What to do against ants in the garden and at home?

Ants are useful insects. They clear away waste and hunt down other insects. However, the fun is over when there is an ant invasion in your kitchen or the children can no longer play in the grass without being bitten.

There are many species of ants, of which the brown road ant is the best known. It makes its nest underground, often under some stones where it can hide well. The knotty ant is the one that bites us so often when we want to picnic in the grass. You can recognise it by its red colour. Ants are not only very annoying because they crawl between everything, but they can also cause a lot of damage to your (kitchen) garden and terrace. The ants can cause bare spots and piles in the lawn. The birds that catch the ants and peck at them in the lawn also cause damage.

🐜 Lady boss

In the ant colony, there is a strong hierarchy in which each ant is given a task. For example: there are the workers who leave the nest to look for food. These are the ants we often encounter above ground. The other workers stay in the nest to take care of the eggs and the queen.

The queen only leaves the nest to go on a bridal trip. She attracts the males with her pheromone smell. When she has found the males, she chooses the biggest macho from the group. The one who can fly the fastest and will give her strong offspring. After mating, she bites off her own wings and looks for a suitable nest where she can safely store her future eggs and start a new colony. After one mating, the queen has collected enough sperm cells to last her whole life. The male ant, however, is not destined to live a long life. He dies shortly after mating due to over-fatigue.

🐜 Ants in the (kitchen) garden

• Ants have a very powerful sense of smell. Strong smells are therefore very strong and they find them repulsive. Take advantage of this by planting a few lavender plants in your garden. The ants also make a big turn around the marigold, mint, the African Marigold, rosemary and chives.
  
  
• You can also fill some flower pots with soil and place them upside down on top of the ants' nest. After about two weeks, the ants will have made a new nest in the flowerpot where they lay their eggs. You can then remove these pots and throw away the earth with the eggs in it or feed it to your chickens. They will love it.
  
  
• There are a few other home, garden and kitchen remedies that are supposed to work well against ants, but we have to test them ourselves. You can keep the coffee grounds and sprinkle them around your vegetable garden plants. Ants are not fans of the caffeine-rich drink. Some pepper on the vegetable plants should also keep the ants away. Don't forget to rinse them before eating them, otherwise the radishes might turn out very spicy this year. You can also make an infusion of garlic or lemon juice and pour it over the ants' nest.
  
  
• Are the ecological remedies not helping? Or do you really have a lot of ants and want to chase them away as quickly as possible? Then you can use a pesticide such as a powder, granulate or liquid insecticide. Examples are Permas D, AMP 2 MG or bio kill. The principle is always the same: try to treat there where the ants' nests are or on the paths leading to them.

🐜 Ants in the house

• Ants crawl between everything. A small crack or crevice in the house and the ant finds its way inside. Therefore, make sure that you close these. When temperatures start to rise in spring and summer, the ant starts its search for a good source of food. No better place than the kitchen to pay a visit.
  
  
• Have you spotted one ant? Then it will not be long before there is acomplete colony in the house. The other ants will follow its trail and thus easily find their way into the house. Therefore, make sure that your dry foodstuffs are in (glass) jars and can be properly sealed. Do not leave open cardboard boxes (e.g. of flour, pasta or sugar) lying around in your cupboards. Ants have a real sweet tooth and therefore like to look for sugary food. During baking you might find some visitors in your batter and they are not very tasty in your cake.
  
  
• It is also best to clean the kitchen sink immediately so that the ants cannot find any food leftovers to nibble at. The best way to do this is by using a solution of water and vinegar. The strong smell of vinegar will keep the ants away from your kitchen. Move your dustbin outside and empty it regularly. This will also reduce the number of other insects, such as flies, coming into your garden and terrace.
  

Please note that these products only kill the ants on the surface. In order to kill the ants under the ground and in the nest, you will have to use stronger insecticides. You can place a few ant bait boxes in the house. Find the entrance and exit of the ant family, and place a box there so that they will not invade your house again. These boxes contain a substance that the ants take with them and spread in their nest, exterminating the entire colony within a few days. A similar product is the ant plate. Place this plate at the exit of the nest or on the ants' path. Those that walk over or under the plate will die. An aerosol with an ant spray (e.g. Toban or Topscore) can also help.

Another and very powerful alternative is a micro granulated anticide. You sprinkle these small granules on the places where the ants come most often or you can dilute them with water to form a spray. This agent destroys up to 100 nests and has a long-lasting effect. Finally, you can also use a liquid concentrate directly.

Do you have ants between and under the skirting boards in your house? Then you should also take a look at the outside of the house. Often, the nest is located against the warmer outside wall. In that case, treat both inside and outside the house.

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