i have ants everywhere in my garden - the compost heap, the vegetable beds, the flower beds. i think they might be eating my cabbage leaves and the leaves on my peas. could i be right or are they harmless?
Fairly sure they're harmless and they're doing you a favour by burrowing in your compost heap - saves you turning it.. It's more likely to be pigeons nibbling your peas. Watch out for the red ones however, they have a nasty nip (that's red ants not red pigeons) ;D
Ants do no harm directly, but they will farm aphids and protect them from predators. If you encourage the tits they'll make short work of the greenfly though.
As I have posted elsewhere, I have ants burrowing into the soil alongside some of my brassicas (sprouts and caulis) so close to the stem, the plants have not been able to support themselves. And the ants may have exposed the root system a bit, as the plants are still quite young. The end result is that I have about three out of 18 plants that have not grown so well and are all limp. Probably beyond saving now.
But maybe it's not the ants?
Hi Paranoid Mandroid,
                  If you feel that the ants are becoming a problem the following was part of a posting by Portway Farm:-
If ants are a big problem put some Semolina on the ground where they are active, the ants will take it to the queen who will eat it, but be unable to digest it and explode. (no queen, no eggs, no ants!!!)
Hope this may be of some help to you. ;D
                            PREMTAL
I posted a similar thread the other day in 'Wildlife' forum. There's some advice in there on how to get rid of them if they are causing a problem. HTH
The problem they can cause is huge spaces around the roots of the plants, starving the plants of moisture, so the plants die. >:(
QuoteThe problem they can cause is huge spaces around the roots of the plants, starving the plants of moisture, so the plants die.
I had this on one of me Spud plants.
I have also chased a huge colony of ants round the 'farm' I move them on and then set up camp the next place, quite funny really.
L>