Ants

[Vixen218]

Please help...

I have ants everywhere...
They are in the veggie patch, raised bed patch, on the fruit trees, in the lawn and everywhere else you can think of...
Do I leave them alone and if if do will my veggies survive???
Do I kill them and if so what with that won't hurt my veggies???

Any help much appreciated

Vixen
xxxx

[rustylady]

How many ants are we talking about?

They are everywhere, this is the nature of ants. It's only when they're making nests in placed you'd rather not have them, or farming aphids on your plants, that they really become a problem.

It would be impossible to kill every single one in your garden, so it's really a matter of learning to live with them.

[Vixen218]

Loads (10 per sq foot) climbing all over the veggies...
Can't see nests in the dug over areas but can't see nests in the surrounding grass areas but I know that there are nests in the rest of the grass... My garden is 180' in length by 20' min with although one part reaches 30'...
I only want to keep about 40'x20' clear and it is surrounded by stone paths...
Can't see any aphids...

Will they damage the veggies???

[Jonthefish]

If its the Black ant, Niger. Species they are no trouble to plants, they're just looking for anything sweet to consum. The ants are great at removing dead insects. I think the only time they are trouble is when they are protecting greenfly or other species of aphids from other insects that prey on them

[Vixen218]

Yes they are black ants that are on the veggie plants and fruit trees...
Hoping that they don't damage any plants...

[Veggiefirsttimer]

I've bought some if the enclosed plastic ant bait stations and popped them in the corner of each bed with a stone over the top, I've not seen as many and the stone is to keep the rain off it :-)

[kathyd]

We have ants absolutely everywhere Vixen (including red ones), and I do have a bit of a phobia about them, which doesn't help.. However, as far as I can tell they've not damaged any plants yet, and all my aphid damage seems to be on my lupins which are covered - but with no sign of ants nearby! I assume that if you find aphids and kill them, you'll deter any ants from that plant because their farm has been destroyed.. sounds logical to me anyway. I kill aphids by squirting with a weak solution of eco washing up liquid in a squeezy bottle - they're all black and dead by the following day, although you do need to keep reapplying cos you never get them all! If I wanted to kill ants, I'd either pour boiling water down their nests like my mother used to do, or use Ant bait stations like veggiefirsttimer - though not keen on using pesticides if I can possibly avoid it. I'd only do this if the ants were coming into the house and I couldn't get rid of them any other way. I've not really found that disturbing their nests works, they just move somewhere else.

[Vixen218]

Yeah I used the ant powder on other areas of the garden and found that they just moved to another area... I don't mind them being there but I just don't want them in such large quantities...
Think I'll just leave them alone unless they start to hurt the plants...

[Feral007]

Our ants seem to like gardening as much as I do! Bluddy things. I wanted to move them on, but son wants to see if when we get thru improving the soil the ants move on anyway. Only problem I had was thehy were all over the rainbow chard like a rash. And the comfrey. So I used to cut both with a very sharp knife and leave on the ground for a few minutes and the ants would go all hyper and then go off them. Same with the corn actually. Just needed to be careful before I picked anything up. They seem to have moved off now to the brassica's.

[rustylady]

Ants don't harm plants. They might undermine some if they decide to build a nest under them, but they don't usually nest in cultivated areas as they don't like disturbance.

[VirginVegGrower]

I flood ant nests, making it very wet, then leaving to go very dry, then flooding again moves them on. I agree with RL that they create no lasting damage.

[sammy_roser]

Only time I have had an issue is when they made an ants nest in my raised strawberry bed. Things ate all my strawberries last year! Dug down to the next and popped one of those ant traps with the bait that makes them sterile.

Now they seem to be near my rhubarb but don't seem to be doing it any harm so can stay there. Will need to keep an eye on the raspberries when they fruit however.

[bojangles]

I've got them all over my Rhurbud plants and friut bushes too. Doesnt look to be any damged to them yet. Just don't like them crawing on me!!

[kathyd]

Ants don't harm plants. They might undermine some if they decide to build a nest under them, but they don't usually nest in cultivated areas as they don't like disturbance.

I find them in all my 'cultivated areas' unfortunately - maybe that says something aboutmy methods of cultivation! .

One thing I did find interesting was that when my caulis got cabbage root fly and I dug them up, their roots were swarming with black ants as well as the white grubs - on more than one plant. Don't suppose there's the slightest connection, but I'm always suspicious of coincidences...

[snakeshack]

If you mix borax about 1 teaspoon with about 1 tablespoon of golden syrup or jam etc and place it out near the nest under cover to prevent rain washing it away ,the ants will come and collect it in huge numbers ,take it back to the nest and feed it to all the other ants,including the queen,this may not completely kill the nest but will certainly reduce the numbers to managable proportions,repeat as necessary