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Ants

B3B3 Posts: 27,505
in Wildlife gardening
Has anyone else noticed that there are a lot more ant nests, black and red, this year or am I just lucky? 😐
I wonder if it was the dry weather last year that made them more successful or maybe it has brought them closer to the surface.
It's a shame we can't train them to produce seed compost. They make lovely fine stuff. The worms don't do a bad job either. 
In London. Keen but lazy.

Posts

  • rowlandscastle444rowlandscastle444 Posts: 2,612
    We certainly have plenty here in our garden. I've found a number indoors too, but that's not unusual. Definitely more nests about, and hopefully more ants means fewer aphids. More ants means more small birds too, so it's a win-win situation. 

    The only downside is when they fly at the end of the summer. I hate getting the little buggers indoors.
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    I haven't noticed any more this year, but then maybe that's because my garden can't fit any more in. 😄
    I don't mind them at all, but I shout at them for farming aphids on my plants - quietly though, not in the same way I shout at park benches when I'm drunk at 9am..
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Yes definitely more. Have 2 nests in the polytunnel underneath 2 pots with plants that were put there to see if they would regrow. They haven't. Then more nests found in the veg patches when hoeing in readiness for sowing or transplanting seedlings. All red ants.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Any I have disturbed have the young maggotty things very close to the surface. Looks like there will be plenty more next year.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited May 2023
    @rowlandscastle444 More ants mean more aphids, not fewer.  The ants deliberately move aphids about on plants and then protect them from predators so they can take the honeydew (sugary excretions) to feed their young.

    To reduce ant numbers you need to keep your beds and pots moist, plant repellents such as pennyroyal or water everything with a solution of one small bottle of essential oil of cloves mixed into 5litres of water.  They hate the smell and move on.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • WaterbutWaterbut Posts: 344
    Do not talk to me about ants. Moved into another house with tatty living room carpets. At the two corners underneath, at the French windows, we’re two nest of flying ants.
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