If you have seen an ant in your garden, hundreds of ants have probably invaded your lawn.
Ants live in colonies where they divide all the work from acquiring food to taking care of the offspring.
Although they are an important part of the ecosystem, ants in the garden can be extremely annoying.
Ants in the garden are not restricted to one place. They will start entering the house, get inside your food items, contaminate your kitchen utensils, and make the situation messier.
So, before you start getting ant bites now and then, let’s learn how to get rid of ants in the garden.
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Types of Ants
If you search the internet, you will find several kinds of ants in the garden.
The common types that you may come across include pavement ants, bigheaded ants, crazy ants, and carpenter ants.
Knowing the type of ant you have to deal with also assists you in choosing which strategy to use to get rid of the ants in the garden.
In Canada, pavement ants, carpenter ants, pharaoh ants, and odorous house ants are mostly seen in homes.
Carpenter ants: They are a huge species of ants with pinched waists and elbowed antennae that live and breed on damp wood. Dimensions vary from 3.4 and 13 millimeters.
Odorous house ants: They are dark brown in color, have an asymmetrical thorax, and their abdomen covers their petiole. When crushed, odorous house ants release an intense odor.
Pavement ants: Worker pavement ants have a polished shell, are usually dark brown or black, and are only 3 millimeters in length.
Big-headed ants: Easily recognized as one of the most aggressive types of ants, big-headed ants have heads approximately three times the size of the rest of their bodies.
Pharoah ants: They may have yellow, light brown, or red bodies with darker abdomens. It is usually found in the home, and it is quite difficult to control their infestation.
Ants come in over 12,000 different species. You can be interested in eliminating ants if large populations begin to migrate inside your home in search of food.
Although plenty of insecticides are available that kill ants, it is always wiser to know how to get rid of ants in the garden naturally.
Why You Must Eliminate Ants From the Garden
Ants are beneficial to the health of the soil, but they may also cause damage to plants and buildings, which is annoying to gardeners.
These are the cons of ants in the garden:
Promote the growth of aphids: Aphids are tiny, green insects that blend with plant leaves, making them difficult to spot.
They harm garden plants by depriving them of their nutrients. Aphids produce honeydew to coat the stems of the plant as they feed on its nutrients, which attract ant colonies.
Aphid growth is promoted by worker ants in the garden, who relocate the insects to other plants and shield them from potential predators to maintain their food supply.
Ants consume plant leaves: ants in the garden are called leafcutters, which consume plant leaves, damage garden greenery, and decrease agricultural yields. A plant’s ability to develop can be hampered by the loss of its leaves since they are necessary for photosynthesis, which is the process by which plants transform light, water, and air into chemical energy.
Destroy tree wood: Certain ants, such as carpenter ants, cause destruction to wooded areas. These ants in the garden can damage the wooden structures that hold and support your plants, even though they do not directly harm garden plants.
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How to Get Rid of Ants in the Garden
Below, we have the best methods on How to get rid of ants in the garden with ingredients that are easily obtainable:
1. Buy Citrus Fruits
Lemons, limes, grapefruits, and oranges, are a fantastic weapon against ant infestations. Ants are poisoned by the acidic oil D-limonene found in citrus peels.
Peels from these fruits should be cooked by steaming them in a pot of water without bringing them to a boil.
If you let this mixture cool overnight, you will have a liquid that kills ants on contact and gets rid of the odors that lead to their trail.
2. Crush the Cayenne
To avoid ants in the garden, crush and distribute some cayenne pepper in a line.
Ants don’t cross the lines of chalk, cayenne, cinnamon, curry powder, or baby powder.
All you have to do is reapply whenever the line becomes damaged or after rain.
As previously discussed, you can apply chalk using the same technique as with cayenne pepper. Although this method can seem odd, you will find it everywhere when searching for how to get rid of ants in the garden.
3. Make a Spray with Liquid Detergent
An ant may leave a pheromone trail when it is looking for food. Other ants can follow this trail to return to the colony by traveling in the same direction.
For the ants, breaking this pheromone trail is extremely disruptive.
Spraying a solution of liquid detergent and glass cleaner along the ants’ typical path will break this trail.
If you don’t have these items at home, use a hand soap or a glass cleaner to make a spray for the ants in the garden.
4. Get Diatomaceous Earth
In our blog on pest control organic methods for lawns, we have discussed the benefits of DE.
For those who haven’t read it, the usual term for silicon dioxide dust made from fossilized algae is diatomaceous earth.
Just scatter a tiny bit close to anthills and wait for it to get rid of the ants in the garden.
Although not dangerous by nature, this powder is deadly to ants and may irritate respiratory tracts. Therefore, it’s crucial to use caution if you have kids or dogs in your home or someone in your family has a respiratory ailment.
