Dealing with ants

[SandM]

Hi,

We've been busy weeding and digging over our veg patch recently, and have discovered that while the patch was neglected over the last few years, ants have moved in in great abundance.

I was just wondering what kind of a problem ants pose, and if anyone could recommend a nice environmentally friendly way of disposing of them if they need to be gotten rid of.

Thanks very much

[shirlthegirl43]

Disturbing the soil where they are will put them off. You can water with a small bottle of clove oil diluted in a watering can of water - also supposed to get rid of them. If they are a real problem, boiling water into the nest kills them.

[stanhol]

Ants, dont actually do much noticeable damage to your crops so unless they are a huge probelm leave them .

The only problem you might have is. because they feed on the honeydew produced by aphids, they obviously will protect these. So the poor ladybug etc cant get rid of them for us.

Good luck,

Sandra

[Mike and Louise]

Boiling water poured over the nest always works for us.

[Cutecumber]

I have a lot of ants - our soil is very light and perfect for them.

The problems they cause me are:

Increasing the aphid problem (they "farm" them) on beans and strawberries.
Problems with watering - ants make channels to allow water to flow away and around essential parts of their nests.

So, I do my best to disturb the ground where I find them and soak pots that they make their home in.

Nematodes are available which irritate the ants and cause them to move on, but that's not really going to help me much.