Are you having more problems with ants this year?
Question:Is it just in my garden, or are ants seemingly on a rampage this year? I have ants in my garden beds in huge amounts. I have gardened here for 11 years and have never seen so many ants! I have beds that are full of ants! Is anyone else seeing this in their home garden? Any ideas on the "why"?
Answers:
Yes I've got about the most we ever had here. I try not to use any chemicals, as these persist in the environment and food chain. They can also help insects develop resistance, so aren't such a good thing.
Boiling water and water mixed with some washing up liquid kills ants, as it does with most insects.
Overall, you need to get to kill the queen, who is producing a non-stop no. off eggs to grow into more soldier ants. If you just kill her little boys, she will carry on, unless she is stopped from being fed or killed.
Apparently they also don't like really smelly substances near to them, as it prevents them signaling well to each other. The Citronella oil, usually used in summer to deter midges and gnats, is reportedly good for deterring them. You could place some near or in their nest, or along the lines upon which they run to and from the nest. Otherwise, I think Tea Tree Oil will do a similar thing.
The why? for more ants... we're generally getting shorter milder winters, which means that less of them are killed during this period, and breeding starts earlier in the year.
Maybe some of their predators are dieing off, so they're not being eaten away.
If ants are more successful than their competition, then they'll also do better and flourish. The greater the amount of food for them, again the better they will do.
Some quick thoughts - overall, they're a tough bunch of animals, and longer seasons will give them more chance to breed. Hope this helps.
Get ant stop powder from any good hardware store, it also works for spiders and other creepy crawlies.
Ants in the garden, ants in my house, ants in my pants. They are everywhere, am going to get some ant baits and put them everywhere. I did this last year and after a week they were gone. If you spray them they just come back the next day.
Yes! A lot of people I have talked to have said the same thing. The first thing that comes to my mind is global warming, some direct/indirect causes that change the environment. This is sorta of topic, isn't this the year that cicada insects are overwhelmingly abundant?
DUDE! i cant keep the ants off of my kitchen floor! i have baits out and that isn't cutting it.. i have 9 month old baby and a dog so i cant put powder down... what i did read was that if you put dawn original dish soap in a spray bottle with water spritz where the ants are in the home. they dont like the residue that the dish soap leaves behind and wont cross it. i hope you ant problem gets better!!
I've had black ants crawling on the walls outside my house and was told by several people NOT to put baits inside my house coz that would just bring them inside. But I suspect they're in the walls, so I bought Ortho Home Defense Max spray (also a recommendation) and sprayed the heck out of the outside perimeter of the house (walls and on the ground out about a foot from the wall), with the intention of spraying inside IF it forced them in. (If you spray the inside perimeter around the baseboards and let it dry, it's supposed to be safe for dogs and humans). But the ants haven't made it inside.which is a good thing! But I bought an extra jug so I'm ready, just in case. Good luck!
why is it nobody says where they are. I don't have a problem with ants YET this year
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