This is the place to discuss not just allotments but all general gardening problems and queries which don't fit into the specific categories below.
(formerly allotments and tips, hints and problems)
These little creatures don't bother me at all when they are outside, but they are now indoors as well. Have tried cinnamon which someone suggested to me with no luck. As a childminder I need to get it sorted. Any ideas please? Will try almost anything.
if you know where they are coming in, put something outside the place where they are entering and they will feast there instead of coming in the house and raiding.
hattwich wrote:if you know where they are coming in, put something outside the place where they are entering and they will feast there instead of coming in the house and raiding.
...but since the nests persist for some years this means that you have a large nest that you will have to feed in perpetuity.
Tell the ants gently but firmly that you cannot have them in the house. If that doesn't work they have to relocate or die. If you flood the nest out with cold water (it takes a LOT of water) repeatedly they'll move house to the nearest des-res they can find that seems unflooded. If that can't be done - yep - I'm for borax. The easiest way to do this is Nippon liquid antkiller, buy it in the hardware shop. But not one of the big chains as they are evil.
We had some of them comming into our kitchen and the only way to stop them was to illiminate the food source. Keep the floor swept and the bin sealed, if you keep composted waste in a bucket for transfering into the main composter then keep this sealed and elevated.
Does anyone still pour boiling water on ants nest?
There does seem to have been an explosion of ants in the last few years they seem to be pretty much everywhere. I wonder if this is just because I notice them more?
If you have a problem with them farming black fly on your broad beans then put jam at the base of your plants. (I can't remember who mentioned it on here but thank you to whoever did) - It works extreamly well. The ants will eat the jam instead of the aphids and will then turn on the aphids as they think that they might be after there jam!
Try either rubbing pennyroyal leaves releasing the oils to act as a barrier, or an insecticide can be made from pyrethrum (Tanacetum cineraiifolium) by drying and crushing the flowers. Be careful using pyrethrum, wear gloves and be sensible as it will kill beneficial insects!
I had ants coming through a shared wall into my kitchen last summer. I tried chilli powder, the liquid nippon I still had in having bought it in my last residence (too old), disturbing the nest, sealing the hole (they worked around the seal). Water, hot or cold, was out of the question as they'd produced an entrance hole just above the skirting board. When they began to morph into flying ants I reluctantly had to resort a new chemical solution (hadn't found a seller of borax then). It worked.
There was no food source that appeared to be enticing them, it's all in higher cupboards & no ants were found anywhere near food. The wall is shared with my neighbours kitchen, so I assumed they were eating there & coming into mine for the transformation into flying ants.
When I removed the old kitchen units, the one nearest where the ants had entered seemed to have a beach underneath. It was the shed skins etc of millions of ants. Revolting.
I know this is of no help whatsoever, but having read the earlier posts I felt a need to unburden myself...Thank you for listening.
I have no food source either as they are comming in front of house and kitchen is at the back. Will work through list of suggestions till they all go home and leave mine alone.
I read somewhere once that if you draw a line of chalk on the ground, the ants won't cross it. For a long time I figured this was some sort of territorial thing, but then someone suggested the more plausible reason that they don't like chalk.
I have tried cinnamon and lemon juice which they aren't supposed to like. They both failed to stop them. Boiling water didn't work either. Double sided tape did nothing to slow them down. What about me giving them a food source outside? Maybe honey I could make it easy for them.
Andy Hamilton wrote:
If you have a problem with them farming black fly on your broad beans then put jam at the base of your plants.
Maybe I've taken this quite literally but do you spread the jam on the plant itself? About to try this with my runner beans - do I paste it round the base stalk?
I'm about to sacrafic some scrummy homemade jam here and didn't want tp waste it / make matters worse getting it wrong.
Thanks for the tip by the way. Till now I've been a saddo and looking for ladybirds and their larvae on other plants to transfer from their happy resting places to my runners beans for a feast
I've found they don't like talc powder either. I don't seem to be getting them in this house (we've just moved) but in my last house would be plauged every summer. If you can see where they are coming in, and put some talc there this seems to stop them.
These little creatures don't bother me at all when they are outside, but they are now indoors as well. Have tried cinnamon which someone suggested to me with no luck. As a childminder I need to get it sorted. Any ideas please? Will try almost anything.
Davina
The ants have not been seen in the house for 4 days now. The talc round the front door has my vote. Someone told me its the chalk they put in it.