[audrey padmore]

Hi my allotment has an infestation of ants. there are four plots ,but we are the only ones cultivating ours the other plots are vacant and over run /neglected  as the council has'nt found new tenants so we have a constant battle with weeds pests and ants I mad a hot box but it became an ants nest in no time. do they do any damage to my plants as I have tried everything to get rid of them but nothing works they are too established .

[BabbyAnn]

Ants themselves are not the problem (other than the ouch factor when they crawl over you and pinch) but they do "farm" and protect aphids which are the other pest.

Ants like it warm and dry.  So places like in raised beds, compost heaps, under weed suppressant sheeting etc are perfect nest sites.

[Kenilworth]

I always thought Ants ate things like aphid, helping to keep the populations down?

[grinling]

ants will milk aphids; ie collect swwet stuff from them. Put a blob of jam higher than the aphids, they eat the jam and then the aphids for dessert.
Won't harm the plants and if you have green woodpeckers then leave them be. If a nuisance you could try clove oil in water.

[Lulu]

Generally I find with ants they are pretty harmless, but set up home in the wrong place.  If you disturb their home and I don't mean just poke it, , they tend to pick up their eggs and move on.  The robins like it too!  Useful insect so if they are somewhere you are not going to use leave them be.  They were in my carrot bed last time I saw them.  Dug around abit and haven't seen them since!

[angelavdavis]

They are quite bad this year and normally I would leave them.  However, having had my children and husband stung quite badly by them, I now pour newly boiled water over nests that are in the way once I have made a brew in the shed.  It's another good excuse to have a kettle in the shed!

[surbie100]

Black ants are ok, but the red ants.....yowzer do they HURT!

I keep finding and disturbing nests on my plot. I seem to be very allergic to their bites, so I am also firmly in the kettle of water camp as a way of dealing with them.

[peapod]

Generally I find with ants they are pretty harmless, but set up home in the wrong place.  If you disturb their home and I don't mean just poke it, , they tend to pick up their eggs and move on.  The robins like it too!  Useful insect so if they are somewhere you are not going to use leave them be.  They were in my carrot bed last time I saw them.  Dug around abit and haven't seen them since!

Exactly what I did when I first got my plot.  They moved on very quickly, although to only a few feet away so I kept an eye out and kept disturbing. It took 3 times to get rid.  Ive had none since.

I criinge at the boiling water (arent I soft?!)

[Amilo]

I regularly have a ants nest in my compost bins, I leave them be as their workings in the compost aerate and promote a fine grade compost.