I have an infestation of tiny ants in the grass adjacent to my driveway. I have been applying Terro silicon dioxide Ant Killer every morning but they come back every day. I don’t see any ant hill nearby. Any suggestions?
Funny, this article just came into my in box:
A couple of excerpts:
Ants cause very little damage in the garden, although if they build a nest in a plant pot then the rootball of the plant may be compromised and cause wilting of the plant. Ant hills in long grass can be annoying but not harmful to either the lawn or the garden. Ants are known to ‘farm’ aphids for their sweet-tasting honeydew and have been observed trying to disturb aphid predators in order to maintain large numbers of aphids on plants. This can result in plant damage.
Some gardeners use sprays, powders and even boiling water to get rid of ants. Remember that ants are part of the garden ecosystem and are a vital source of food for other species, such as birds and amphibians. Sprays and powders contain insecticides which can harm other insects, such as bees, and which also leach into the soil and can harm soil invertebrates such as earthworms.
If they aren’t causing any damage, my thoughts would be to just leave them alone.
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Thanks, Lorna! These little ants were on our driveway and were biting when disturbed. However we seem to have them under control now.
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We usually leave ants alone unless they are causing problems. Having said that, we’ve had several instances when we needed to get rid of them. We once had biting ants all over the garden which became an issue. We’ve also had problems with ants inside the house a few times. We’ve found that borax is an effective way of getting rid of problem ants. In case it’s needed, here’s a link explaining how to make your own borax solution:
https://gardeninglovy.com/how-to-kill-ants-with-borax/
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Thank you to Lorna and Donna for their suggestions!
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