5. Use Borax to Create an Ant Killer
Borax, sometimes referred to as sodium borate, is a naturally occurring mineral that has the added benefit of killing any ants that come into contact with it.
Combine equal amounts of sugar and Borax to create a concoction, then apply it to the corners where ants have been observed.
Since the worker ants in the garden will return the liquid to the nest, this procedure should kill the entire colony in around a day or two.
6. Boil Some Water
This is the most commonly used remedy. Most gardeners are aware of how to get rid of ants in the garden from grass without endangering their plants.
To destroy them, they throw hot water over them. You can kill all the ants by repeatedly applying hot water to the nest entrances.
7. Use Poison and Ant Traps
While ant traps and poison are useful techniques to get rid of ants in the garden, remember they are not the most eco-friendly option.
Be cautious while using these chemicals in your home, as ant poison can also harm pets and small children.
Traps are an excellent choice for cottages or vacation homes because they require replacement or upkeep every three months and work for around a day.
8. Spread Cinnamon Powder
Ants are driven away from their original food supply using cinnamon ant repellant.
To observe the ants retreat from the scene and out of the troubled area spread whole sticks or your handy ground cinnamon seasoning there.
Ants in the garden will be drawn to the powerful aroma of cinnamon.
Applying a line around the infestation will discourage ants instead of killing them.
9. Shower them in Vinegar
Vinegar functions similarly to citrus peels because it is naturally acidic. We advise mixing equal vinegar and water to dilute the mixture and make a vinegar solution.
After that, transfer it to a spray bottle and utilize it as a mist. The solution will disrupt the trails and instantly kill the ants in the garden.
Even while this approach requires minimal preparation time, even after diluting vinegar with water, its aroma persists for several days.
After vinegar comes salt, one of the easiest ways to scare away ants in the garden.
10. Dehydrate them with Salt
If used properly, salt has the potential to be a natural and effective ant killer. To get the greatest results, fill a spray bottle with water and add a cup of Epsom salt. Then, if you spot ants, spray them directly.
To reduce ant populations, you must frequently reapply the salt. This technique is only effective when sprayed directly onto ants.
Dehydration caused by the salt will kill the ants without endangering non-target species.
Kids, dogs, and other animals won’t be harmed by handling Epsom salt, which is harmless.
11. Utilize Cornstarch
An efficient way to get rid of ants in the garden is to use cornstarch, which you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Cover the colony of ants in cornstarch and then submerge in water.
Or, you can cover the ants in the garden in cornstarch and then vacuum them out.
Don’t forget to wipe out the dead ants and cornstarch.
What Are the Favourable Conditions For Ants in the Garden
Leftover Food
Ants consume nearly everything humans do. They will eat any leftover crumbs from the meal.
Ants can find plenty of food in sticky jam residue left on the surface, a dropped honey, or abandoned candies that the kids hide from you.
Additionally, as soon as an ant discovers the source of this sweetness, they will attract the other members of their colony by leaving a trail.
As a result, in a short time, you will see large infestations of ants in the garden.
Regions with High Moisture
For survival, ants require food and water. But unlike most other species, ants don’t simply drink when necessary. To preserve the water for later use, they also return it to the colony.
To notify the remainder of the colony when they find a good source of water, they will leave a scent trail.
Therefore, plants in pots, dampness in bathrooms, and pet water bowls may invite more ants.
Shelter to Stay
Ants are small enough to find a place to live almost anyplace, but if they can, they prefer to establish a colony inside a nice, warm house.
Ants are content to enter your house if they can find a way in, like a gap or seam in the wall, etc.
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Prevention of Ants in the Garden
Here are some other methods for getting rid of ants in the garden:
- Keep your yard well-fertilized and healthy.
- Keep garbage cans and composite bins as far away from your grass as feasible.
- Clear your yard of any dead branches and decomposing materials.
- Since ants love food, particularly sugary foods and beverages, you can deter them from settling in your yard by immediately cleaning up spilled food or liquids.
FAQs
How to get rid of red ants in the garden?
Pour borax and Diatomaceous earth-based water-based mixes and hot water into ant holes are two natural techniques to eradicate ants permanently.
How can I quickly get rid of ants in my home?
It’s critical to seal off any gaps in your home where ants could be getting in. To swiftly get rid of a lot of ants, remove the ant pheromone trails. If the organic methods don’t work, consider using commercial repellents or traps.
How to get rid of the ants in the garden soil?
You can grow trees, shrubs, and other plants that will absorb extra water in an attempt to lessen the dampness in your yard.
Installing a drainage system is a permanent solution that you can do as a homeowner to keep your yard dry.
In Conclusion
So, there you have all the effective and simple ways to control the population of ants in the garden.
Certain natural ant repellents do not kill ants upon contact; they merely drive them away.
You can take other steps, such as applying insecticides to your home or hiring an exterminator.
If you have questions on anything, starting from termite prevention to weed control, contact us!