Grow Your Own Magazine

Help!!!!! Red Ant Invasion.
I have just dug my new allotment to find swarms of red ants ( possibly called : myrmica rubra or myrmica ruginodis ?)
How do I get rid of them, safely,( dont want to harm the vegies & I also have dogs) before I plant out????
Advise asap please.

Make friends with a Green Woodpecker (they love ants!) or if you keep digging they will probably move elsewhere, if not boiling water, failing that a little ant powder?

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Always aim for the best result possible not the best possible result

Peanut aka Joanna

Does anyone know if red ants will harm or eat my seedlings / veggies?

No they don't do that, they don't really do much damage at all. All they do is "farm Aphids" and make the soil a bit lose, but in the big scheme of things they're not really a problem.

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Always aim for the best result possible not the best possible result

Peanut aka Joanna

Thats good news - thanks. There are so many of the little creatures!!!!!!!!

Would like to get rid of them though. - boiling water not avail in sufficient qty as I live a few miles away from the allotment. All other ideas very welcome!

Hi Mate
Got the same problem have asked some of the old boys(Jedi Masters) on my site. They all say ant powder put it round the nest then stamp on the nest they all come running and as they do sprinkle some more in the middle on the ants. This makes short work so ive been told and its ok for the plants but keep the dogs and kids off.
use sparingly

I've no idea how to solve this little problem, but I can't get the Pink Panther tune out of my head now!!

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - UPDATED - 11th June

http://www.sloganizer.net/en/style2,HeyWayne.png

I have the same problem, at home in the garden. They even get into my modules containing baby brassicas ... and now I think I may have Wayne's problem too .... da da - da, da da - da ....

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

Sometimes I think the foundations to my house are one big ants nest.

They live in my compost bin, they come into the house through any tiny crack at this time of year and I'm sure they live in the cavity insulation too!

Our garden is riddled with them and they get in any pot we put on the patio. However, apart from the aphids they farm sometimes making things a bit sticky, and the annual invasion of the swarming flyers, they are more of an annoyance than a genuine problem.

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Veni, Vidi, Velcro.
I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Thanks Guys!

As long as they dont eat or harm the veggies, I wont worry too much!

But..........if anyone has any more ideas of how to get rid of my Red Ants - please keep the suggestions coming !!!

thanks again

dead ant,..... dead ant,..... dead ant,dead ant, dead ant , da da da - got you all sing now!!!!

I thought the Pink Panther came from Durham. You work it out. If you live near a zoo, try and borrow an Aardvark for a few days

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it and if you ain't going to eat it, don't kill it

All ants hate peppermint. You can dig in mint into the soil or make mint tea and pour it (cooled first) in the worst patches. I have lots of red ants at the allotment and they pose no problem as far as vegetable growth but they do bite. My little girl and her friends have all been had by the ants (they were making mud pies and probably diturbed a nest) and now are very wary. When I get them at the house and they start to crawl in, I mix 5ml peppermint oil with 1 pint veg oil and brush it onto all doorframes and windowframes. This really works as they will not cross the oil.

I used to put mint oil on a cotton pad and dot them round the places they came in - it soon stopped them indoors and the house smelled lovely!

janeyo

Keep them out of sunlight, do'nt feed them after midnight and never, never give them water.

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good Diggin, Chuffa.

We have red ants all over the allotment but apart from a nasty bite, they cause no problems that I have ever noticed. The bites are spectacular though-I teach 6 year olds and a red ant must have run up the handle of the trowel and bitten my wrist-the huge red lump, with me scratching away at it, kept them entertained for at least a week!!!
xxxx