How Do Ants Damage Your Lawn
Signs you have an ant problem can come as little mounds around your lawn, brown or bald spots in your grass, and an increase in aphid populations. While grass damage from ants is usually mild, if large numbers are present, you could have a lawn looking starved and unhealthy.
No one wants that!
But how do ants damage your lawn? How can you put a stop to these small but mighty pests?
Treat With Diatomaceous Earth
Food-grade diatomaceous earth is a gardener staple made from algae fossils, and its a natural insecticide in powder or granules. When ants eat the diatomaceous earth, they become dehydrated.
This granule slowly kills any ant that ingests it. Using Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth is a great way to kill colonies, as it allows the ants to survive long enough to take the product from the bait station back to their members of the colony or nest. Ensure that you only use food-gradediatomaceous earth.
Clean Up Unused Materials Where Ants Can Hide
Having tree stumps, mulch, fallen branches, and piles of leaves near your home is a sure way to attract these six-legged pests. Ants will use these areas as hiding places and nesting areas, making them feel safe and secure.
Be sure to pick up any unused building materials or lumber you have around the yard and keep your firewood stacked neatly. If possible, keep firewood off the ground.
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Can You Get Rid Of Ant Hills With Boiling Water
You can use boiling water to wipe out an ant hill. You can even use our tips to kill ants with boiling water. However, boiling water will damage grass as well as ants. Boiling hot water destroys the cell walls of grass blades. This will cause any grass blades exposed to boiling water to turn brown and wilt. So, if youre trying to kill ants without harming your yard, dont try this method.
- Boiling can kill ant hills but it will also harm grass.
- Grass that has boiling water poured on it will turn brown.
- Pouring boiling water into an ant hill is not guaranteed to kill the ants.
Your grass may recover from boiling water treatment, but the ant nest may also bounce back. Ants are resilient and boiling water may not penetrate deeply enough to kill the nest queen. This makes boiling water less effective than ant baits or other poison.
Ant Control And Lawn Health
Ants prefer lawns that are in poor health, which is sparse or patchy in areas.
Lawns in this condition become a perfect environment for ants to thrive and flourish. Therefore, the first step in controlling ants is to increase the health and vitality of the lawn itself.
A healthy lawn, with a nice healthy thatch layer and plenty of green leaves, is not a welcoming environment for ants. So, as a first step, learn about some of the basics of lawn care and aim to increase the health of the lawn. This will always start with the basics of regular fertilising and wetting agents, regular mowing to promote more spreading of the lawn runners, decreasing shade where required, and a good watering routine.
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Use Natural Repellents To Stop Ant Lawn Damage
Natural repellents include scents and smells ants dislike. This will discourage these pesky critters from coming around and building mounds all over your yard.
While it can be difficult to control outdoor ants, using something like Mighty Mint Insect and Pest Control directly on ant mounds can convince them to make their home somewhere else. This product uses the power of peppermint essential oil, which works as an ant repellent.
Concentrate your efforts in places where you notice ant damage, such as brown spots, dirt mounds, or near fruit trees. You can also use this product around the perimeter of your home to keep ants out of your indoor spaces.
Another option for a natural ant repellent would be to use other scents and smells that repel ants. You can check out our article 12 Scents That Ants Hate to find out all the clever scents you can use to repel these annoying bugs.
How To Get Rid Of Ants In Your Yard Naturally 8 Easy Ways
Alex K.Affiliate Disclaimer: My content may contain links to products I use and love. As an Amazon Associate and participant in various other affiliate programs, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products I personally vetted!
Hold up is that a tiny volcano emerging from your yard, your very own pee-wee Mount Pinatubo, an itsy-bitsy Nevado del Ruiz? Nope, its an anthill, and its ruining your otherwise perfect lawn!
Not only does this Vesuvian blemish make mowing your yard impossible, but its also quite dangerous.
I know its never pleasant displacing nature, but that grass plot pimple has got to go with an effective killer or natural insect-killing remedy!
However, before you reach for chemical-based insecticides or another type of pesticide, as a gardener, you should consider the impact it could have on your vegetation, pets, kids, and other insects such as bees, butterflies, and ladybirds.
A much safer way to deal with those 250,000+ ants is to get rid of ants naturally including with orange peels, cucumber peels, canola oil, or cayenne pepper. There are plenty of ways to evict your hive-minded homesteaders without using a single aggressive chemical, and Im going to be discussing the very best with you here today. Lets get to it!
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How To Kill Ants
When it comes to ridding your house or yard of an ant infestation, time is of the essence. Although ants rarely cause serious problems, they have the potential to damage property, sting or bite and carry diseases.
