Our ants that were brought to us from south america are very painful. If left untreated our gardens would be unusble because of the painful bites. Our best bet is using a bait with low amount of poison that is fed to the quenn. Once the quenn dies the colony colapses It is less toxic to everything else in the garden
Thanks. I would not normally bother about ants but they have got into a couple of my pots (which I have now reported and moved) and I can't weed my flower beds as there seem to be couple nests in there. Seem to be very bad this year 😣
A really good soaking will usually move them on @TraceyA2, as @philippa smith2 says. Assuming you're in the UK, that's the best deterrent. I don't think spreading anything in a border will have much effect to be honest, and could have an impact on other wildlife. You can still weed if you like too. They're pretty harmless to humans.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
We have ants in the front border and under the front porch ... last year they came into the house ... OH is giving that area a good soaking every day .... fortuitously watering the clematis at the same time 👍 and we’re squirting ant powder into the cracks and crannies around where the porch joins the house as we don’t want them to damage the house.
But we have another proper anthill in the back garden in the wilder bit by the pond bank ... it’s been there several years now ... sometimes we see birds ‘anting’ ... rubbing themselves over the mound to get the ants to squirt formic acid on their feathers to help them get rid of mites ... we see this behaviour mostly at this time of year when birds are spending a lot of time on the nest as that’s when the mites are at their worst.
Nature is amazing. 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I had a lot of meadow ant colonies dotted about last year. I haven't come across them yet this year. They didn't do any harm at all. I tend to leave the black ants alone unless they get into pots or into the porch. Then they're dead.
Ant nematodes are effective at getting the ants to move elsewhere but would only really be useful if there's a very specific place you don't want them. I think they would work for ants in containers but in the flower beds they would just move somewhere else close by.
My "lawn" is completely unusable. It is absolutely full of yellow meadow ant mounds, at least 1 foot across and easily 1 foot high. There is only a few inches between each mound and the next. I am disabled and can't use it at all, and can't do anything with it. And of course I can't get anyone in to mow it because it is full of mounds, so it's turned into a field. What do I do?
growing up we had large red ants and large black ants. they stayed in the fields and were not so agressive. then the south american fire ants came ashore and the the invaders changed everything. they killed the native ants and invaded our yards. our best defense is a bait that is taken to quenn and kills her
We've had a cool very wet Spring this year but there are ants galore!!! They are everywhere and if I go outside in sandals, they run all over my feet. Little black fellas making tunnels everywhere!!! I have ant killer in the form of a gel so I put little pools of that everywhere. They carry off my parsnip seeds - I'm pretty sure!!
TraceyA2
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Assuming you're in the UK, that's the best deterrent. I don't think spreading anything in a border will have much effect to be honest, and could have an impact on other wildlife.
You can still weed if you like too. They're pretty harmless to humans.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
👍
and we’re squirting ant powder into the cracks and crannies around where the porch joins the house as we don’t want them to damage the house.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I tend to leave the black ants alone unless they get into pots or into the porch. Then they're dead.