[wendycas]

Hi
Was doing some weeding in a bed that hasn't been planted in this year earlier today and saw rather a lot of ants in a concentrated area of the bed. There was no evidence of a built up nest. What should we do?? Worried that any toxic stuff will prevent us growing in that bed-and will they migrate to other beds that do have crops in them?!!
A very worried Wendy in Durham!!

[rawrecruit]

Interesting, I didn't think ants were a pest, are they a problem? I uncovered a huge ants nest with eggs and everything just yesterday in one of the beds, but I felt bad for the little critters so just covered it up again!

[Springlands]

If you keep hoeing so that you disturb the nest and keep the soil moist they are more likely to move on. I think that there are nematodes that you can water into the soil but they are expensive.

l would rather put up with the ants rather than use ant powders near food crops.


Rawrecruit - the ants protect and milk aphids and the aphids can cause various problems on plants including if I remember rightly sooty mildew.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

I remember reading somewhere that ants (or some ants) excrete a substance that can be toxic to some plants.

We've got looooooads of red ant nests - they seem to particularly like making nest in or around couch grass...anybody else notice this??

As to what to do, I just carry doing what I wanted to do and they'll either move on or put up with it!

[Sparkyrog]

they can kill tomatoes and potatoes in Polly tunnels by eating the roots !

[Lisa62]

Beware!  I was bitten by an ant on my leg last week.  I had a reaction to the bite and ended up with a hot, red, itchy swollen area the size of a teaplate on my calf.  Lots of antihistamine and Eurax cream calmed it down after 4 days!

Little blighters.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

They do have a nasty bite...they get particularly vicious when they have eggs around and about.

[bravemurphy]

They don't half give the ground a good tilth tho 

[qualitynotquantity]

I was advised on this site to dilute a few drops of Clove Bud Oil with water in a watering can and pour it over the affected area, worked for me and no damage to crops!

[Totty]

They like burrowing around in fine soil. Not too sure if they eat roots but by loosening he soil around the root zone, the plants cannot take up water properly.
I have had them around celeriac before and they usually bolt because of it.

Totty

[wendycas]

Thanks guys. Think we'll try the clove oil and hope they don't flee to neighbouring beds that have crops in!
Cheers

[solway cropper]

I've seen far more ants than usual this year, presumably because of the warm dry weather. The upside is that if there are more ants there are usually fewer slugs because they hate dry weather.

[Beetroot queen]

We have had millions if the creatures this year but we have also had aphids so one seem to come with the other. Hubby and dad have been eaten alive, the doc has put dad on antibiotics as his legs were beetroot colour it was like dot to dot

[salmonking]

Beware!  I was bitten by an ant on my leg last week.  I had a reaction to the bite and ended up with a hot, red, itchy swollen area the size of a teaplate on my calf.  Lots of antihistamine and Eurax cream calmed it down after 4 days!

Little blighters.

cor what size are your calfs!!!!!

[wendycas]

They do have a nasty bite...they get particularly vicious when they have eggs around and about.

That's what I'm worried about-our young daughter often comes with us and although she is really good at not going where she shouldn't-if we get them to move on they might move to another part of the plot where she could come across them!!