Who knows about ants?

To say we have an ant problem in our garden is an understatement. We have a nice sized patch, probably 15m x 40m, laid to lawn, but the whole thing has been taken over by ants. There have been a couple of nests for a few years now, but over the last 2 years it’s got completely out of control.

To give a sense of the scale of the problem, last year we had 49 nests of at least 30cm diameter (at the surface), so there was nowhere you could sit out without having the little buggers crawling all over you in minutes.

We’ve tried ant powder as well as the gel that you can put down, with no discernible effect at all. Last year we got a big batch of nematode worms which did peg activity back a bit. Wasn’t close to getting rid of them, though, and they came back as strong as ever later in the year.

We’re fairly rural and don’t want to do anything which will harm the local wildlife (or pets) – we have loads of bees, plus rabbits, badgers and foxes all regular visitors. Beyond that, though, we’re open to anything. My hunch is that our actions might be successfully seeing off the population in a nest, but as the structure is still there it’s just moved back into to ease overcrowding next door! If it weren’t for the number of pets buried in the garden (house has been in the family for a couple of generations, so is a bit of a pet cemetery) I’d suggest we just get it deep ploughed to break up the colonies, but would that even work?

Anyone got any experience of dealing with a proper ant infestation on this scale?

ants in the garden ? Run a hose from your bbq gas cylinder and put it into the ants nest and turn it on, just a little, removed hose and carefully light the hole… what could possibly go wrong?? pic.twitter.com/FThX7Qlz8r

— Dave (@hike_charity) April 14, 2022

They started appearing in our kitchen earlier this month. I put down a bait pod and within two days they’d gone. So far, no return. I think bait poison is much more effective than powder, as the ants take it back to the nest and they all die out. Not nice, but when you’re infested you end up resorting to wipe out tactics.

Hank Pym did some fascinating research into ants.

I seem to remember, if you cover the nest with a bucket the ants bring all the eggs to the surface, and you get rid of the eggs.
49 though! Jesus

Borax and sugar mix gets good reviews. The ants bring the sweet stuff back to the queen who then dies. You can buy borax on eBay still.

Hank Pym did some fascinating research into ants

😂

OP. Very exciting that you have such ant fecundity. Understand your frustration though. All that lawn and no space for you.

More nematodes? If some had an effect maybe extra extra nematodes will have more effect? This seems to be the RHS approach https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/ants

Or, maybe it is time for some exhumation and consolidation of your animal death cult graveyard? Followed by the dug/scorched earth approach you suggested.

🤷🏻‍♂️ does soapy water affect ants? I can imagine that flooded nests are not habitable and the surfactant effect could reduce their opportunity for respiration.

I like the dark bucket approach. Plus, birds love ant eggs.

Glad someone posted the exploding garden clip.

Replace the word “Ghosts” here with “Ants” – Rentokil?

Thanks all.

The bait boxes haven’t worked for us, not sure why. I like the anteater idea, Kormoran, plus it would be an exciting addition to the pet cemetery when its time was up (really confuse the archeologists in centuries to come).

Are ants like bees in that if you kill the queen they just “make” another one?

Might just try hitting them with a combination of exterminants and then dig out / blow up the nests afterwards.

ETA I get the feeling it’s going to be a long summer.

What are they eating? I had a big nest in my compost bin, stopped using it for a few months and they left

At that scale I’d be paying someone to come sort it out.

We have lots of nests – I have resorted to jumping hard on the nest tops when mowing, which seems to upset them and they move. Had some success with the bait traps as well. Took a few years but don’t seem to have very many this year, and they haven’t been in the house for several years

I had a big problem 5 or 6 years ago, massive nippy red ants made themselves a nest on the corner of the house. Made using the garden all but impossible.

Ended up using (more) poison, followed a few days later by a little big of digging to take the top off the nest, followed by a lot of water.

Collapsed the whole thing a week or so later and filled it in with a mix of assorted building rubbish and a half bag of postmix that i still had in the garage.

The nest was about a meter deep and 60-70 cm diameter.

These days i tend to nip them in the bud before they need poison, 5 minutes with a shovel and they all move out, usually back into the forest.

Don’t tread on an ant- it’s done nothing to you

There might come a day when he’s treading on you.