Natural & Home Made Methods Vs Artificial Methods
Killing ants in your lawn can either be done via natural & homemade methods or artificial methods. If you want to eliminate the ants in your home, you first need to target the source. In this case, the nest. There are several ways to destroy ant nests this includes natural methods or using specific chemicals to kill these ants.
Using home remedies has its drawbacks, and sometimes itsslower. On the other hand, chemicals are effective but may end up destroyingyour lawn. But in the interest of being comprehensive, Ill cover both methodsof killing ants in your lawn.
Canola Oil Can Be Used As Ant Repellant
You can also use the canola oil you use in cooking for ant extermination. Get one and a half tablespoons of canola oil, one half teaspoon of liquid dishwashing soap and one quart of water. Use a whisk and mix these ingredients in a bowl. Put the mixture in a spray bottle.
Spray this mixture in areas in your garden that have high concentrations of ants. Try to find their nest and pour a generous amount of this mixture into it to drown out the whole colony. The oil and soap mixture will penetrate the ants exoskeletons which will suffocate and incapacitate them.
What Plants Are Impacted By Ants
- Lawns, garden plants, indoor and outdoor potted plants.
- Nests and excessive tunnelling caused by ants can cause dead patches in the lawn and plants to deteriorate and/or die. This is due to evaporative loss of water in the soil, causing lawns and plants to dry out.
- Most damage to plants from ants occurs indirectly. Ants form a symbiotic relationship with honeydew producing and plant-sap-sucking insects such as aphids, scale, psyllids, mealy bugs, whitefly and leafhoppers. Various plants prone to sap-sucking pests:
- Fruit trees such as citrus, apples, figs, stone fruit trees, etc.
- Non-edible plants such as roses, fuchsias, magnolia, camellia, azalea, lillypilly, murraya, pittosporum, viburnum and many more.
- Freshly planted seed can be removed from the soil and carried away to the nest.
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Natural & Home Made Methods Of Killing Ants In Your Lawn
There are several natural and home remedies that it can use to kill ants on your lawn. These methods include
Using Boiling Water.
Poring boiling water into an ants nest is the simplest and most widely used method of kill an ant nest. Try and locate all the entrances and pour boiling water into them. It will immediately kill most of the ants inside. Although some ant hills may appear small, most of them are bigger underneath and are home to several colonies. Using boiling water has some drawbacks, though. They include:
- Boiling water wont kill off the entire colony because of the big size of the nests.
- It often takes several attempts to notice success
- Using hot water can result in boggy and wet areas in your lawn.
- Hot water can scald your grass, turning it to brown.
Peppermint
Did you know that Peppermint is an insect repellant? You can plant Peppermint in your home or use it as a natural remedy to get rid of ants. Ants hate the scent. Apart from repelling ants, planting this plant will leave your home smelling minty fresh! Plant peppermint around the perimeter and entryways of your home.
You can also place peppermint cotton balls in areas where the ants frequent. Like most essential oils, keep this oil out of reach of pets, who may become very ill if exposed to this oil. You can find peppermint essential oil at your local grocery store.
Raking ant mounds
Spraying soap and water.
Vinegar
Cinnamon
Using Olive Oil and Dishwashing Liquid
Chili Pepper
Killing Ants In Your Lawn With Chemicals
Spot control is the best method for killing ants. They tend to concentrate in a small area and spot application isolates the chemical zone and minimizes damage to beneficial insects who also call the grass home.
Use either a spray or granular form. Locate the nest and apply the chemical as indicated on the label. Granular forms require activation with water, so it is best to irrigate after applying the chemical. In all cases, wait until a treated area has dried before allowing children and pets into the toxic zone.
Ants can be a blessing and a curse, so consider the severity of the problem before resorting to chemical treatments. Their activity is also a natural pest control and can increase the tilth of soil, acting as wild aerators to loosen the dirt around roots and enhance growth.
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What Is An Effective Way To Get Ants Out
Ant colonies can extend many feet underground in a labyrinth of tunnels. Generally, all that is visible to you is an ant hill.
Disturbing the colony will make them move. The problem is that they may build another colony close to the one they abandoned. You need to make the whole yard undesirable to effectively remove ants from your yard.
Ants navigate areas by leaving chemical trails to and from food sources and the nest. Eliminate the trails, and you eliminate the ants.
Homeowners destroy ant trails in several ways. These include:
An Ants Trail
- Pouring soapy water on them.
- Spraying the area with a solution of cayenne pepper and water.
- Spraying a solution of lemon water around the area.
- Sprinkling powdered chalk on the trail or drawing chalk lines across it.
These are all remedies that are harmless to the environment, pets, and children.
