In order to effectively fight ants in the lawn, you don’t have to unpack the chemical club right away. Instead, natural, non-toxic home remedies help to get rid of the plague quickly.
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The 7 best home remedies
The most effective way to take action against the crawling plague and to prevent reintroduction is regular lawn care . The insects prefer a quiet environment where they can live undisturbed and raise their offspring. If you disturb the peace of the people, they will soon look for a new home. And this is what you have to do for it:
- mow every 7 days between April and September
- Do not wait longer than 10 days before using the lawnmower again
- Level ant nests before each lawn mowing
- flood the same when sprinkling or watering the lawn
Relocate anthill
You don’t have to kill the little pests just because they feel at home in your lawn. Instead, you can try to relocate the animals with a trick. And that’s how it works:
- Fill a large clay pot with wood shavings.
- This should fill the jar almost completely.
- Place the bucket overturned directly over the ant hill.
- If this is too big, you can also set it up right next to it.
- Be patient for a few days.
At the same time, try to make the ants uncomfortable in their den. Unpleasant odors for the animals can help here, or flooding with a garden hose. Alternatively, you can spread the pot with sweets (e.g. jam or sugar water) to attract the little animals. As soon as the worker bees begin to carry the larvae into the clay pot, your project is crowned with success. Once the animals have completed their migration, you can pick up the bucket with a shovel and put it somewhere more convenient.
Repel with smell
Ants are pronounced “nose animals” that orientate themselves primarily on smells and therefore react very sensitively to disturbing scents. Even with these means you do not kill the useful animals, but only drive them away. This method works best if you repeatedly spray the scents directly onto the ant nest. Be patient, it can take a few days to weeks for the animals to decide to move. Don’t give up, keep bringing the scents up regularly and especially after a downpour.
Ants don’t particularly like these strong aromas:
- strong-smelling herbs such as anise, lavender, marjoram, sage, thyme, peppermint, lemongrass, lemon balm
- essential oils such as those from the herbs mentioned above, including cinnamon or lemon oil
- Tea tree or neem oil
- Perfume
- garlic broth
You can cut off the herbs mentioned and place them next to the ant nest, although you will of course need a larger quantity for the desired effect. Alternatively (and for smaller lawns) it is worth considering transplanting them with fragrant herbs. On the other hand, if you want to fight the insects with essential oils or perfume, put a few drops in a spray bottle with water and spray the mixture.
vinegar
You can achieve the same effect by placing bowls of household vinegar around the anthill. The insects do not like this smell at all and will therefore sooner or later flee. Vinegar is an old, proven household remedy that you should not pour directly onto the anthill or the ground. It is an acid that acidifies the soil and thus also damages the grass. The bowls, on the other hand, are harmless, but you should fill them up regularly.
coffee grounds
Coffee grounds, on the other hand, are not only a good fertilizer for many garden and house plants, but are also suitable for fighting ants in the lawn. However, this method is not suitable if you do not want to kill the animals. You sprinkle the dried coffee grounds, ideally mixed with a little powdered sugar, directly onto the ant nest. The workers mistake it for food and carry it into the burrow to eat. However, the caffeine it contains is deadly for the animals, so they die from it.
baking soda/baking powder
The raising agent baking soda, mixed with powdered sugar, has a similar effect to coffee and is used in the same way. Here, however, the ants do not die from the caffeine, but from the released ammonia. Make sure you’re actually using baking soda and not baking powder – most baking powders these days contain other leavening agents, so you should use plain baking soda. You can find baking soda in the baking section of any supermarket.
plant manure
Plant manure fights ants in a sustainable way and at the same time provides the lawn with valuable nutrients. Manure made from stinging nettles or wormwood (Artemisia) is particularly suitable. The strong-smelling broths only drive the animals away and don’t kill them, so this home remedy is also suitable for animal-friendly gardeners.
Production and application:
- a kilogram of nettle or 500 grams of fresh wormwood
- alternatively 50 grams of dried vermouth
- Cut plant material as finely as possible
- fill into a plastic bucket (no metal!)
- fill up with ten liters of water (rainwater if possible)
- cover with a cloth or gauze
- leave to ferment for a week
- stir daily
If possible, place the bucket where the smell will not bother you. As soon as no more bubbles form after a few days, the concoction is ready and can be used. Strain out the solids, dilute the slurry 1:9 with (rain)water and pour it over the ants’ nest. Repeat the application for several days in a row.
nematodes
Nematodes, microscopic roundworms, are often used for non-toxic pest control in the garden. There are numerous genera and species, with nematodes of the Mermis genus controlling ants in the lawn. You can order the nematodes on the Internet or buy them from specialized retailers. The application is done with a watering can, because the material is dissolved in water and then applied directly on the spot. The nematodes penetrate the ants and kill them from the inside. When there are no more ants, the nematodes also disappear.
frequently asked Questions
The small crawlers are not direct plant pests, after all they do not feed on plants. In fact, ants are very useful animals, but once they have made themselves comfortable in the lawn, they can become quite annoying and damage the turf (or even an anthill) with their digging activity. In addition, the insects keep aphids as pets and defend them against predators. These in turn can cause great damage in the garden.
As far as the yellow garden ant is concerned, combating it is actually difficult. This species rarely leaves its burrow because the animals actually breed a certain type of lice underground and feed on its honeydew. They are difficult to bait, which is why you have to bring out the heavy artillery – such as flooding with a water hose. Otherwise, an ant colony (regardless of what kind) only leaves its burrow completely if the queen also joins.
In fact, you can fight the ant plague in the lawn by specifically colonizing beneficial insects. Birds in particular (especially the green woodpecker), toads and frogs, spiders, dragonflies and predatory beetles like to eat the little crawlers. But the ant lion, which is the larva of some species of ant lion (Myrmeleontidae), is particularly effective. Beneficial insects prefer a natural, non-toxic environment, and they also encourage their settlement through dry stone walls, piles of leaves and rotten wood, and dense hedges.
