Ants in the lawn- How do I get rid of them the nice way?
7 tips and tricks!
Ants are great animals! Very useful for the ecosystem and really industrious! We love ants!
Yes, in the forest and in the meadow (when we're not having a romantic picnic with our sweetheart). But please, please not in our lawn!
Ants are actually not pests in the true sense of the word. They don't eat plants, but break down dead plant material and turn it into humus. They spread seeds from plants and eat dead animals.
Ants loosen and aerate the soil, root growth is improved, and so on.
In short: ants are without doubt very important for the ecosystem. Also in your garden.
So why would you want to get rid of these great heroes of nature?
And how do you do it in a nice way; the way they deserve?
How do ants harm your lawn?
In our latitudes, it is mainly the black and yellow path ant that can be found. They prefer to build their nests - tatatataaaa! - under lawns. So far so good. But why can this turn out badly for the cherished and well-kept green pride of every garden owner?
If the ants are very active in your lawn, they dig, constantly create new tunnels and build cosy nests. This is not only annoying because everything tickles and crawls, but much worse:
The roots of the lawn plants are loosened, lose their connection to the soil and are no longer sufficiently supplied with water and nutrients. The lawn turns yellow and dies.
How do you get rid of the ants in an ecological way?
Of course, you can now unpack the chemical club.
Or even meaner is the baking soda trick (mixture of baking soda or baking powder and sugar), which causes the ants to perish miserably.
A mixture of beer and honey works in the same way. Placed on a flat plate near the ants' nest, the greedy little animals are attracted and then die by drowning in the beer. For some perhaps the most beautiful way to die...
But we love ants; so other methods are needed.
Relocation (of the ants of course, not of you ;))
The exact opposite of the baking powder or beer method, because it is very time-consuming and perhaps a bit too much fuss for most people, is relocating the ants.
Fill a bucket with wood wool and place it upside down on the nest. You can also fill it with soil, but then place the bucket upside down next to the nest.
The ant workers will soon begin to transport their offspring in long rows into the pot. It takes a few days for the caravan to come to an end. Now you push a spade under the pot and move the ant colony at least 30 m away from the old burrow to another place.
Now you can only hope that the queen is also on board. Otherwise the colony will quickly move back to their old burrow.
Odours against ants
If you want the ants to take care of their own move, you can drive them away with strong scents and smells.
Ants have a terrific sense of smell, which they use for orientation. With intense smells, we can drown out their own scent. They get confused and run away.
The following scents can be distributed on the nests or ant trails:
- Garlic broth
- Mixture of camphor and alcohol
- Cedar or eucalyptus oil
- Japan oil
- cheap perfume
- Cloves
- Lemon peel
- Cinnamon, turmeric, aniseed, chilli powder
- Coffee grounds
Tea tree oil and vinegar water are also frequently mentioned here. However, these must not be applied directly to the lawn and that will be difficult in our case.
Shrubs such as lavender, thyme, marjoram, sage and lemon balm are permanently effective, beautiful and even useful in the kitchen. With their scent you achieve the same effect as with the spices and essential oils above. Only permanent and stationary, so to speak.
Fertilising with plant dips
Another effective method of driving away ants is plant soaks.
This also works with odours and scents, but not quite as tasty. But you not only get rid of the ants, but also fertilise the soil at the same time.
Preparing the plant slurry:
- 10 litres of water are prepared with either 300 g fresh leaves ( nettle, wormwood or comfrey) or 30 g dry leaves.
- Leave covered in a sunny place to infuse for 14 days, stirring daily.
- Strain and spray the ant nests diluted in a ratio of 1:10.
Spreading the slurry over the entire lawn is a wonderful fertiliser.
If you apply it regularly, you will prevent a new ant infestation.
The disadvantage of this method is, as the name slurry suggests, that it not only stinks the ants.
Disturbing the peace of the ants
Ants are really stuffy citizens of the earth. Anything that disturbs their normal routine totally upsets them and then also quickly moves them to move. Disturbing the peace is anathema to them:
- So let's go for frequent lawn mowing from April to September!
- Before that, you can still level or scramble the ants' nests.
- Lawn sprinkling also does not like the little pests. Especially when their burrows are under water.
- If you lime or sand your lawn, you make it really uncomfortable for the ants.
Reward ant counterparts
If you don't want to kill the ants yourself and prefer to leave it to nature, you can support the spread of natural enemies in your garden:
Birds (especially the green woodpecker), beetles, dragonflies, spiders, toads and the ant lion eat ants and are excellent contract killers.
With a natural garden with dry stone walls, hedges, rotten tree trunks, piles of leaves, etc., you create a paradise for the ants' useful counterparts.
Depriving ants of food
But it also works the other way round: if you take away the ants' favourite food.
Ants love the honeydew that aphids excrete. So if you get rid of aphids, the ants have one less reason to stay with you.
6 Ways to control aphids
- Spray the infested plants with a mixture of 1 litre water, 15 ml curd soap and a little spirit. Then you will quickly get rid of the aphids.
- This also works with a boiled decoction of 3 cloves of garlic and 1 litre of water.
- You can also dust the infested plants with charcoal ash from the last barbecue or rock dust and thus scare away the aphids.
- The active ingredient lecithin, which is contained in cow's milk, combats the small animals in a very short time. Mix milk with water in a ratio of 1:2 and spray the mixture on the infested plants. When spraying, the liquid wraps itself around the aphid and prevents the supply of oxygen. The aphids die.
- You can also find aphid control products based on neem or rapeseed oil in specialist shops.
- The prettiest and tastiest way to get rid of the pests is to use the basil plant. Make a tea from the basil leaves and spray it on the affected plants.
Nematodes against ants
Nematodes, threadworms, are a special type of ant.
You can buy this poison-free preparation in specialist shops in powder form.
The intestines of the nematodes contain bacteria which, once they have entered an insect, kill it within 24-48 hours. That doesn't sound very nice. However, ants notice when these natural enemies are living nearby and bring themselves and their offspring to safety before contact.
All 7 nice anti-ant tips at a glance
- Relocating the ant colony (very friendly, a bit complicated),
- Expelled by intense odours (oils and spices, herbs, simple method),
- Application of plant soaks (also good as fertiliser, stinks),
- Disturbance of the peace (lawn care, has to be done anyway),
- natural enemies (natural garden, you don't have to kill yourself ;)),
- Food deprivation (aphids gone, treats gone, ants gone),
- Use of nematodes (poison-free and natural, mostly without corpses).
What to do when the lawn is already broken?
As always, if your lawn is already damaged or dead in places, you should quickly reseed the bare spots. This way your lawn will look beautiful again and no weeds can get in between.
With so many ways to get rid of ants from your lawn in a nice way, you are sure to find one that suits you and your garden.
