[Grubbypaws]

I have ants in my raised bed; lots of ants. Will they do any harm? They are not very pleasant but I dont want to kill anything unless I have to. What should I do?

[PAULW]

Kill them they farm blackfly and will spread them over your broad and runners, you will spot plants looking sorry and wilting when you dig them up there will be a nest underneath it get the power out now and start spraying.

[Kimberley04]

I have an ants nest on one part of my allotment at the moment, and was just talking to someone about them today.

He suggested just disturbing the ants each day and eventually they'll move on, which sounds a good idea to me, and I'll be trying that with mine - just turning the ground they're near with a fork each day until they get irritated and move on.

I'll let you know how I get on.

(p.s. Thanks Bob for the tip!)

[Sue33]

i've got loads of ants in one of my plastic dalek compost bins, should I be doing something to get rid of them ?

[8doubles]

I`m no compost expert but if the ants set up home it sounds like your compost heap (if it is not old stuff which is ready for use ) is a bit on the dry side  . A good watering will see the ants off.

You`ve got to marvel at ants , till they`re in your plants (or pants) then they`re foe.

[Brassica Blaz]

definitly friends, i have lots of nests on my lotty and ive seen them attacking the slugs and snails and other garden pests.the good they do outweighs the bad in my opinion.

[Clover]

Definitely foes    I've had nothing but trouble with them this year; literally every single bed, every single time I go to plant or sow I dig up another nest.  They've definitely stunted some of my brassicas (I understand they make the soil acidic) and stopped some other seeds germinating.

I've been racking my brains as to why I'm so badly infested; I've 3 varieties.  Do ants and slugs have some relationship?  Since I used Nemaslug last year and a bit in spring I've hardly seen a single slug in the ant beds, but the earth is dry as a bone.  Do slugs make it moist and unattractive to ants?

A wild guess obviously, but I do wonder.

[Grubbypaws]

Brassica B thinks ants are friends but Clover things they stunt the brassicas. Now I am confused. 

Do they make the soil acid when they are alive or just when you squash lots of them?

My new Asparagus bed also has ants and I believe that asparagus doesnt like acid. More help is needed please!

[8doubles]

Not sure if the black ants produce much formic acid , red ants and wood ants do. Ants do shift a lot of soil from around the plant roots and i`m sure that any small roots in the way will get snipped off by them.
Black ants were flying in the garden just now, the chooks were having a great time.

[chrissie B]

well i would say after eating our pear tree , having a go at the grape vine and boring a hole in the house wall , not too friendly at all . but thats only my opinion .
chrissie b

[Swing Swang]

A couple of years ago I'd covered a patch of land (heavy clay) with light excluding membrane for a year. There were a lot of ants nests when I uncovered it and dug it over. I rather liked what the ants had done to the soil.

However they do 'farm' aphids as has been said.

I don't actively encourage them, and I hoe their nests whenever I find them, and keep on doing so, but I don't use powders unless they are close to the house.

SS

[Dominic]

Not tried it, but someone mentioned to me that if you feed ants with honey/syrup ect, they eat their farm insects.

[Smudgeboy]

What's the best way (ie, least harmful to your plants) of getting rid of them.

I built three new raised beds for use this year - and every single one has an ant's nest in it! 

[8doubles]

Hosepipe to move them elsewhere , kettles of boiling to ded `em.

[Grubbypaws]

So all I need to do is soak my raised beds and they will simply leave and go elsewhere? Sounds almost too good to be true 

Looking at the weather forecast I might not have to do anything at all, just sit inside with a nice cuppa and leave it up to the good old British summer weather!!