Whether you with a natural home remedy or commercial product or for help, read on to learn about the best ways to kill ants.
Simple And Safe Things To Do
- Borax and something sweet, such as jelly, honey, or even peanut butter. Ants are attracted to sweet things. They will take it back to the ant colony or ant nest, which will wipe it out. But borax can hurt your nose, throat, and lungs if you breathe it, and if ingested can cause nausea, vomiting,and, in extreme cases, toxic shock.
- Cornmeal with poison: Cornmeal doesnt kill ants directly, but they are attracted to it, so mix it with a slow-acting insecticide. The ants take it back to the nest, where others feed on it and die.
- Epsom salt: Some people will mix epsom salt with water and spray. It is said to dehydrate, thus killing the ants. However, the epsom salt can also damage plants.
- Gels are becoming more common. They can be used on small cracks and crevices used by ants as entry points to get into your house.
- Glass cleaner: Simple to use: Just spray it and it blocks the smell the ants need from an ant trail, or discourages them from crossing it, much like white vinegar
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Understanding Fire Ant Behavior
To make sense of treatment options, you must first know what you’re up against. Native U.S. fire ants typically aren’t problems imported fire ants are the real pests behind homeowner woes. These South American natives were accidentally imported in the 1930s, and their natural South American predators don’t exist in the U.S.2 Imported fire ants are aggressive, competitive insects, and traditional ant control products don’t work against them.
Fire ant mounds are often your first sign of problems the expression tip of the iceberg” applies. Mounds seem like centers of activity, but bigger problems lie underground. Fire ants live and work in vast colonies housed in extensive underground tunnels. A single, unchecked colony can house up to 500,000 ants which can mean hundreds of mounds in a single acre of land.2 By the time you see mounds above ground, the colony population has been increasing for months.
Another key trait of fire ants is that they tend to move often and react quickly to disruptions. When a person or animal disturbs a mound, fire ants can attack with burning stings. But their reaction to disturbance also extends below ground. Fire ants can relocate to new lawn areas or even into homes, and start new mounds for new colonies seemingly overnight.2
Approaching Fire Ant Treatment
Treating your entire yard and targeting individual mounds will provide the most thorough, long-lasting fire ant control. Many different approaches exist, but you don’t need multiple products for effective treatment. With Over’n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant products, you can feel comfortable and confident treating individual mounds and broadcast-treating your full yard using the same easy-to-use product.
The main differences between broadcast and mound treatments are your goals, the quantity of Over’n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant Killer needed, and the way you apply it. Broadcast treatment starts killing fire ants on contact and protects against new invasions for up to six months. Mound treatment kills mounds in 15 minutes, and kills queens within 24 hours, guaranteed.
This simplified provides the most complete fire ant protection for your home and family. Applied to fit your goal, Over’n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant Killer delivers fast, effective, long-lasting control.
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Got An Ant Problem Give Us A Call
If funnel ants have killed off patches of grass, leaving it lumpy and uneven, you want a professional grade treatment that offers you a long-term solution. We can help by restoring the condition of your lawn and leaving you confident in knowing that youve protected it from further funnel ant activity for up to two years. If you have a problem with funnel ants in your yard, give us a call. Well come out, inspect your property, give the best advice and get rid of them permanently!
Give us a call to get the process started.
Our focus areas include Brisbane, Gold Coast, Tweet Heads & Logan.
Protect your property from damage
Weve Put Together A List Of 21 Natural Solutions To Resolve Annoying Ant Invasions Without The Use Of Harsh Chemicals Check It Out
In spring, summer, and fall, the insect world is alive and well and busy invading your home. And the most active of them all are ants. Ants can build mounds in your yard, making their way into potted plants, and your kitchen and garage. So what can you do to get rid of these pesky critters? Weve put together a list of 21 natural solutions to resolve annoying ant invasionsof any varietywithout the use of harsh chemicals!
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Ants Be Gone Summing Up
Congratulations, youre now a veritable master of natural extermination. With these tips and tricks up your sleeve, you can keep ant infestations under control without harming the environment or your family .
But remember, while ants can be a nuisance, theyre also our friends, so dont go hunting them willy-nilly. Only use these methods if you absolutely have to.
Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil
One 2005 study found that compounds in cinnamon leaf essential oil, including trans-cinnamaldehyde, could be effective at killing and repelling ants, including biting red ants.
Health food stores often carry cinnamon leaf essential oil. You can also find it online.
