Ants (my patience is wearing thin)

tommurphy73

I am having a major problem with ants in my new house extension. I think it must have been built on an ant colony. The initially came in by the wall of the existing house and I found a small gap which I sealed and this stopped them for a while. Then they came through another gap which I sealed. Now they are back again. What can I do

Tom

clovacrom

try using a product called terro its a liquid ant bait its awesome,the ants flock to this stuff keepsem alive long enough to get back to nest then kills the rest

Nestor_Kelebay

Alternatively, get a tip from Mother Nature.

Ever looked under a Pine or Spruce or Fir tree? The only thing you'll ever find growing under such a tree are the hardiest weeds that will grow almost anywhere under any conditions. That's because coniferous trees have a defence mechanism against other trees. Their needles contain a chemical that other plant's don't like. So, as the coniferous tree grows, it sheds needles from it's lower branches that contain that chemical, and all the trees around that coniferous tree don't grow as well. The result is that the coniferious tree has the neighborhood to itself, and no faster growing trees shade it from the Sun.

I tried an experiment in my building about 10 years ago. On the shady side of my building, there were always a lot of sow bugs, and tenants complained that they came into their suites. So, since sow bugs live in the ground, I reasoned that if plants didn't grow well in ground that pine tree needles were decomposing in, then there was a very good chance bugs didn't like to live in that ground either.

I had to wait for several months until just after Christmas so I could liberate old Christmas trees from our city's "Leaf It With Us" Program where people take plant matter like grass clippings, Autumn leaves and Christmas Trees for the City to dispose of. I cut the branches off the trees and laid a thick swath of Christmas Tree boughs over the ground on that shady side of the building. By the following summer, the boughs were so dry that all the needles would fall off if you just picked them up and shook them. That's what I did and disposed of the branches in my dumpster.

Nothing except hardy weeds grow on that side of the building now, but there's no more bugs. And, the problem has been solved for a good 10 years now.

In the Provincial Parks in Manitoba, they spread Coniferous tree needles on the foot paths to prevent grass from growing on them. So, evergreen needles will get rid of bugs, but they also get rid of grass. They're a double edge sword.

tommurphy73

Thanks for the replies.

Very interesting about the coniferous needles. I must try that

I will keep you posted on the progress

Regards
Tom