How to get rid of ants in the garden - proven methods

The brown forest ant (Formica fusca) is the most common forest ant species, found in almost all temperate zones of Eurasia. Found in a variety of habitats (forests, meadows, steppes, mountains). The brown forest ant makes its nest in the soil, under stones, and in rotten wood. Mixed food. Families are usually small (from 500 to 2000 individuals).

Habitat

In the central zone of the European part of Russia, the brown forest ant is a typically forest species, living in deciduous and mixed forests, often with dense undergrowth. Its nests can also be found in hummocks in damp meadows, and occasionally in clearings and forest edges. In the steppe zone, the brown forest ant lives in forest islands, shady gardens and parks. Winters from November to January.

In the mountains of Europe and the Caucasus it lives in the forest belt, also entering the subalpine zone. In France it rises to maximum heights, in the Alps and Pyrenees it lives at altitudes from 1100 to 3000 m, on Mount Vitosha in Bulgaria - at altitudes from 700 to 1800 m, reaching maximum numbers in mixed forests.

In the basin of Lake Issyk-Kul, this ant was found in mesophytic meadows along the shore of the lake and at an altitude of 2200 m, where it is common in a wide variety of habitats. In the Tien Shan it is found in the upper part of the forest belt and mainly in subalpine meadows, descending below 2000 m only on the northern slopes. On Alai it rises to alpine meadows at an altitude of 3570 m.

Related article Northern wood ant (Formica aquilonia)

Methods for removing ants from the garden

Stores sell many products designed to exterminate pests. But for extermination in order to remove insects, you can use not only chemicals, but also other options.

Chemicals

After discovering ants, people try to exterminate ill-wishers using chemicals. But it’s not enough to know how to get rid of ants in your summer cottage; you also need to know the main components of the chemicals that kill the ants.

Chemicals

Anti-ant products contain 2 main components:

• Diazinon. It is a substance that kills insects from the inside. This component provides the opportunity to produce organic substances responsible for the nervous system of insects.
• Chlorpyrifos. This component enters the ant's body by air. This component is retained in the soil for 3 months, but it is effective against insects for only 2 months.

To bait ants, you need to choose chemicals containing such substances; this is the only way to get rid of garden pests for a long period. You can also eliminate ants mechanically; we will tell you below how to get rid of ants in your summer cottage mechanically.

Mechanical fight

Nature lovers are unlikely to want to completely kill an ant, but since they cause harm to plants in the garden, such people will try to eliminate not the inhabitants of the nest themselves, but the anthill itself.

This method is carried out using a huge flower pot or a special container is used. Place loose soil in the middle of the container or pot and cover with a layer of straw. Place the container near the anthill and after a while the inhabitants will leave the old nest and move to a new home. Now put the container in a plastic bag. The package is transferred to another place, but at a distance of at least 40 meters from the old anthill.

You have learned how to get rid of ants in your summer cottage using a mechanical method that does not harm the insects. Now we’ll tell you how to use the physical option for pest removal.

Physical methods

The physical method of removing ants is easy:

• First, heat the water to a boil, but it is better to use a decoction of tomato tops;
• Pour boiling water over the discovered anthill.

Thus, many insects die; this method must be applied several times in order to exterminate all the inhabitants. Instead of boiling water and a decoction of tops, you can use kerosene or hot coals from a burning fire.

Humane removal methods

For nature lovers, humane insect control options are ideal. In this case, the individuals do not die, but simply move to a new place. We will now tell you in detail how to get rid of ants in the garden and forget about their presence forever, using humane control options.

For this purpose you can try:

• Various strong odors. Ants react negatively to various strong odors. For this reason, in order for them to leave their home, after discovering an anthill, it is necessary to place carriers of such odors around it. Anise leaves, smoked herring heads, and sawdust are often used, which must be mixed with grated garlic. You can simply fill the anthill with kerosene.
• Wormwood and parsley. If you have wormwood or parsley growing in your garden, then you don’t have to worry about the appearance of ants. Ants also do not digest such plants and try to avoid placing their nests near them. It is recommended to plant garlic near fruit-bearing plants.
• Hemp oil. Ants have a negative attitude towards trees that are coated with hemp oil.
• You can use a trapping belt for insect pests.

  
  This product protects plants not only from bugs and caterpillars, but also copes well with ants.

• Grooves with water. Ants cannot swim; in order to prevent insects from entering the area with fruit and vegetable plants, you need to make a small ditch around the area and fill it with water. The width of such a groove should be approximately 3-5 cm. This distance is enough to prevent ants from getting to the plants.

