Ants in lawn

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Yes. Me too Mark.

They have undermined the block floor in my porch, to the extent that I'll have to get someone in to lift a couple of square metres and relay them. Pesky critters. But I don't believe we will ever beat them I fear.

John
 
Hi.... well like the original poster, we too had a massive ant problem. Black ones, red ones, you name it.... literally dozens of nests.

Now we didn't have a problem when we moved in about 12 years ago. But we did have a mole problem..!! Initially i thought "awww, how cute, we got a mole..... we've made it to the country life..." how wrong i was...!!!!

Anyway, long story short etc, i eventually caught the little blighter... by hand..!! yes by hand.... you have to trust me on this one, but its true.

But i'm convinced that was the start of our ant problem. As in there were now LOTS of mole runs now unused. And i'm convinced the ants made there way along these now disused 'tunnels' and set up home all over the place.

Like you and the others, i tried all sorts. Boiling water, powders, even clove oil (i'd read about it on t'internet somewhere)

Finally enough was enough. I was in my man cave one Sunday afternoon listening to the weekly gardening spot (not that i give a hoot about gardening, don't mind cutting the grass, but i don't 'do' dirt...!!), and a question came up about ants in the lawn etc. The expert geez they had on said the only sure fire way of getting rid of them was to use nematodes. My ears pricked up..! After listening to the rest of the article i came indoors and googled nematodes.

Here you go....

https://www.nematodesdirect.co.uk/9-no-ants-nematodes


Now, having a fairly large lawn, i went round and poked a cane in each and every ant 'disturbance' i could find (this was great wonderment to the neighbours kids) then counted the sticks. Hmmmmm more than 50..!! I opted to go for the 12 week, 50 ant nest pack....
https://www.nematodesdirect.co.uk/no-an ... large.html

Yes, its expensive, and you have to follow the instructions EXACTLY..!! but it WORKS..!!

Don't buy more than you need as it doesn't 'keep'.... its a living culture that irritates the ants making them move on to a new home (the neighbour hopefully). And don't move the sticks until the treatment is over.... i opted for the 12 week course, so had to carefully remove and replace each individual stick as i mowed over the areas.

I had my work colleagues smirking and laughing when i told them what i was up to.... but hey, now all i've got is the occasional small 'nest' and nothing like the 'cant even sit in a chair on the lawn anymore' problem like we did before.

Hope this helps.


Nick


Oh.... edit..... my missus also had a MASSIVE problem with ants in one of her compost bins too. So we got some of these...
http://www.diy.com/departments/home-def ... 463_BQ.prd
placed just 1 (there's 2 in a pack) next to the bin, and within 48 hours.... gone..!! all presumed dead.
 
Interesting, in the past I've used nematodes for snails (at the risk of adding another hijack to the thread) but never heard of them for ants. We do have quite a lot of ants, to be honest they don;t really bother me but one of our dogs has a skin issue and the I'm sure the ants don't help. I might consider trying this idea.
Just a thought on the compost though, isn't there a danger of killing off a lot of the insects that actually speed the composting process along ?
 
NikNak":qy0xf5bk said:
Oh.... edit..... my missus also had a MASSIVE problem with ants in one of her compost bins too. So we got some of these...
http://www.diy.com/departments/home-def ... 463_BQ.prd
placed just 1 (there's 2 in a pack) next to the bin, and within 48 hours.... gone..!! all presumed dead.
I've used those when we had ants indoors and they are effective.

Regards Keith
 
Trouble with the nematodes as I see it is that all they do is persuade the ants to move away. So one still has the critters - just that they've moved a metre.
 
Trouble with the nematodes as I see it is that all they do is persuade the ants to move away. So one still has the critters - just that they've moved a metre.

We had about half our lawn covered with the pesky blighters homes, and after the 'liberal' use of the nematodes all i can say is they're 97% gone \:D/
 
Mix a little borax powder with some white sugar and put it by the nest, the workers will take it down along with the sugar and feed it to the queen with desired results.
Courtesy of the Greatest Gardening Tips in the World.

Dave
 
When I was but a slip of a lad, living on the farm in S. Africa, we (i say we but well, the grown ups) used to put cloves around windows, vents and doors etc to keep 'em out of the house. you could give that a try
 
paulm":1s83vzln said:
Leave the ants for the birds and get yourself one of these for you and the dog, keep you out of their reach (very comfy too) :lol:



Cheers, Paul

It's no good standing on the seat,
The ants in Brum can jump ten feet!
 
Get a couple of chickens. Ants to chickens are like kebabs to a pi$$head.
 
Too many bold, daytime foxes where I live Naz... Not sure if I am allowed to shoot the bliddy things, in a suburban housing estate, without some Jobsworth from the RSPCA kicking up a fuss. Nothing nicer than a fresh-laid egg for breakfast, with a couple of week-old rashers!
 
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