[nuzuki]

I have a small army of ants living in my new veg box. Should I worry about this? Any plants I should avoid putting in there that they might nibble on?

Thanks for any advice

[chriscross1966]

I'd be more worried about them farming aphids .... use an ant baitstation to get rid of them, nothing else can get into them to get to the bait so it's highly targetted....

[BabbyAnn]

ants generally are not too much of a nuisance to the plants themselves other than as chriscross mentions about the aphids (the ants will also protect the aphids from other predatory insects)

However, ants do bite/pinch when nests are disturbed, and don't underestimate how much pain they can inflict!   

[Matt31]

As BabbyAnn has said they are not too much harm to your plants as such although you do need to watch out for aphids as the main food for ants is sugar and they harvest the sugar from aphids which can harm your plants.

I remember reading though it does depend how big or how bad your infestation is as if the ants nest is extensive then it could stunt the root growth of you plants because of the all the tunneling they do for the colony.

I will try to find the source of this info as read it in one of many gardening mags that I get.

Matt

[Trillium]

I built a small raised bed just for potatoes and the ants moved into one half. The half they lived in had one of their massive nests and the potatoes on that side truly suffered due to root damage. The other half was okay but not what they should have been.

What ants really hate is disturbance, moreso, frequent disturbance, so before you plant anything in that bed, give it a good forking over every day and the little beasts will soon move elsewhere.

[Oliveview]

Because of our really dry winter (that is what I am putting it down to anyway)  we have ants everywhere in the garden (better than in the house like other years, but they could still move inside I guess) They are taking over the garden, their nests are everywhere.  I was out hoeing this morning, hopefully by disturbing their īrunsī they will leave!   I canīt weed by hand the little beggers bite!   


Pamela