Amazing Ants
Will Insecticides That Kill Ants Damage Your Lawn
Whether the insecticide treatment is going to damage your lawn or not depends on the type of insecticide. Several control solutions can harm your grass if they are not applied according to the given instructional manual.
You can also seek professional help from an ant exterminator to avoid potential destruction of your lawn. It is necessary to read complete instructions before the application of insecticide for positive results. Prepare the insecticide solution according to given guidelines and treat the infested area to control ant colonies. Some of the insecticides come with ready to use spray bottles.
The treatment with insecticides is good for highly infested areas. They kill the ants right after treatment and they are much cheaper than other ant killers. Still if not handled by professionals, there have been cases where people have destroyed their lawns with improper handling of the insecticides.
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Using Store Cupboard Ingredients To Deter Ants
Im reliably informed that ants hate peppermint. So heres a trick using a few ingredients from your store cupboard that will encourage the ants to move on without damaging your lawn.
Take 20 drops of peppermint essence . Dissolve them in vodka and then pour into a spray bottle with a pint or so of water. Give it a good shake and spray on and around the ants nest. You may need to repeat it 2-3 times a day for a couple of days but then, lo and behold, the creatures will up sticks and move away. Easy!
How Can I Kill The Ants
Homeowners who want to kill the ants in their yards rather than repel them often turn to diatomaceous earth . DE is the skeletal remains of tiny marine organisms. Its available for use in a food grade variety as well as a variety intended for use in swimming pools.
Use food grade DE against your ants. Use it dry, not wet. The very sharp DE particles will cut the bodies of the ants, causing them to die. It may take a week or so to kill all ants.
They Arent All the Same
Although there are thousands of kinds of ants, only a few species settle in your yard. These are:
- Pavement ants small black or brown ants that like greasy and protein foods as well as sugary food. Read more here.
- Carpenter ants large ants that can be red or black. They prefer damp wood and will destroy structural parts of your house. Please see detailed descriptions here.
- Fire ants small to large red ants with a painful sting. For more info about how to get rid of fire ants check out this article.
- Odorous ants medium-size brown and black ants that love sugar. for more information about best way to get rid of sugar ants.
Common types of ants
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Why Should You Get Rid Of Ants In Your Lawn
Ants can be responsible for several problems in your lawn, but the main one is that they throw up anthills over their nests with all the soil they excavate. These are unsightly, make it difficult to mow the lawn and cause the ground to become uneven, so its important to prevent them.
Another issue is that they harvest aphids, feeding on the honeydew they produce. For this reason, they protect aphids against their natural predators, leaving more aphids to feed on your plants.
Finally, with serious infestations, they can also damage the root system of your grass, causing areas to die, and if you find yourself facing any of these issues, youll need to act so now lets look at the options you have for dealing with an ant infestation in your lawn.
Ant Killer Tactics How To Get Rid Of Ants In The Garden
Ants. Love them or hate them, it is undeniable that they are amazing creatures. With large, complex societies, fungus-farming techniques and an empire which almost spans the entire globe, it is a blessing that they are so small and have not yet developed an overwhelming collective intelligence.
During the summer months, you may have noticed convoys of ants going to and fro in your garden. Some may have even made it into your home in search of sugar or anything else they can get their mandibles on. Like most garden pests, ants will generally do their own thing without bothering anyone else. In case they are becoming a nuisance, it is time to start asking how to get rid of ants in the garden.
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Why Are We Sometimes Anti
Ants are territorial insects who will protect their nest. When ants become territorial, they can often bite and sting the person or thing they become threatened by. This can often lead to painful bites.
Ants nests produce mounds above the ground, which can be of annoyance to some when mowing as they can cause damage to your mower blades. These nests also create an unpleasant appearance when you are trying to relax and enjoy your lawn.
How Are Anthills Constructed In Lawns
Before we go into killing ants in your lawn, I think it is important to understand how an anthill is constructed. Anthills are a maze of tunnels and chambers that can stretch to over 3ft deep and 4ft wide. Impacting the entire colony with one application of anything will be nigh on impossible. It will require a regime of treatments to kill off the entire colony.
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Outdoor Ant Control: Killing Ants In The Lawn
Do you have an ant problem in your yard?
The following question came from a reader through Spring-Greens Ask the Lawn Care Expert Q & A. Read to learn how Harold suggests removing an ant problem in your yard.
Dear Lawn Care Expert, I have patches of slightly dry, yellow grass amongst healthy green grass. When I dug up one of the yellow patches, there was a large amount of ants underneath! Can the ants damage the grass roots? What chemicals can I use to best treat this problem? Thanks in advance.
Prevention Is The Best Cure
Although you can use various products to kill ants, its unlikely that youll kill them all. If a queen survives, which is probable, youve only postponed your problem. Ants can be beneficial in the right place, so your best remedy is to prevent them from invading your property. If they do appear, then apply home remedies known to repel them. Make ants feel unwelcome enough, and theyll go away.
