Allotments 4 All

Hi.

I have ants' nests in several of my raised veg beds (sweetcorn, French beans etc). Do they cause any damage and, if so, how should I get rid of them?

Many thanks

John

They make nests and tunnels to care for and hatch their eggs and these can mean roots get exposed to air and can't take up water and nutrients so the plants are weakened.   You can try watering you raised beds thoroughly as ants only like dry soil.   You could put down ant traps which contain poison which they carry back to their nests.  These are about the size of old shoe polish tins and are safe for pets.  You can sprinkle Nippon ant powder around the beds. 

If you want to be organic, hire a flock of green woodpeckers to eat them or water with a solution of one small bottle of essential oïl of cloves diluted in 10 litres of water.  They can't stand the smell and move on - but only to another dry bed or pot.

I found the real damage is that they farm bloody aphids on other crops! My broad beans and artichokes particularly suffered from that this year. Wonder if the trick for sawfly caterpillars would work? Scatter peanuts around the area to encourage ground feeding birds? Surely if birds were frequent visitors the ants would be scared off??, Just a thought

I've never noticed that the aphids inhibited broad beans at all! Ants are predators and I've always felt that any harm they do is probably outweighed by the good.

What I do is ...... I take a terracotta flower pot and place it upside down ,near to where the ants are  and wait a week or two till they all move in . Then slide  a spade underneath and carry the whole lot to a new location ....... everybody happy  !   
I am presently trying out this "ant hotel "method with a plastic flowerpot  ...but I dont think they like plastic so much ....watch this space   
Debbie   

Our blackbirds have enjoyed all our ants

Many thanks for the great ideas. Think I'll try the water method as the plants badly need liquid!!