Hey everybody --
I recently built a vegetable garden and there is some loose dirt nearby from digging the hole for the garden. The pile of dirt will be moved soon but much of the dirt is around the walls of the garden holding up the walls.
I noticed today ants made anthills in the dirt around the walls and some ants are walking along the walls of my garden.
1st question: Are ants bad for my garden?
2nd question: Will I kill good bugs (I.e. ladybugs) if I place something like ant control pebbles around my garden walls?
Here is my garden:
[img]https://iangetz.com/helpfulgardener/2012-04-29%2017.33.31.jpg[/img]
Thanks,
ian
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Ants are not bad for your garden and will not eat your plants.
I don't know what is in "ant control pebbles," but if it is a general insecticide, then yes it will kill beneficial insects also.
It looks like you have a tomato cage in your garden. But with walls on two sides, it is likely to be too shady for tomatoes, depending a little bit on what direction everything faces.
I don't know what is in "ant control pebbles," but if it is a general insecticide, then yes it will kill beneficial insects also.
It looks like you have a tomato cage in your garden. But with walls on two sides, it is likely to be too shady for tomatoes, depending a little bit on what direction everything faces.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
You keep telling people that, but it is really a myth:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=254485#254485
Have you ever seen any exploding ants?
If you type ant control into the Search the Forum Keyword box, you will find a number of things that do work, simplest being pour boiling water into the colony. But there's no real reason you have to remove them.
I will say that the ants "farm" aphids and can make an aphid problem worse. Aphids excrete a sweet substance called honeydew, which the ants like. I had always heard about farming the aphids, but yesterday, I saw it in action.
I was digging up a bunch of tree saplings that had volunteered various places, to plant in my little woods. I touched one and instantly felt like I got stung. At first I thought it was a bee, because it really hurt. After dealing with the sting with a little plantain poultice, I looked closer at the tree. A couple patches of the stem were literally covered in aphids, shoulder to shoulder, and there were ants running up and down, walking amongst them. It didn't look like the ants were (at that moment) bringing the aphids, more like maybe harvesting honeydew. I might try to get a picture today; it was interesting to see.
The tree was a box elder. It is a nice sized one, but I already dug one up and box elders are becoming sort of a weed where I am, so I may just cut that one down. I looked up the box elder. Apparently it used to be native in the south, but is moving north now that our climate is warmer. That explains why it has suddenly become a weed where I am, after never having seen them until the last couple years.
Anyway, a bit off the topic, but it is my current ant story....
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=254485#254485
Have you ever seen any exploding ants?
If you type ant control into the Search the Forum Keyword box, you will find a number of things that do work, simplest being pour boiling water into the colony. But there's no real reason you have to remove them.
I will say that the ants "farm" aphids and can make an aphid problem worse. Aphids excrete a sweet substance called honeydew, which the ants like. I had always heard about farming the aphids, but yesterday, I saw it in action.
I was digging up a bunch of tree saplings that had volunteered various places, to plant in my little woods. I touched one and instantly felt like I got stung. At first I thought it was a bee, because it really hurt. After dealing with the sting with a little plantain poultice, I looked closer at the tree. A couple patches of the stem were literally covered in aphids, shoulder to shoulder, and there were ants running up and down, walking amongst them. It didn't look like the ants were (at that moment) bringing the aphids, more like maybe harvesting honeydew. I might try to get a picture today; it was interesting to see.
The tree was a box elder. It is a nice sized one, but I already dug one up and box elders are becoming sort of a weed where I am, so I may just cut that one down. I looked up the box elder. Apparently it used to be native in the south, but is moving north now that our climate is warmer. That explains why it has suddenly become a weed where I am, after never having seen them until the last couple years.
Anyway, a bit off the topic, but it is my current ant story....
Thank you for helping out!
I was going to let them roam my garden to see what happens. But now they made a home right in the middle of my garden! So I have an ant trail going through my garden right into a little anthill.
I don't have any instant grits but I read somewhere that ants do not like cinnamon. So, if it's true, it will keep ants away but not necessarily kill them. I sprinkled cinnamon on the anthill and around the walls of my garden. We'll see.
I was going to let them roam my garden to see what happens. But now they made a home right in the middle of my garden! So I have an ant trail going through my garden right into a little anthill.
I don't have any instant grits but I read somewhere that ants do not like cinnamon. So, if it's true, it will keep ants away but not necessarily kill them. I sprinkled cinnamon on the anthill and around the walls of my garden. We'll see.
O-tay thanks for that insightful clarification. I stand corrected... 
It did however, get rid of ants for me, go figure.
It did however, get rid of ants for me, go figure.
rainbowgardener wrote:You keep telling people that, but it is really a myth:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=254485#254485
Have you ever seen any exploding ants?
If you type ant control into the Search the Forum Keyword box, you will find a number of things that do work, simplest being pour boiling water into the colony. But there's no real reason you have to remove them.
I will say that the ants "farm" aphids and can make an aphid problem worse. Aphids excrete a sweet substance called honeydew, which the ants like. I had always heard about farming the aphids, but yesterday, I saw it in action.
I was digging up a bunch of tree saplings that had volunteered various places, to plant in my little woods. I touched one and instantly felt like I got stung. At first I thought it was a bee, because it really hurt. After dealing with the sting with a little plantain poultice, I looked closer at the tree. A couple patches of the stem were literally covered in aphids, shoulder to shoulder, and there were ants running up and down, walking amongst them. It didn't look like the ants were (at that moment) bringing the aphids, more like maybe harvesting honeydew. I might try to get a picture today; it was interesting to see.
The tree was a box elder. It is a nice sized one, but I already dug one up and box elders are becoming sort of a weed where I am, so I may just cut that one down. I looked up the box elder. Apparently it used to be native in the south, but is moving north now that our climate is warmer. That explains why it has suddenly become a weed where I am, after never having seen them until the last couple years.
Anyway, a bit off the topic, but it is my current ant story....