Ants
I have a pile of crunched up leaves from this past fall. I have been using the leaves for mulch around trees and bushes in my yard. Today I went to get some of these leaves to use as mulch in my vegetable garden and there are a lot of ants all through the pile of leaves. I don't think the ants really would bother the garden, although I am not absolutely sure. There have always been some ants in my garden and it does fine. My problem is I don't want to deal with the ants getting all over me while I work with the leaves. Is there something someone can suggest that will get rid of the ants that won't render the leaves unusable? These are not the fire ants that you can find down here but little black ants. They are more of a nuisance that a real hazard. Thank you for any suggestions.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Sprinkle your leaves with some kind of aromatic strong smelling stuff:
cinnamon, pepper, garlic powder, peppermint extract etc.
Ants don't like this stuff, sprinkle it on (thickly) then use something long handled to stir the leaves around and mix the smells all through the leaves.
Should convince them to leave, which is all you care about. You are right, they are harmless in the garden.
cinnamon, pepper, garlic powder, peppermint extract etc.
Ants don't like this stuff, sprinkle it on (thickly) then use something long handled to stir the leaves around and mix the smells all through the leaves.
Should convince them to leave, which is all you care about. You are right, they are harmless in the garden.
Wouldn't you know, I went out to the garden today armed with smelly stuff, ready to deal with the "ant situation" 
and there were only a very few ants and I had to look for awhile before I even saw those. I don't know what drew them into the leaves, but for whatever reason they are gone. I went ahead and went to work spreading my leaves. Thank you for the suggestion- I will tuck it away to use if the need arises.
and there were only a very few ants and I had to look for awhile before I even saw those. I don't know what drew them into the leaves, but for whatever reason they are gone. I went ahead and went to work spreading my leaves. Thank you for the suggestion- I will tuck it away to use if the need arises.