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Ants Nests
DianeZed
Posts: 1
Hello fellow gardeners. I am new to the GW forum and look forward to learning more from you all ????
My garden isn't attached to my house. It's an old terraced house where we have an access lane between our house and garden. When my garden was constantly gardened several years ago, i proudly called it my secret garden. Several years later, it has been neglected as my time has been given to horses instead. I am now trying to give some time back to my garden to tame it from the jungle it has become! Over the years without the attention it deserved, about twelve large ants nests are dotted around the lawn. Some are about two foot across and about a foot high. They are well established, well populated, hard mounds of soil. There are black ants in some, and red in others (I've had a poke around) i have used ant powder on some of the mounds when I've cut the flat areas of grass in the hope they don't run out and up my wellies! What is the best way to deal with these mounds? I was going to attempt to rake them flat and douse with ant powder, but I think a few of them will be too tough to handle with a rake, so I thought digging with a fork or spade followed by ant powder might work. Just to say, I am a massive animal lover...ants are not my favourite living being, but I would now prefer they vacate my garden as I would like it back now lol. Can anyone help please?
My garden isn't attached to my house. It's an old terraced house where we have an access lane between our house and garden. When my garden was constantly gardened several years ago, i proudly called it my secret garden. Several years later, it has been neglected as my time has been given to horses instead. I am now trying to give some time back to my garden to tame it from the jungle it has become! Over the years without the attention it deserved, about twelve large ants nests are dotted around the lawn. Some are about two foot across and about a foot high. They are well established, well populated, hard mounds of soil. There are black ants in some, and red in others (I've had a poke around) i have used ant powder on some of the mounds when I've cut the flat areas of grass in the hope they don't run out and up my wellies! What is the best way to deal with these mounds? I was going to attempt to rake them flat and douse with ant powder, but I think a few of them will be too tough to handle with a rake, so I thought digging with a fork or spade followed by ant powder might work. Just to say, I am a massive animal lover...ants are not my favourite living being, but I would now prefer they vacate my garden as I would like it back now lol. Can anyone help please?
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Posts
I found that ant nematodes worked very well for the ant nests in my lawn a few years back. I've given up using them now though because I missed the green woodpeckers!
I've resurrected this post to ask Edd exactly what he means by dish soap. Washing up liquid or soap for washing hands etc in? The very heavy rain yesterday has forced the many millions of ants under my grass to scurry around and the anthills have grown and multiplied overnight. I wouldn't mind but it makes mowing such hard work
Problem is boiling water kills the grass. Just keep soaking them. I used nematodes last year, Didn't seem to work but this year I don't have any nests so maybe it did.
At my last house I tried everything from boiling water to nippon and ant powder, but there were just too many. One of the reasons I moved.
Thanks all but my grass patch (I hesitate to call it a lawn) is big and the anthills are very numerous, maybe 15+. Don't think boiling water is practical and I'm not sure either a lot of watering or nematodes is affordable. Maybe I'll just dig them up and douse them in ant powder.