You can find further details of Ants Control here.
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What Are Red Imported Fire Ants
Red imported fire ants entered the United States through Alabama from South America in the 1930s. They thrive in warm, humid climates and have gradually spread throughout the Southeast. They are small, reddish brown ants, about ¼ inch in length. They build large nests in the ground with mounds that can range from a few inches to 2 feet in height. Occasionally, fire ants will even move into homes during heavy rains or excessive drought. Fire ants can be especially troublesome in undisturbed pasturelands, where you can usually find numerous large mounds.
Ants Have A Sweet Tooth
Ants love sweets. Most will appear anywhere they can find sugar. Although its unlikely that you intentionally have sugary foods in your yard, its easy for children to drop food crumbs during play times. Other foods, such as BBQ sauce on grills, also lure ants to your yard.
Ants may seek water. Ants usually get all the water they need from their food, but they will invade moist areas in dry climates. Ants will also invade trash containers left outside. They also like uncovered pet food.
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Symptoms Of Ant Damage
Dry looking and dead patches in lawns and mounds of soil on top of the lawn. Symptoms in plants include wilted and dry foliage, brown foliage and/or dead plants. This is caused by excessive tunnelling by ants, increasing evaporative loss of water in the soil, causing lawns and plants to dry out.
Ants can be found in human and pet foodstuffs which can contaminate food. Some ants may harbour plant and/or animal pathogens which may spread and transmit diseases.
Ants generally do not damage plants directly but sometimes do steal freshly sown seed from freshly seeded lawns, garden beds and seed boxes.
Most damage to plants from ants occurs indirectly. Ants form a symbiotic relationship with honeydew producing and plant-sap-sucking insects such as aphid, scale, psyllids, mealy bug, whitefly, and leafhoppers. Honeydew is farmed by the ants and in exchange, pests are protected from predators. These pests feed on the sap of plants which can cause the new growth to wilt, plant health to deteriorate and in worse cases, result in plant death. Ants sometime physically carry these pests from one plant to another, further spreading the infestation. Sooty mould is a secondary disease caused by excess honeydew remaining on the leaf surface and is a good indication of this kind of pest attack.
How To Get Rid Of Red Ants
Fire ants, also known as red ants, are aggressive when provoked and are harmful to children and pets, as they sting. Fire ants are typically nuisances outside, building their nests in your lawns and gardens, but they can also infest a home. It is important to be extremely cautious and wear gloves while dealing with red ants, as they will attack anyone who gets close to their nests. Here are some tips to eliminate these pests from your lawn:
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Locate the colony and fence it off to avoid family and pets from accessing this area.
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For best results, use insecticides and baits to treat the colony. Insecticides that dissolve in water provide the quickest results. Ensure you wear gloves to protect yourself against burns and follow the directions.
If you see red ants inside your home, your best source for removing the problem is to contact a licensed pest control company.
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Facts About Fire Ants
We have Australia-based professional pest exterminator Alexander Crawler to share the following facts:
- Fire ants have been imported to the USA thanks to an unfortunate incident. A cargo vessel from South America.
- Soil further North makes it hard for ants to survive, thus the species prosper in warmer lands.
- The average fire ant colony topples 200 000 in the count.
- Male ants are rarely part of the colony, although not unseen.
- Fire ants can build tunnels spreading over 25 feet away from the colony.
- The life of a fire ant consists of 4 stages eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults.
- It can take anywhere between 3 and 6 months for a colony to become big enough for you to spot.
Chemical Controls For Ants
Theres a good few pesticides on the market that claim to get rid of an ant infestation. If you want to go down the chemical route, I would urge you to research products carefully. Consider other life forms you dont want to be contaminating water courses with anything that might upset the eco system, neither do you want to harm beneficial insects or any creatures that might make a meal of the dead ants. If your lawn is used by pets or people, please be extra vigilant about your choice of chemical control. It goes without saying that you should follow the manufacturers instructions to the letter. Wear the protective gear, measure chemicals out carefully and dont be tempted to alter the recommended dosage.
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What Ants Make Up An Ant Colony
All ants within a colony play an important role in bringing in food, protecting the nest and ensuing the colony is populated enough to last into the future.
In every colony there is a queen ant. She is responsible for laying all eggs for the colony, so that they will continue to survive and thrive into the future. The queen is located deep within the ant colony so that she is protected from any predators who try to get into the nest.
Male ants, also known as Drone ants, only have one job. This is to mate with the queen ant to ensure that the nest will continue to grow.
Female ants in the colony are responsible for building and maintaining underground tunnels and the nest itself. Other female ants will go beyond the nest to look for food, while others will protect the colony from other ant colonies.
