Ants

[Chillimad]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a surefire way of erradicating ants from a lawn ?, they have been digging it up every year and is becoming very anoying, no sooner do I dig the patch, and reseed than they are back.

I have tried ant powder etc but to no avail

TIA

[Capsid]

Nothing short of an anteater will work IMO.

[lynda66]

the only way i've found for complete eradication, is to kill the nest, and queen, i had loads, of ants when i first moved in, and i tried all the ant baits powders etc. in the end i traced the nests, opened them up, and poured loads of boiling water on them, killing the queen, eggs, and must of the ants. you can also do it by pouring petrol over the nest and setting light to it, which is loads quicker than the boiling water, as i found out after .... you need a lot of boiling water.

[Chillimad]

the only way i've found for complete eradication, is to kill the nest, and queen, i had loads, of ants when i first moved in, and i tried all the ant baits powders etc. in the end i traced the nests, opened them up, and poured loads of boiling water on them, killing the queen, eggs, and must of the ants. you can also do it by pouring petrol over the nest and setting light to it, which is loads quicker than the boiling water, as i found out after .... you need a lot of boiling water.

Tried that last year, the boiling water but they still come back,, maybee I should try the petrol,, would that not contaminate the soil though ?.

[lynda66]

don't think so, as it burns away, and i light my bonfires with petrol, and things keep growing there, obviously you'll get some scorching of the grass, and may have to put some seeds in, but as you will have had to dig to get to the heart of the nest, you'd have to do that anyway.

if they come back, its because you haven't killed the queen/s.

Ant colony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Queen ant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Chillimad]

Great, thankyou for that,, will do it right now,, little bu**ers are climbing on the trelis aswell and eating my new clematis,, maybee I will burn that down too, love a good bonfire

[lynda66]

that works too, just have a bonfire on top of the nest

[lottie dolly]

put semolina,polenta or couscous in a shallow dish,i used a coffee jar lid,and nearly filled it,within a few days all the red ants had gone,if the dish becomes empty,top it up,i would think the little devils only come out when is dry and sunny,if your come out in the wet,put a shelter over it like a ice cream tub with notches around the rim,like when making slug traps,this definately works,look it up on the search,top of page.

[lynda66]

yeah, but thats not as much fun as setting fire to them

[Two_Sheds]

You can't eliminate all the ants. A reduction in the number of ants is all that can be hoped for. There can be numerous nests in a lawn ~ & new nests are made every year.

They hate having their nests disturbed, and hate wet beds, so repeatedly pour water on the nest (cold is okay ... boiling water will kill your grass too).

[Chillimad]

Ok, Bonfire still smouldering, well the lawn is anyway, got so fed up with patching here, patching there, so dug the lot soaked in petrol and WHOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh, hopefully that will be the end to the blighters for a while,, now though when Mrs Chillimad gets in I am gonna be in trouble hehehee, me think the space would be far better used as a veg patch, 20' X 15' of veggies,, wish me luck

[lottie dolly]

BEST OF LUCK,especially if she used the lawn ,

[Chillimad]

Yes she liked sunbathing, but will now have to use the patio, now I am getting nervous,,,,,,,,,,,oops what have I done, worst bit is the smell of petrol and burnt grass thouought the house,, worse now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ITS RAINING AGAIN

[Stacey Steve]

You did it for her you must remember.

You could not bear the thought of all those ants disturbing her sunbathing and while the weather was not right for sunbathing, you thought now is the time to make things absolutely perfect for her.

Now grass is not the best pace for sunbathing, decking or a patio is far better, a nice firm surface. So on reflection you think it would be best to arrange things to suit her purposes on the patio and as the lawn is now such a mess but ant free and needs completely digging over, why not grow some veg to take the strain off her arms a bit on the shopping.

It is your husbandly duty to rip up the lawn and grow veg.

[Chillimad]

You did it for her you must remember.

You could not bear the thought of all those ants disturbing her sunbathing and while the weather was not right for sunbathing, you thought now is the time to make things absolutely perfect for her.

Now grass is not the best pace for sunbathing, decking or a patio is far better, a nice firm surface. So on reflection you think it would be best to arrange things to suit her purposes on the patio and as the lawn is now such a mess but ant free and needs completely digging over, why not grow some veg to take the strain off her arms a bit on the shopping.

It is your husbandly duty to rip up the lawn and grow veg.

ROFLMAO, I love it, thanks so much,, 15 mins till she gets in, should give me time to get this grin off my face