All site owners sooner or later face the problem of ants. But how to expel them from the site without harming your favorite flower beds and beds? And is it really necessary to unleash a real war with chemical weapons at the ready? Let's tell you now!
Ants on the site: benefit or harm?
One thing is important to understand first: ants are almost inevitable. They come thoroughly and for a long time, build their shelters and create entire colonies. Most often they appear in the most inappropriate places - in the middle of the plantation or between berry bushes.
There are no really effective measures to help prevent an attack. Ants prefer to settle in good fertile soil, in warm areas with healthy moisture. But let's first figure out what is the real harm from intruders and is there any benefit from them?
We know from school that ants are forest orderlies, because they destroy small pests on an amazing scale. The count literally goes to thousands and kilograms of larvae, beetles, caterpillars and ovipositor. But at the same time, they "breed" aphids, which then consume all fruit and berry plantings.
Soil with ants is 2 times richer in potassium and as much as 10 times richer in phosphorus, and in the form in which they are best assimilated by plants. But ant colonies irreversibly spoil everything in their path. They willingly feed themselves on roots, berries and leaves. They like sweet flowers or buds, and over time they can even move into the house.
How to get rid of ants in the garden
Ants destroy the root systems of seedlings, and because of their underground passages, the soil is poorly ventilated and fertilizers and insecticides penetrate it worse. But there are several proven solutions:
- Sprinkle salt along the ant paths and completely sprinkle the anthills with it;
- Use strong repulsive odors - mint leaves, parsley and elderberry, cloves of garlic, tomato tops, ground cinnamon;
- By the same principle, initially alternate seedling beds with wormwood, parsley or garlic;
- If you managed to catch the moment when the ants just came to the site, throw sugar baits. And immediately pour boiling water over them when the insects come running;
- Dig in an anthill and scatter around stove soot or a mixture of crushed dry oregano and sulfur (1: 2);
- Dilute 200 g of laundry soap, 5 tablespoons of water into 5 liters of water. kerosene and 1 tbsp. carbolic acid. Mix the mixture well so that everything is completely dissolved, and then several times in a row, fields an anthill with paths.
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Ants in the garden - how to fight?
In the garden, ants dominate most often, because everything is so sweet and aromatic. It is in the garden that they often breed their faithful symbiotes - aphids. And then you will have to fight with two misfortunes at once. We offer several recipes:
- Quicklime is the easiest and most radical way to fight an anthill. Just pour it on a pile and fields with water, and if necessary, repeat it in a couple of days;
- You can replace the lime with a 20% carbolic acid solution. It is a universal disinfectant that is even used in pharmaceuticals;
- Make mechanical traps from bottles of water and sugar, and wipe the necks with aromatic anise oil;
- Spill a kind of protective contour with linseed or hemp oil and cover it with ash so that the ants do not approach;
- To get rid of aphids, plant calendula in the garden to attract ladybirds;
- Wash all the bushes in the garden with a solution of laundry soap and ash or salt.
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Removing ants from fruit trees
Ants not only move from tree to tree themselves, but also carry aphids with them. It is important to make sure that they cannot climb the branches. To do this, use different protective rings and trapping belts.Basically, this is a simple mechanical trap for the entire season.
- Make rigid funnels from plastic bottles, thick paper or coarse fluffy cloth at a height of 30-50 cm from the ground. A piece of thick rubber, synthetic winterizer or even glass wool will do;
- Coat the tree trunks with a sticky resinous solution. It is prepared from pine resin, rosin and petroleum jelly in a ratio of 50: 6: 7.5. All this must be mixed and boiled until a homogeneous non-hardening mass is obtained;
- Place rags soaked in kerosene under each fruit tree;
- Take unnecessary thick cloth, rags or old pieces of wool, soak them in carbolic acid and wrap tree trunks;
- Spread flour, sugar and boric acid baits. They are destructive for all pests, and the remains will become an additional boron fertilizer for the soil.
How to get rid of ants in a greenhouse
Ants in a greenhouse are a real attack, because here it is always warm, humid and as comfortable as possible. In this fight, speed is especially important, until the pests have had time to settle down and multiply. We offer a couple of recipes:
- Mix 3 sachets of boric acid with 1 egg and spread the resulting mixture along ant trails. An alternative recipe is 1 glass of water, 2 glasses of sugar, and 2 tbsp. liquid boric acid;
- Use mechanical traps: bottles of sugar syrup or jars of jam leftovers. They need to be regularly checked and discarded;
- Pour a bottle of vegetable oil, a bottle of shampoo or detergent, and a bottle of vinegar into a bucket of water. In places where ants congregate, make small holes in the ground, pour the mixture and cover with foil for 3 days;
- Roll honey and brewer's yeast sausages and spread them around the greenhouse. Another recipe for bait - 4 tablespoons. minced meat for 1 tsp. boric acid;
- To get rid of the uterus, you need a less concentrated bait. So the worker ants will have time to deliver it to the nest before dying. Leave and regularly renew the jar with cotton wool soaked in syrup and 1% boric acid solution;
- Regularly loosen the soil and dig up the beds so that the ants cannot settle and set up moves.
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Ants in a house or apartment - how to fight?
Ants in the house are rapidly settling in rooms, occupying the kitchen and bathroom, and then swallowing everything around. It is important to select only non-toxic and harmless methods. Especially if you have kids or pets who might be interested in baits.
- Use vegetable oil (for example, hemp) and strong smells - mint, elderberry, cloves, cinnamon, coffee. This is the safest method for people and pets;
- Ants are afraid of the smell of bacon, so take an old waste piece, fry it on all sides and spread it out at the passages;
- Prepare a mixture of 5 tablespoons. honey or sugar syrup for 1 tbsp. yeast, pour over small lids;
- Stir coffee grounds with sugar syrup, spread along the passages and along the ant paths;
- In a half-liter jar of old jam, add 20 g of fresh yeast, 5 g of boric acid and make a bait. You can use any other recipes with boric acid, if there are no curious cats and dogs in the house.