• Yeast with sugar, water and honey. You need to find an anthill in the garden. Mix a handful of yeast with sugar, water and honey; the mixture should not be liquid, but in the form of porridge. We collect the resulting composition into match boxes and place them around the insects’ home.

In the garden, ants are not as harmful as in garden areas. We will now tell you how to get rid of ants in a summer cottage with a garden.

Proven methods of exterminating insects:

• you can scare away ants from plants in the garden and garden using a rag soaked in kerosene; it must be placed near the bushes of plants and trees;
• you can tie the plants with wool or cotton wool, which is soaked in a carbolic solution;
• install or secure containers with sweet liquid syrup, while greasing the necks with anise oil;
• if the plants do not grow, then most likely the ants have built a nest near the root system; to remove them, you need to treat the area with bleach or ordinary lime.

In these ways you can drive out ill-wishers.

Protecting the area from the appearance of ants

Knowing how to get rid of ants in the garden and forget about their presence forever, you can exterminate and drive away the insects, but this is much more difficult than preventing their appearance. If prevention has been carried out and the ants still enter the area, they can be easily expelled and exterminated.

The most effective ways:

• Salt. If an anthill is found, it must be sprinkled with salt; the salt must be scattered in the hottest places, that is, where clusters of ants are often observed. Due to the salt, the life of the ants will become unbearable, and they will move further away from the site.
• Laundry soap. To prepare such a solution, you need to add half a kilogram of soap, two tablespoons of carbolic acid and 10 tablespoons of kerosene to a bucket of water. Mix the mixture well. With the resulting composition, you need to water the anthill, the passages and exits from it. After several treatments, the insects will move to another place.
• Oregano and sulfur. Oregano must be crushed and mixed with sulfur. The proportion of the mixture is 1 to 2. Next, you need to find a cluster of ants, dig up the anthill and fill the dug area with the mixture.

• If there is a small concentration of ants, then they have just begun to equip their home. To remove them before it’s too late, you need to soak a sponge in a sugar solution, then place it on the anthill. When they stick to the sponge, you need to lift it and lower it into boiling water. It is advisable to repeat such actions until the pests are completely exterminated.
• Forced eviction is considered an effective way to exterminate ants from a site. Such an eviction is carried out simply. With the onset of darkness, all insects return to their home. At this time, you need to dig the anthill several times and place them together with the soil in a bucket, and take the bucket out of the area. Pour boiling water over the hole itself.

If you do not want to fight insects in the fruit area, it is better to plant tomatoes, parsley and other plants that emit strong aromas.

Lifestyle

The brown forest ant makes its nests in the soil, under stones, in rotten wood, under the bark of stumps. In damp places, nests are usually in hummocks. Brown forest ants are quite thermophilic and therefore avoid dark areas.

This species usually does not make external buildings. The species does not have a protected area and does not compete with other species of the genus. Families of brown wood ants are small (from 500 to 2000 individuals) and nests usually have one fertile queen, but large colonies can receive additional young queens. Brown forest ant workers are capable of associative learning.

What damage can ants cause in the garden?

In the wild, ants are beneficial insects that play an important role in the ecosystem. They perform many useful functions , such as:

• loosening and increasing soil acidity;
• control of the number of different insects;
• processing of plant and animal residues.

But wild nature is one thing, but comfortable conditions in the beds or trees in the garden are quite another. All the same actions of insects on the site can create problems for gardeners. In the process of gardening, ants can cause serious damage to cultivated plants:

• excessively acidify the soil;
• promote the spread of aphids;
• infect plants with various infections;
• damage seeds, fruits and berries.

Molecular biology

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Biochemistry

The following pheromone substances have been found in various glands:

• formic acid (CH2O2), alarm pheromone and protective substance;
• decan (C10H22), alarm pheromone;
• undecane (C11H24), alarm pheromone and protective substance.

The venom of red wood ants is approximately 50% formic acid (CH2O2) (Stumper, 1951). The following substances were found in the Dufour glands: n-Nonan, n-Decane, n-Undecane, 9-Undecene, n-Dodecane, 1-Dodecene, 3-methylundecane, 5-methylundecane, n-Tridecane, n-Tetradecane, 3- methyltridecane, 5-methyltridecane, Tetradecene, n-Pentadecane, 7-Pentadecene, n-Hexadecane, n-Heptadecane, cis-8-Heptadecene, Heptadecadiene, n-Octadecane, 9-Octadecene, n-Nonadecane, 9-Nonadecene, Nonadecadiene, n-Eicosane, Eikosene, n-Geneicosane, Gneicosene, n-Docosane, Tricosene, acetates (tetradecyl, hexadecyl, hexadecenyl, octadecyl, geranylgeranyl) and others.

