With the arrival of warm days in summer cottages, everything begins to grow, blossom and smell. However, fragrant plants attract the attention of not only gardening enthusiasts, ants also appear on the beds, which in large numbers pose a serious danger to the future harvest. They eat up the roots, leaves and fruits of plants, contribute to the breeding of aphids and infection of the soil, spreading various bacteria on their legs. Therefore, the question of how to get rid of ants in the beds remains relevant for each owner of a summer cottage.
Where do ants come from?
Frequent guests in the garden are garden ants. They come from neighboring land and equip their anthills right on the beds or under the roots of the trees. In search of food, they travel whole families, and finding a suitable site - settle on it.
The presence of edible plants leads to an increase in their population. Insects erect multi-level anthillsin which calmly overwinter in the cold season. Therefore, if you do not get rid of them in a timely manner, then in the spring, pests will begin to attack garden beds with renewed vigor.
On a note!
There are also forest ants in the beds. However, there they do not host for long, returning to their forest anthill by night. It is not so difficult to get rid of these insects - just scare them away.
How to get rid of pests
You can get ants out of the garden in various ways.
Mechanical method
If you find ants on the beds in the garden, you need to find their nest. And if it is small, then it is better to use a more humane way - to move the anthill into the forest. To do this, you need to use a shovel to remove the upper part of the ant nest and carefully dig out its core together with the uterus and future offspring.
If the anthill is of very overall dimensions, then it will not be possible to remove the ants from the beds in this way, the nest will have to be destroyed. It needs to be stirred and sprinkled ash or pour boiling water. You can also use an insecticidal preparation or pour a flammable liquid on the nest and set it on fire. After such a procedure, the soil is dug up, mixing the ground with ash.
The use of chemicals
Accelerate the exhausting and laborious process of combating garden pests with the help of chemicals. The use of insecticides makes it possible to get rid of pests in the shortest possible time.
Chemicals against ants come in granular, liquid and powder form, and are also available in tablet form. The following insecticides are in great demand among summer residents: Aktara, MuratsidMuratox, Phenaxin, Thunder 2, Ant-eater, Phitar and others.
The composition of all these drugs includes insecticidal components that affect the body of insects. Which leads them to paralysis, and subsequently to death.
However, despite the fact that chemical preparations are the most effective way to combat ants, one should not forget that they are harmful not only to ants, they are also unsafe for humans and domestic animals. Therefore, many gardeners prefer to fight ants with folk remedies.
Folk remedies
Caring for the ecology of the garden and the crop grown on it, it is preferable to use folk remedies for ants in the beds.
- To drive away the ants, it is necessary to treat the beds with a decoction of tobacco leaves, wormwood, tansy, mustard or black elderberry. The smell of these plants has repellent properties. You can also water the plants with a decoction of onion peels.
- Do not like ants citric acid and vinegar. Regular treatment with solutions containing these components can easily eliminate an unpleasant neighborhood.
- Another folk remedy is cooking lures. So burur or boric acid mixed with sugar and a little water. Poison is laid out near the anthill or along the paths of moving garden pests. The bait is also made sweet, based on yeast and even minced meat.
- A good result gives lime mixed with soda. This mixture is sprinkled with places where insects are most often found.
- Quite often, vegetable oil is used to destroy the anthill and its inhabitants. It is poured into the nest itself, having previously removed the upper part of the ant dwelling.
- It is also effective to rid ants of garlic. It is planted around the perimeter of the garden or laid out sliced slices directly on a cucumber bed between seedlings. Similarly affects insects and tomato tops.
You can also influence pests by attracting birds that are willing to eat ants. To do this, sprinkle between the beds millet or other cereals. However, this method is not recommended for use in areas with strawberries and lettuce.