there were a load of flying ants there did not stay to long to admire them.

[littlegem]

thanks teresa, did a seach on A4A and quite a few have said to sprinkle semolina, ants take it back to queen and she explodes (reminds me of exploding sea gulls post!) so no queen, no eggs etc. worth a try  :)

[teresa]

Oh little gem, put that on top tips ,
 I am going to get some tomorrow many thanks others will benifit from that tip.

[littlegem]

teresa, i hope that the ants in my courgette pots belong to the same family as the ants that keep coming in our house, i'd love to see their queen exploding!!! bloody things! i think the brickwork needs repointing - after its dried out from all the ant spray i've put on outside walls, again, bloody things!!!!!

[teresa]

Oh I use that white powder all round the outside of the house and air bricks get a dose.
The year we had a very hot summer 76/77 house pipe bans and bath with a friend some were having baths and doing the washing in the baths it was bad. I was going out at midnight to water cucumbers so no one would see me heee hee.
I had the frount and back door open to get some breeze through the house, and lo and behold a ant batlion was on the move straight in the frount door and through living room and out the kitchen door.
I never felt so ill in my life thousands of the b. things too many to kill when they had left I got the stray ones ok. Never had it again never left the b. frount door open.

[saddad]

Some intellectual giant rendered our house, back and side walls, at some point about thirty years ago and it has broken up in some places. Having had the windows replaced with double glazing anywhere the foam didn't quite fill all the gaps is an entrance point for ants.... they tend noher most of the year but about now with the flying phase we usually come home one hot day to a room full of them...Yeak!
 :(

[pakaba]

 >:( >:( ANTS ANTS ANTS >:( >:(
They are everywhere, we usually get a few in the house, but this year they are unstoppable.... i've even had a load of them in the dishwasher ???  The boys have even been catching them, (atleast they've not wanted to keep them in their bedroom as pets, unlike Charlie the Caterpillar ;)  )

We've given in and gone and bought some ant traps with nastey stuff in, even for the greenhouse. i can't stand the thought of going in there and it being full of them  flying around.

Paula

[saddad]

and I had the proverbial trouser leg-full yesterday!
 >:(

[Columbus]

Hi all,

It seems to me that ants make their nests where its very dry. I get them in my cold frame where the soil was dusty so I lined it with plastic and improved the soil to hold more water. Now I have slugs/snails instead.

Where I`ve cleared the new plot today, digging out another yard, the soil was thick with red ants and their eggs. The soil is really quick to dry out. I think the ants are an indicator that the soil conditions aren`t good so as I improve it I should see less ants. In the pottting shed where my toms are I put down Nippon ant killer last year I don`t have a problem yet this year in there.

Col

[kitty]

and I had the proverbial trouser leg-full yesterday

hmmm.......think you'll find they were making their way to your pants dad-then they would be the proverbials! ;D


tis indeed the Year Of The Hant!!!
lil berhoogers.....grrrrr!

ant kitty