Are Ants Good in the Garden & How Do You control Them?

Podcast with the Maritime Gardening - all about ants.
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Are Ants Good in the Garden & How Do You control Them?
What damage do ants do in the garden. Will cornmeal blow them up?
Can you get rid of ants with boiling water.
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[@SirSkippy87]

Ants are beneficial in my opinion with 26 years of gardening experience. However, if you see a good trail of ants, follow it and sometimes this helps to identify an actual pest issue, and the ants are just attracted to the smell of the sweet sap being excreted by the plant that’s being attacked by an actual pest, like leaf miners, aphids, etc!

[@Ravenzpeak]

The ant infestation in our garden didn't cause a problem until we had a drought. They chewed the silk off our corn cobs so pollination was spotty at best. I suppose they were seeking moisture more than nutrition. If you have a virus on a garden plant, the ants will distribute it quite efficiently to the other susceptible plants. A few ants...ok...a herd of ants...pesky!

[@diegonegreb3948]

Boiling water….. coffee grounds….. sugar (w/ Borax) …. At that point you’re just serving them coffee

[@josephuicker3872]

There is a complex interaction between growing plants and living soil wherein plants exchange root exudates with the bacteria and fungi in the soil. The plants get increased access to moisture and minerals from their partners in the exchange. If an ant nest were in the root zone of a particular plant I would think the ants would harvest the root exudates just as they harvest honeydew from aphids. Is there an entomologist out there who knows?

[@Jenny-bc5kz]

My two favorite gardening channels. Both chanels are so real with no BS... and both in Canada 🇨🇦

[@roishonbowman6174]

Is the other one Ashley?

[@markbowman2890]

I have seen small ants collecting carrot seeds that I planted 1 hour before. That's a problem.

[@roberthollinshead2325]

Fire ants are a big problem on my property. They farm aphids on the apple trees and it just kills all the new growth. I've been able to protect the trees with tanglefoot but the combination of that and tree wrap causes issues with the bark. It's a hell of a battle.

[@cbak1819]

The biggest problem with small ants is they crawl on you and then bring them in the house snd as you are resting on your chair you start feeling them crawling on you😂

[@BalticHomesteaders]

We have ants eat the young stalks of brassicas every year, never really found out how to deal with it tried dowsing with water or using cinnamon powder but probably the best way is simply yo grow better stronger transplants.

[@Maczust63]

Carpenter ants that live in decayed trees, key word "decayed" they don't break down living or dead solid wood. The ant only lives in the decayed wood. These ants also are a major food source for pileated wood pecker. So if you have a dead tree that isn't a threat to anyone or property then its best to leave it too this beautyful bird.

[@dehnadykeman3614]

I live in the southeast US and fire ants are everywhere. I just muss em up and they move somewhere else. When they do get me it feels like a pinpoint of fire. Then the swelling and the itch. It lasts forever the itch. I soak in epsom salt and somehow that helps. It's not the worst pain but it does suck.

[@agood1]

nice discussion.

[@Scott-jf1nh]

Cinnamon was not discussed? I had a package delivered and it had a bunch of big black carpenter ants inside. I tried putting cinnamon inside and left it outside for about a half hour. It actually killed about 4 of them and no more to be seen.

[@m.inthedesert7134]

I try not to kill ants (just don't like killing things). Sometimes, when I find them protecting scale I shake some potent powdered cloves or fresh ground pepper at the base of the plant and it repells them for a couple of days, then I repeat. The garden looks good

[@measharedmond7826]

Thanks for this video this is my problem right now but I'm not going to use the cinnamon and terminac now I wonder if the Cinnamon's hermanac is okay for the plant???

[@johngault8688]

Curious Question: What if you kill the queen fire ant with boiling water (or whatever)? Does the colony always have a "back-up queen" (for lack of better term) in limbo waiting to be born/produced?

[@JohnSG53]

Not my experience with aphids. I've knocked them off my potted standard roses, and when they're at the surface of the pot they'll attempt (very quickly) to move straight up the rose standard or stake. In human terms their speed is almost breathtaking. I've applied grease/glue barriers on the stems and stakes, so they don't get far. I still get airborne infestations though. Then it's shake & repeat.

[@louismurphy3527]

I have used cornmeal on fire ant nests, and I don't know what happened to them, but the nest was GONE. I dug where they were and NO ANTS. I don't know what happened to them, and don't care - they were GONE!

[@frould7203]

They are cultivating aphids. I was hospitalized once, allergic to bugs.

[@jakemelinko]

What does all this even mean? You left out all descriptive words😂

[@jeffreydustin5303]

My black locust tree has a boatload of aphids and the fire ants climb up and milk the aphids.

[@roberthollinshead2325]

I deal with the same on apple trees

[@zachlloyd9392]

@18:00 in, can using one of those water injectors you plunge into the ground deliver the water close enough to the queen etc to possibly wipe out the colony? Just curious. I would probably use the borax solution lol.