Domestic ants and features of their life activity

House ants, unlike their forest counterparts, are not distinguished by any thoughtfulness or high purpose for their existence. All their lives they actively feed on the remains of food, which they look for in a warm human home, and also reproduce very quickly.

Unlike red ants, domestic ants can form several colonies at the same time; each colony contains several queens, which, after being fertilized, create a new colony.

Therefore, the fight against them will be extremely difficult for a person, since by exterminating one queen ant, you will practically not increase your chances of success in this fight. Among other things, house ants’ attitude towards queens is not at all respectful; they can easily kill or replace her. One queen can live up to five years.

Based on these facts, you can conclude that if you had to deal with ants in your apartment, the struggle can be very long and fruitless. Below we will try to give you some tips that will significantly increase your chances of winning.

Notes

1. Striganova B. R., Zakharov A. A.
   Five-language dictionary of animal names: Insects (Latin-Russian-English-German-French) / . - M.: RUSSO, 2000. - P. 297. - 1060 copies. — ISBN 5-88721-162-8.
2. ↑
3. ↑
4. Polilov A. A. (2003). Fauna of pinnate beetles (Ptiliidae) of the Moscow region. — Bull. MOIP. 2003. Volume 108. pp. 11-17.
5. ↑
6. ↑
7. Blum MS and HR Hermann. (1978). Venoms and Venom Apparatuses of the Formicidae: Dolichoderinae and Aneuretinae. In: Handbook of experimental pharmacology/Handbuch der experimentellen Pharmakologie: New series: v. 48, Arthropod venoms (Editor Sergio Bettini). - Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1978. - pp. 870-894 (Chapter 26). ISBN 978-3-642-45503-2
8. Bergstrom, G., Lofqvist, J. (1973). Chemical congruence of the complex, odoriferous secretions from Dufour's gland in three species of ants of the genus Formica. J. Insect Physiol. 1973, 19, 887-907.
9. Chervona book of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Dnipropetrovsk, 2011—488 p. (P.243).
10. Charles Earle Raven.
    John Ray, naturalist: his life and works. - Cambridge University Press, 1986. - ISBN 0521310830.
11. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Medicinal Plants and Animal Products / Ed. G. P. Yakovleva. - St. Petersburg: SpetsLit, publishing house SPHFA, 2002. - p. 355.

Description

The black garden ant is a medium-sized insect 3-6 mm long. Females are slightly larger than males. The length of the uterus reaches 7-9 mm. Color black-brown. The body is densely covered with adjacent hairs. There are numerous erect hairs on the tibia and bases of the antennae. The eyes are complex. All limbs are crowned with 2 claws with hooks, with the help of which the insect climbs walls and digs the ground.

Poisonous drugs against insects

One of the most effective means is “Combat”. By means of a poisonous bait, the active substance is transferred to the ants' home, where all individuals are poisoned, and close connection with other nests will lead to their infection. The drug is safe for animals and birds, securely closed in a special case, with passages only for small insects.

Among folk recipes, the most popular are poisons based on boric acid. Insect communication occurs through physical contact, and food transfer occurs from mouth to mouth. So the chemical will poison not only the workers, but also the queens. Below are recipes with this substance.

Mix boric acid and sugar in equal parts and pour onto paper.

• Mix 10 grams of acid with 2-3 yolks of a boiled egg and the same amount of medium boiled potatoes, add a spoonful of sugar, roll the resulting puree into small balls. The product is effective against cockroaches and many other pests.
• Mix minced meat or any meat with borax in a ratio of 20 to 1.
• Instead of minced meat from the previous recipe, fish is used (but not smoked or spicy).
• A glass of water, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 honey, 1/3 teaspoon of boric acid. The bait is poured into small saucers.

We lay out the “delicacy” along the ant trails in the garden, the foundation and baseboards. If you were unable to remove red ants from the garden using one of these recipes, then you need to try another until you find an ingredient that the insects like.

Fire ant nutrition

It may seem strange, but these insidious predators have some benefit. They eat crop pests:

• grains and legumes;
• rice;
• sugar cane, etc.

But there is still more harm. Small amphibians suffer greatly from fire ants, which have to change their morphology, behavior and lose eggs.

Insects do not get along with their “relatives”, their own kind, competing for food. They are not only predators, but also herbivores. In the photo, the fire ant is almost always captured carrying something on its back for construction or food:

• shoots, plant stems;
• various bugs, caterpillars;
• larvae;
• reptiles.