Ants are large, organized colonies of social insects. These insects can build large nests that often contain thousands of persons. Their nests have one or more fertile females called Queen Ants. The queen lays eggs in Brood Chambers, unique parts of the nest. Other colony ants are smaller female called Worker Ants, and their job is to protect, grow and maintain the nest. Individual ants called soldiers and drones have the responsibility of finding and bringing back food. They have a complex nest structure. These include nursery rooms where larvae are fed and cared for, rooms for food storage and rooms for farming. Ants build tunnels to support their airflow.
Some Reasons
What you can do: remove decaying wood in the foundation of your home and clear from your yard the stumps of the tree and the fallen branches. Not only can it help to eliminate any possible nesting grounds for carpenter ants. It’s also a good idea to store them from your home at least 20 feet away!
Why is it not: leaky pipes or a good rainstorm could moisturize the wood in and around your home just enough to make it the ideal hideout for a colony of carpenter ants, a species that makes their nests in humid or decaying wood.
Furthermore, you can either get rid of ants yourself with the options below:
Here are methods that will help you eliminate ants from your lawn.
Ant killer gel: Most garden stores sell an ant poison gel. Compared to boric acid and sugar, it works. Ants are attracted to the sweet gel which they carried into their nest to feast on the by the queen. While being a form of poison, your garden or plants are not affected by the gel.
Ant poison: these powder poisons are not avoided on the lawn, as they can damage plants and change the soil due to their toxicity against ants found indoors or near your home. When you want to use powder poison, be sure to take other steps in advance, such as closing off the poisoned area to keep away younger kids and pet. Try to apply it on a calm day when the wind cannot bring the poison to nearby gardens. Another thing to note is that ants can build up a poison resistance slowly.
Nematodes: Such microscopic worms are the ants’ ultimate nemesis. They are tiny worms that are going to hunt and devour the ants while the ants are most likely going to look for a new nest because they can’t tolerate having their natural predator around.
Diatomaceous Earth (DE): Diatomaceous earth (food-grade) works against several insects, both at home and garden. First, you would spray it the around the plants you don’t want them to reach, or toward the direction of the ants. If the soil is clean, Diatomaceous Earth works perfectly. Visit www.dustandmop.com/. The wetter the ground is, the longer it will take for its work to be done.
Dish liquid soil and oil: As the dishwashing fluid and oil soak in the ant exoskeletons and suffocate them, this process has a quite high success rate. Combine half a teaspoon of liquid dish soap with one and a half teaspoons of cooking oil (olive oil or canola oil anyone you chose works fine) with 1 quart of water 0.946 kilograms or 2.08 kg or 33.38 ounces. Once the solution is prepared, pour in a spray bottle to take care of ants outside the nest and then pour the rest into the nest directly.
White vinegar: Pouring directly into the nest around 1 litre of white vinegar will help a lot. It is not harmful to the crop or the ground, but on contact with it, it eliminates ants.
Sugar and Boric acid: This solution may be the most potent home remedy to get rid of ants Combine the boric acid with the sugar until it becomes a paste and put small amounts of the paste around the entrances to the nest. These social insects love sweet things so that they will be drawn to the paste, and they’re going to eat some and take some back to the queen’s nest. After eating the pleasant paste, boric acid will cause the queen and the other ants to die.
Sarah Eberle qualified and became a member of the Landscape Institute in 1980. Over the last 26 years she has practised landscape architecture and garden design, running her own business in Devon.
During the 1990s, Sarah joined Hillier Landscapes as Design Director, where she is still a shareholder but also runs her own practice in Hampshire.
Sarah has an esteemed record in RHS shows, having won eight Gold medals, Best in Show and the George Cook award for innovation twice at Hampton Court. Sarah has also exhibited at Tatton Park and BBC Gardeners’ World Live.