[@Jeanineyrfan]

What about weaver ants?

[@johngault8688]

I've noticed that while ants do farm aphids, I'm not sure how much they contribute to the aphid problem, at least on some types of plants. Example, I mostly see a huge aphid problem on milkweed plants, but I also see this same aphid problem on milkweed plants in the nurseries, where there are no ants. I have lots of milkweeds with tons of aphids and countless ants (I don't control ant populations). However, there are not a lot of aphids on many of my other plants, but there are ants; there are some here and there, but nothing like on my milkweed plants. Just a curious observation. Luckily, I don't have fire ants, despite living/gardening in Jax, Florida.

[@fillfinish7302]

They farm them .and they will spread aphids to other plants

[@johngault8688]

@@fillfinish7302 I've admitted to those facts (read my post above), i.e. I know ants farm aphids and I know they will spread to other plants. However, what I haven't noticed in 10-years of gardening is that I don't get aphids in near the numbers on other plants as I do on my milkweeds. Although I do credit a lot of that to not using any x-icides in my garden (I have a lot of beneficial insects) and building up my soil over a long time. My entire 8,200 sq/ft yard is grass free and basically a wildlife habitat with vegetable garden plants mixed in. I do have problems to deal with, but ants and aphids are way down on the list, so far down that I don't do anything to combat them.

[@Gardenfundamentals1]

Ants may actually prevent aphids from spreading to new plants. "Ants can prevent aphids from dispersing. Ants have been observed tearing the wings from aphids before they can become airborne. Also, a recent study has shown that ants can use semiochemicals to stop the aphids from developing wings and to impede their ability to walk away." I don't know how factual this is. www.thoughtco.com/aphid-herding-ants-1968237

[@louismurphy3527]

Ants do eat live plants! They bore into my LIVE okra pods and were destroying them.

[@Gardenfundamentals1]

Yes - there are a few species of ants that do eat plants. Most don't.

[@Pete.Ty1]

😊👍

[@rahneclark1902]

Sugar and baking soda killed the ones we had

[@johnboykin3128]

I ❤ 🐜

[@jasonjayalap]

leafcutters, leafcutters, leafcutters.

[@joanfrellburg4901]

They don't hurt me, they are pollinators. Leave them alone. I put a few logs around my ant hills so I don't step on them by mistake.

[@lauranonamaker2610]

If a fire ant bites you, you will know it was a fire ant. They can bite multiple times. Florida is inundated. I don't care about any of the other ants, but I am constantly treating for fire ants. Most of my garden is on the patio and most is in Greenstalk verticals. People quit doing things in their yards because of the fire ants here.

[@hanzketchup859]

You never mentioned that when a ant colony is simply disturbed the Queen produces 13 more Queens, look it up.

[@fillfinish7302]

I hate them .they killed many of my lavenders .radishes .........

[@janewhite2331]

What about ants inside plantpots?

[@fillfinish7302]

Submerge in water with lil dish soap .keep for 15 minutes

[@janewhite2331]

Alien Kush Would the residue not damage the plant roots?

[@fillfinish7302]

@@janewhite2331 take out the plants .it is the only solution .plus it should be a mild dish soap .

[@Gardenfundamentals1]

Even a dip in plain water for an hour will get rid of them.

[@geraldhowse8597]

Try orange peel gas.

[@rahneclark1902]

Ant wars each other

[@summcunt5421]

I've found ants farming scale insects on trees in my garden. I tried releasing lacewing larvae and special ladybugs, but it didn't help because the ants defend the scales. Then I read about horticultural glue. I tried that and it worked. I just put some tape around the tree trunk and apply the glue to the tape. The ants can't cross it. Then ladybugs come and eat all the scales because there's no ants. It needs to be replaced whenever the glue gets too dirty. Sadly a lot of ladybugs get stuck to the glue too. So it's not a perfect solution to the problem, but it certainly helps. Recently I've started using Eco-oil and am considering making white oil at home to use instead. Still trying to find the best way to deal with the problem. I accidentally figured out the perfect solution to deal with aphids. I grow dill. Aphids always attack the dill and then 2 weeks later I end up with thousands of ladybugs. I don't even eat much dill. I just grow it because it grows easily and it attracts aphids which attracts ladybugs. So then none of my other plants ever get aphids. Sadly a lot of other locals go straight for the poison, so any of my excess ladybugs who fly over the fence likely end up being poisoned. Fortunately my garden is improving and more of them are staying in my yard permanently. I used to have a green ant nest in my yard, but I poured petrol down the hole. Those hurt when they bite. I need to find a better solution though. That can't be good for my soil. I've tried the borax and sugar solution. That didn't seem to do anything. Been thinking about buying some expensive ant poison from a pest control place. Especially now that we have fire ants heading our direction. The ants we already have a bad enough.