Ants galore!

[Professor Peabody]

While digging over the next stretch of me lottie I have disturbed an ants nest that seems to stretch forever (two egg chambers so far). I am having difficulty restraining me Dad who gets blood thirsty when it comes to dealing with garden pests (first in the queue when B&Q start stocking napalm) cos I would like the plot to be organic.

I was planning on putting sweetcorn in this stretch so my questions are:

1) How can I get rid of red ants organically?

2) If I can't get rid of them what sort of damage will they do to my crop?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Stacey Steve]

Find another ants nest and amalgamate them and watch the carnage.

Yesterday I cut a new bed and as it was so heavy, I incorporated what compost I had left but it still needed breaking up a bit. So On my third plot that I'm using for fruit trees, there were some mounds left where I dug holes for the trees to go in. Looked at the soil and it seemed nice and friable so dug the first one into the wheelbarrow and found it had an ants nest.

Dropped that in the raised bed, got the rest of that mound and popped it in too. Then onto the next hump, that too had an ants nest, first load into the bed and the ants went berserk. First lot were trying to cart there eggs to safety when second lot dropped in. Both lots trying to nick each others eggs, soldiers going mad attacking rivals and obviously other nests workers who were trying to carry eggs.

Absolute mayhem when I dropped in the third hump that also had a nest.

Not seen anything like it since that film about the Spartans (300). I must add I got bitten, worst where some got inside a glove, got several lumps now.

Raked the bed over this morning and not a sight of ants anywhere.

[rustylady]

Dig them over so the eggs are exposed - retire to shed for a cuppa and a smoke (if you do) and watch the birds enjoy!! Seriously, though, ants hate their nests being disturbed so once you start regular cultivation you should have less of a problem.

[lynda66]

pour petrol on them and set light to it ..... or pour boiling water over them