A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Ants!?!

While digging up the soil, for adding compost and such for my soon-to-be-new garden (I am a newbie!) I saw a million ants! So.. (I realize this may be a dumb question, sorry) can ants hurt my garden or are they just another part of nature?? If they are a problem, what do I do? Oh, and I would really like to take care of them naturally...
Thank you so much..

Ants can hurt your garden. I'm not too sure what 'natural' thing you want to do to get rid of them .If you can find their main underground trails you can pour boiling water on them. That is the most natural thing i know of.
I am a fan of boric acid myself, A dry powder that you put down and it basically poisons them. But it does need to stay dry in order for it to work. Maybe someone else will have better advice for you.

Thanks, Tina!
I read on here that cornmeal would work, too... I was jsut wondering if it was necessary.. I don't relaly like killing things..

The first thing ants will do is object to you using 'their' space and bite to get rid of you. Then they will run off with any seeds you try to plant. Then when you do have plants they may use your plants to 'farm' their pet aphids out on. They then milk the aphids for their honeydew for their own food. Then when your fruits or veggies ripen they can cause havoc to the fruit or vegetable itself in the search for more food. All or any of this depends on the type of ants you may have.
I try not to think of "A Bug's life" or "Ants" when I set out to rid myself of them. Quite a few of the varieties we have have been artificially introduced to our country and are not a kindly addition to our eco-system. I have a hard time telling ants from some types of termites. You do not want termites making an appetizer out of your wooden fence and then making a main course out of your home.
I had forgotten about the cornmeal thing, Thank you.

I use a mixture of liquid soap, like dish detergent or shampoo mixed with water. It kills ants INSTANTLY! You can pour it in a spray bottle and spray it on the ants and they die instantly. and best of all, IT'S NON-TOXIC! You have to spray them again once it dries because the water-soap solution has to be wet to work. But you can make a bucket of the soapy solution and pour it in the uncovered nest to kill a HUGE part of the nest.

I use garlic. I get a bottle of chopped garlic from the dollar store, it's pretty cheap. I don't believe garlic kills them but rather kills the fungus the ants are after in the first place. just add a spoon full or two to the nest. it works better for me if I get it under the soil a bit. (but you gotta be quick so you don't get eaten up.) and you may need to add the garlic every 2-3 days for about a week, but they'll move on out.
some ants in your garden is ok. their main diet is a type of fungus, so they are helping you out and bringing balance into your garden. but a huge nest of ants are bad news.

Thanks guys! THe good things is the black out here (CA) don't bite.... I am from AR so I know how bad the bites can be!!!

Jonni13- That sounds bad! Thanks so much for the info, I will try to deep the movies out of my head, LOL!

Thornius- how much soap and how much water?

Cricket- I like the garlic idea... maybe that would work for long lasting control?? Do you think the fungus is in the hill, or did you mean on the wood (the hill is near the wood)?

Thanks again guys, you are the best!!!

hill.....wood....???? I put the garlic in the ant nest (ant hill).

try diff things eva. see what works best for you.

I don't think there is a specific formula to Thorny's dish soap reciepe.

best of luck!

I use cornmeal a lot for ants,, It works!!!!!!

About 1/3 soap to 2/3 water should do it.

Thornius- You are a life saver!!!

I can't even begin to thank each of you for all of the help! YOu guys are the best!!! What a blessing!

Oh, and on a funny newbie-note; I spent about 3 hours on different parts of this sight reading... and today I sat down with my books and studied for about 4 hours !!! Let's just say if this was a test I would pass ! LOL! Now let's hope I pass in the really world! Lord, please help my little garden grow .

Be careful, Eva or you'll get hooked on this gardening stuff as much as we are! he he

Any why are ants bad? I know in the south fire ants are an issue and granted some will farm a few insect pest but for the most part they are beneficial in the soil. They provide aeration in the soil as well as prey on other insects.

I let them be...

LOL! Too late! I am in love with it!!! I would be so lost without you guys! Thanks so much!

The reason the ants are bad for the yard/garden is they want to move into the house when it gets wet or cold in the fall. Ewwwwwwwww.

I use cornmeal on and around all hills/nests I see.

Glad someone else does besides me! It works good !

I suppose every creature has a purpose but for the life of me I can't figure out what they all are.

I don't like ants because they bite and it hurts. We have red ants in our yard and if we don't get them quickly they will build mounds that engulf plants like snapdragons and crocus. And they've hurt small animals in our area. We kill them if we can.

basically not. it's all natural. ants are also a part of the whole planting process. they look for food but not that destructive. You see, once their hide-out place got disturbed, they'd look for another place.

Where you have ants you may also see aphids later on. I had hundreds of ants in my greenhouse last year and just like some of you say why worry about ants so I just washed them off of the walkways and thought nothing of it. Well during the summer I had a bad deal with aphids and was told that the ants are a helpmate to the aphids.

So this year I sprayed my greenhouse with a garlic solution and once the ants come I will continue to use the garlic. They say it's perfectly safe on the plants too. If I see too many ants I will not hesitate to use cornmeal as well.