We have a lot of ants here too ... very free-draining soil ...we’ve left the ants alone in the back garden other than to keep it watered. There is an ant-hill near the wildlife pond ... it’s been there seven years and is quite a mound now ... we watch the birds rub themselves over it so the ants squirt their formic acid onto their feathers ... it helps them keep their feathers free of mites. Fascinating to watch. 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Wonder if I treat my veg plot when everything is finished with something strong. Don't like too, but can't feel I will be able to plant next year otherwise. Do nematodes work over the winter too?
Are you talking about insecticide?!?! You can’t treat your soil with an insecticide ... you’ll kill off all the beneficial invertebrates that your garden needs to function successfully 😭
And there’s no way on earth I’d eat anything grown in soil that had been treated with insecticide like that ... for ethical reasons as well as for the good of my health.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We have a lot of ants here too ... very free-draining soil ...we’ve left the ants alone in the back garden other than to keep it watered. There is an ant-hill near the wildlife pond ... it’s been there seven years and is quite a mound now ... we watch the birds rub themselves over it so the ants squirt their formic acid onto their feathers ... it helps them keep their feathers free of mites. Fascinating to watch. 😊
We've lost most of our strawberries this year to ants. Common opinion online seemed to be that they're an unlikely culprit, but sure enough each half eaten strawberry we picked was full of red ants.
Based on a suggestion on here and a bit of research we bought a couple of packs of Nematodes specifically for relocating ants. A couple of applications and it seemed to do the trick. The ants moved on. Sadly too late for most of the strawberries but our ant numbers on the allotment are significantly less.
Sadly now slugs are out in force instead - the joys of growing your own...
Everything I grow is organic, there must be something other than that i can use without damaging the soil. I would welcome any suggestions. thank you for the suggestion am going to buy nemotodes. Maybe too late to save beans but worth a try thank you
I have found ants on several of my strawberries too @stevek_bath usually after the mouse has visited for a snack and exposed the lovely juicy insides. Your problem may not be ants
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
I have found ants on several of my strawberries too @stevek_bath usually after the mouse has visited for a snack and exposed the lovely juicy insides. Your problem may not be ants
It could well be the ants were just taking advantage but they certainly seemed to be the culprits. They were inside the fruits in great numbers. Once we'd dispersed the ant nematodes the strawberries that remained have stayed whole (just sadly bitter!).
This is a plant I dug up with little nodules on it wondered if that helped identify the problem. I thonk at the end of the season nodules of nitrogen are visible
All of my strawberries have been nibbled away by ants this year. I would go out to the patch on a monday and think to myself..."on wednesday they will be perfect and delicious"...turned out the ants liked them on the tuesday.
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other than to keep it watered. There is an
ant-hill near the wildlife pond ... it’s been there seven years and is quite a mound now ... we watch the birds rub themselves over it so the ants squirt their formic acid onto their feathers ... it helps them keep their feathers free of mites. Fascinating to watch. 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
And there’s no way on earth I’d eat anything grown in soil that had been treated with insecticide like that ... for ethical reasons as well as for the good of my health.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Based on a suggestion on here and a bit of research we bought a couple of packs of Nematodes specifically for relocating ants. A couple of applications and it seemed to do the trick. The ants moved on. Sadly too late for most of the strawberries but our ant numbers on the allotment are significantly less.
Sadly now slugs are out in force instead - the joys of growing your own...