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The Ants Are Damaging The Building
Wood-dwelling ants do not consume wood as termites do, but they may inflict significant damage during an outbreak. Carpenter ants and other wood-dwelling ants prefer hollow areas and keep digging wooden structures as they expand their colony. If you see any infestation symptoms that threaten your building, consult a specialist.
Why Does Killing Lawn Ants Matter
Some might argue that we shouldnt mess with the ants in our lawn as they are respecting their space and staying outside of our homes.
However, some circumstances of having ants in your lawn can be detrimental both to your lawn and end up with your home.
Ants can invest in any place, not just indoors. Having several anthills in your driveway or your lawn can mean there are too many ants on your property to have a good lawn ecosystem.
Too many ants will kill off plants by either damaging roots through building their nest or through them eating the stems and leaves of your growing plants.
If you have animals, they can bring ants inside if you have too many in your yard. A dog that loves to roll around in the grass can pick up ants in their fur.
Not only will that be irritating to your dogs skin from ant bites, but the ants will have a ride to the inside of your house.
This can lead to a very unwanted ant infestation. To prevent these situations from happening, lets learn how to kill off your lawn ants.
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Will They Return After You Kill Them
If you destroy their new habitat, the ants obviously wont return. However, this doesnt mean that your lawn will be 100% immune in the future. A nice and soft lawn is irresistible for ant queens!
The ants may return, but it may take several months or years for this to happen. And if they return in the future, at least you know what to do!
A good lawn care regime will allow you to spot them early and take action.
This will help you control them as part of your lawn care regime.
Now that youre aware of several methods you can use to kill ants on your lawn, you should be able to keep your home ant-free, particularly if youre not fond of destroying ant hills.
If you have multiple ant hills on your lawn, you should consider consulting a professional before choosing the best pest control solution.
How To Get Rid Of An Ant Hill: The Top 8 Best Methods
This page is an expert guide on removing ant hills from your property using the products and methods suggested by our experienced pest control specialists. Follow this guide and use the recommended products and we guarantee you will be successful in eliminating ant hills and the ant population.
Its not a big problem if the outdoor area of your house has a small number of ants, but in the event of massive infestation or if the ants start to creep into the interior of your house, you will have to take action.
Ants can multiply to large numbers and most of them hide away in an ant hill that may be on your property. Sometimes it’s easy to find an ant hill as it may appear on your lawn in the form of a large mound. Other times it can be harder to find because they are tucked away in a secluded corner of your home. Even worse, if you’re dealing with carpenter ants, the colony could be somewhere indoors, like a wall void or basement corner.
In this article, we will share with you 8 ways you can destroy an ant hill. These are a mixture of home remedies and the use of professional pesticides. Read on to learn how you can tackle an ant infestation on your property the right way.
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Easy Ways To Repel Ants
To lower the chances of ants wandering indoors, follow these easy tips.
- Make a barrier. Place a substance that ants dislike along door thresholds, window ledges, baseboards anywhere ants might enter your home. Ants dislike cinnamon, cayenne pepper, ground chalk and cornmeal.
- Spritz vinegar. Fill a spray bottle with equal amounts common white vinegar and water. Spray where ants enter your home.
- Peel citrus. Save and dry citrus peels . Place dried peels in a food processor or grinder and pulse them into powder. Sprinkle powdered peels in areas where ants enter the home.
- Use oils. Essential oils including peppermint, tea tree and citrus types repel ants. Blend 1/4-cup of water with 7 drops of citrus oil or 15 drops of tea tree or peppermint oils. Shake well and spray along baseboards, windowsills or other places ants enter your home. Or place a few drops of orange, lemon or peppermint oil on cotton balls and tuck into cabinets or pantry areas to keep ants out.
How To Control Fire Ants In The Lawn
Fire ants are a nuisance and a painful, dangerous pest to anyone unlucky enough to live in their region.
While there are several species of fire ants found throughout the U.S., the red imported fire ant that has invaded the South is quite possibly the worst of all. Their painful bite, aggressive swarming behavior, and ability to form floating rafts to survive floods have made the red imported fire ant a nuisance throughout the South. You can find their mounds in gardens, yards, parks, playgrounds, golf courses, and pastures throughout the South.
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Hire Experts In Lawn Maintenance
The techniques we have reviewed are capable of eliminating all types of ants. However, if you see that the colony of ants appears harder to eradicate than expected, you have to rely on professionals. Experts will assess the extent of the invasion, and intervene with an effective action plan to eradicate ants in your lawn. Forever Green has offered peace of mind and personalized lawn treatment to all its customers since 1987.
