Getting rid of red ants in garden

jbondo

25_Years_On said:

jbondo said:

How can we get rid of them totally

You can't and you shouldn't.

Is there a particular reason we should not be getting rid of red ants? seeing as they are the ones that bite....

greyteam1959

Plenty of ant killer products about.

25_Years_On

jbondo said:

Is there a particular reason we should not be getting rid of red ants? seeing as they are the ones that bite....

Ants are handy and if you're unlucky enough to get bitten it's more like communing with nature than a major problem.

jbondo

25_Years_On said:

jbondo said:

Is there a particular reason we should not be getting rid of red ants? seeing as they are the ones that bite....

Ants are handy and if you're unlucky enough to get bitten it's more like communing with nature than a major problem.

I was aware black ants are 'natural' and handy. However it's the red ants I'm more concerned about, I personally would say they are not natural in your average garden.

Davesnave

jbondo said:

25_Years_On said:

jbondo said:

Is there a particular reason we should not be getting rid of red ants? seeing as they are the ones that bite....

Ants are handy and if you're unlucky enough to get bitten it's more like communing with nature than a major problem.

I was aware black ants are 'natural' and handy. However it's the red ants I'm more concerned about, I personally would say they are not natural in your average garden.

I would say that if they've arrived there without being introduced by humans, they're natural. They probably didn't come from far away, meaning that they're likely to be endemic.

Being dispassionate here, it isn't wrong to want something natural eradicated, but eradication might be a hard road to tread if re-population is likely. As with some weeds, the most you might get is control, always in direct proportion to the effort expended.

ripplyuk

The only thing that I found that really helps is Advion ant gel. It’s American but you can get it off eBay. I don’t think anything will get rid of them entirely (I excavated half my garden and still found red ants!) but I used this stuff for 2yrs and now I don’t notice any ants. I’m sure they’re there, but much fewer. At least I can use the garden now, whereas before I was bitten every time I went out. They also spray formic acid and I got some shocking looking rashes on my legs from them. One time it was so bad my GP sent me to A&E as my leg started to swell. They’re nasty, horrible beasts. 

Good Luck. 

Missy79

Had them in my garden, awful things, very painful bite and very aggressive (also had black ants nesting in the compost bin, they left me alone and I left them alone). The red ants did tend to restrict themselves to locations in the top half of the garden, the bottom was a little lower so possibly damper as mentioned above. I didn't enjoy having to dance around when pegging out washing in the top half! Good luck OP.