While ants may conduct some valuable functions in yards like cleaning up fungus and aerating soil, they can also become a nuisance when they construct large mounds. The hills of fine sand generated by the little insects protect the extensive tunnel systems of their animals. Besides being unsightly, they get in the way if you want to mow your grass.

Effects

Massive anthills smother the surrounding grass and might make the yard look uneven. Ants bring the stuff because of their hills to the surface as they build underground tunnels. The presence of the anthill means there’s a food source for the tiny animals nearby. Check plants that are close to anthills for infestations of aphids, mealybugs, scales and whiteflies. These sap-sucking insects secrete sticky, sweet honeydew. Ants feed on the honeydew and also herd the pests that produce it to protect their source of food. Ants will actually bite the wings off of aphids to keep them from getting away. Throughout the winter , they take the eggs of the insects they protect back to the tunnels under their mounds and discharge them through the spring to replenish their food resource. Therefore, in the event that you ruin an anthill, you’ll also destroy the eggs of insects that feed on plants.

Chemical Management

Garden shops sell bait that contains substances combined with sugar, protein or oil that attract ants. The ants carry the bait back to the mounds, and finally the substances poison the entire colony as the ants spread the bait to one another. Bait is available as stakes or in little bait station containers as gel, liquid or dry material. Some bait stations are reusable and you’ll be able to refill them. You might also rake the anthill spread and down granules of pesticides in the region or pour fluid solutions of substances on the mound.

Natural Solutions

The quickest and easiest nontoxic approach to kill lots of the ants in hills will be to slowly pour boiling hot water down the hole. Do this a couple times over a couple of days and rake down the hill. Another solution is to produce a mixture of boric acid and sugar and sprinkle it across the hill and on the paths the ants use to get to their food sources. Begin with a ratio low in boric acid and finally raise it to 50 percent borax, 50 percent glucose after a couple of days. Diatomaceous earth is also bad for ants. Sprinkle it on hills and about crops.

Prevention

You will never manage to totally rid a yard of ants. Hills will always pop up someplace. You can, however, reduce the frequency of anthills appearing in your yard and try to lessen the harm the ants cause to your plants. Managing ants involves using many methods at once containing inspecting plants and handling populations of insects that attract acts, maintaining fresh bait stations in the yard and staying on top of yard maintenance so ants don’t have easy sources of food and places to congregate.

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