Ants!

Dewhirstn

Afternoon All,

:mad: They've done it again, three years on the trot I have meticulously attended to my garden, trying as heroes of old to bring forth sustenance from the earth, but those little bu**ers have thwarted me again! :mad:

To sum up, I've been trying to grow my own for a few years now, the first year I got on splendidly and even had to give some away because I had so much, these last three years I've been infested with ants and the little gets are ruining my crops, I've moved the location of my veggies each year and it's like they've got a tracker on the bleeding planters, they have a very specific set of skills they will find my tomatoes and they will destroy them! :mad:

I know it's coming towards the end of the growing season now, but does anyone have any advice on how to keep the little satan spawn away from my veg, I don't want to kill them all necessarily, I'm all for a bit of fauna in my flora but I want them to stay away from the flora I want to eat!

Have at thee vermin!

Apodemus

You may have lots of ants, but what makes you think that they are damaging your plants? They may be there because you have aphids or other pests that the ants like to eat?

Mojisola

Dewhirstn wrote: »

these last three years I've been infested with ants and the little gets are ruining my crops

What exactly are they doing to your crops?

malebolge

When I read your post I thought exactly the same as Apodemus. Ants never really bother me in the garden - my satan's spawn are lily beetles & vine weevil grubs - but I do notice them crowding around plants that have aphids. They love the sticky honeydew aphids produce.

Mojisola

malebolge wrote: »

but I do notice them crowding around plants that have aphids. They love the sticky honeydew aphids produce.

Ants will actively farm aphids, protecting them from predators.

Aphids can damage plants but only if they are in large enough numbers to be clearly seen.

Dewhirstn

Thanks everyone for your replies so far.

I haven't noticed any aphids, the ants seem to be making nests in the pots, I have had to throw the plant and the soil away these last couple of years because the pot was so bad infested I couldn't water them without a swarm coming out.

The first year when I got on really well I didn't notice any pests really, but since the ants have come the plants have either not produced anywhere near as much or they have not flowered/come into fruit at all, I have noticed a couple of time that there seems to be holes bored into the stems of the plants, I assume this was the ants as I have seen a couple scuttle out of one of these holes.

Davesnave

Ants are a non-issue so far as I'm concerned, but I know they don't nest in my deep beds if I keep them watered thoroughly; after all they need dry soil to make a nest, which is why they're often under paving slabs, concrete etc.


If growing in pots, the answer is probably to place these in a water tight receptacle and water partially from below. It sounds as if the pots are drying out too much.

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

Ants are a non-issue so far as I'm concerned, but I know they don't nest in my deep beds if I keep them watered thoroughly; after all they need dry soil to make a nest, which is why they're often under paving slabs, concrete etc.


If growing in pots, the answer is probably to place these in a water tight receptacle and water partially from below. It sounds as if the pots are drying out too much.

Agree re thats where ants were in my garden - hiding away just underneath the outer edge of my house_pale_. For that I did as advised by another poster and used a chemical thingie (Nipon I think it was called). It did work after about a week - though I confess to spending an hour or so where they were simply "flocking" around one of their ingress points literally belting them all as I spotted them to try to reduce numbers down (which one strictly is told not to do by the manufacturers of this).

DaftyDuck

It was me that told you to use Nippon some time ago.

Thwacking them as they eat is 100% counterproductive: they are taking the poison bait back home to mummy. Kill her, kill the whole colony.

neilmcl

I've always used Ant Stop and it's been very effective.

Farway

neilmcl wrote: »

I've always used Ant Stop and it's been very effective.

I've used Nippon, but I'm told that Ant Stop, although more expensive, works better.

My ants are not a big enough problem for me to bother buying & comparing both products