Topic: red ants

[anniemazz]

I seem to have a garden full of these little sods!  I have read on other sites to look for the mounds to try and get rid, but they are just everywhere on the lawn and by the cherrytree and pond.  Can anyone offer any ideas to try and get rid/reduce their numbers because we are bitten within a few minutes of straying into the garden? Those bites don't half hurt! :(

[redimp]

But the pain does not last very long - we have had them for years and have been quite grateful as they do not seem to invade the house in the same way that black ants do - and you do not seem to find the two types together - we have neverf had a black ant problem and I find the idea of ants crawling all over my food worse that the occasional bite - but then again I do not mind too much about being stung by a wasp so maybe I am just very very odd  ::)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Jam with a bit of borax in it. It's a slow killer so they take it back to the nest and most of the ants there get poisoned.

[redimp]

Make sure nothing else can get at the borax though - it'll kill anything.

[anniemazz]

 :) :)Thanks for the replies, I'm new to the site and still a learner when it comes to gardening.  D you think they will be responsible for the poor performance of my cherry tree or could it be coincidence - maybe it just  pruning and I'm gettin paranoid!

[redimp]

I have read on here that their nests can undermine the roots of fruit trees - in which case I would definitely get rid.

[Juliet]

Can anyone offer any ideas to try and get rid/reduce their numbers

If you don't want to kill all your friendly insects off by poisoning the ants, you can get ant nematodes from various organic suppliers including http://www.greengardener.co.uk/.  They are supposed to be very effective for red ants nests in lawns.

[Hot_Potato]

I'd noticed how poorly 2 of my potato plants looked over recent weeks  but convinced myself they'd got a bit of frost bite....however, couple of days ago decided I should dig up really awful looking plant and found....seed potato totally riddled with holes and whole area of soil & potato thick with red ants!!.......do they normally attack potatoes?..

Also dug up the 2nd plant which didn't seem to have too many red ants but the seed potato was 'all slushy' and horrible.

Also.....not sure how to get rid of the ants - remember having some in parts of the ground last year but.....can I grow anything else in the space left by the two dug up potatoes i.e. put in a lettuce or two-  or will ants
destroy everything?   H.P.

[ellkebe]

Anniemazz, if you manage to find the mounds, break them open and then use lots of boiling hot water - repeated when they try to come back.  Seems to do the trick for me.  Nests aren't always mounds though - I've found them under paving stones digging vast tunnel complexes.  They're amazing really, and kill lots of nasties - but obviously that's not much use to you if you can't get out into your own garden  :(

Black ants don't seem to like peppermint/spearmint and I've (sometimes) managed to discourage them from farming aphids by spraying the affected plant repeatedly with quite a strong peppermint oil/ water mix.   You could maybe try this on an area of lawn and see if it works?  I'd be interested to know the result.

[Hot_Potato]

Well I've lost all of my early potatoes (Lady Christl) to red ants.....have been away for 10 days and went to lottie Sunday morning - found to my horror remaining potato plants looked really poorly  (had already dug up some sad ones weeks ago and found them infested) and on diggin them up - found unbelievable amounts of red ants with huge eggs in the ground, potatoes all holey, swarming with ants....only 2 potatoes at end of row were healthy & I dug enough to feed me for 3 or 4 days - maybe more.

It seems as if they've gradually worked their way along the row - just didn't know how to deal with it - obviously boiling water method not possible on allotment so in desperation yesterday bought ant powder (can't put anything else in ground while these ants remain there) and when I went to water other stuff last night - dug a trench where potatoes were & ants are - scattered power all along the soil and covered it up again with dug out soil.....just hoping this will work.

Anyone any idea how long I should leave the soil before using it again for other possible produce?

Will the ants just keep moving about my plot to somewhere else - unless of course, I've successfully got rid of them all.

So disappointed cos the few potatoes I did get are just lovely - my first time of growing that variety.

H.P.

[PREMTAL]

Hi anniemaz,
                     see my post 8-7-05 to ants everywhere in the pests & diseases listing.


                                                      PREMTAL ;)