Ants in the home vegetable garden may seem fairly logical. Every creature has a place in an ecosystem, no matter which one it is. Ants, in particular, are biomass podium champions, representing 10 to 20% of the planet’s total terrestrial biomass with several trillion individuals in total… Knowing this, it’s worth taking a closer look to understand what ants are up to in our gardens.
Ants in the Garden: A Diet Question
Most ants are omnivores, meaning they eat both seeds and animal flesh. This diet makes ants tireless cleaners, covering considerable distances to search for food.
A Taste for Seeds
When ants are looking for seeds to eat, their role in seed dispersal is just beginning to be understood and, in some cases, even used to renature certain natural spaces that have been polluted.
A Bit of Animal Protein
But ants also eat other insects, regularly hunting living creatures such as caterpillars and others, but feeding mainly on animal carcasses such as woodlice, millipedes, and other beetles.
A Bit of Farming
In the garden, the ants with the biggest impact on production are those that literally farm other animals to feed on what they produce. This is the case, for example, with aphids or scale insects.
Not only can they defend against crop helpers the insects they farm, ants can also move their “herd” from one plant to another when food starts to run out.
What to Do If You Have an Ant Nest in the Garden?
In reality, the problem lies in the resilience of an ant colony, i.e., its ability to bounce back from anything you do to force it to move somewhere else. Because yes, ants are tenacious!
There are several tricks if you’re looking for how to get rid of ants at home, but in the case of ants in the garden it isn’t necessarily the same story. First and foremost, keep in mind that it isn’t always necessary to fight the colony at all costs.
Take the time to observe the colony and see if intervention is truly warranted. If needed to really do something…
Treat the Symptom: Target Aphids Precisely
To protect your plants, you can use liquid black soap. The recommended dosage is 5% to 7% (that is about 5 tablespoons per liter of warm water). Favor a pure black soap, without solvent or fragrance.
Application tip: Spray in the late afternoon to avoid sunburn. Make sure to wet the undersides of leaves where colonies often hide. Once dislodged and weakened, the aphids become easy prey for the garden’s natural predators.
Liquid Black Soap: Dosage and Precautions
Liquid black soap works on contact by suffocating soft-bodied insects (aphids, scale insects, thrips). However, a wrong dosage can burn sensitive foliage. Always use a pure black soap with no additives (no dye, no fragrance, and especially no solvent). Soap made from linseed oil or olive oil is ideal.
Ideal dosage: Dilute between 5% and 7% liquid black soap in warm water. That’s about 5 tablespoons per liter of water.
Timing: Never treat in direct sun. Drops act as a magnifying glass and burn leaves. Spray early in the morning or late in the day, on both the upper and lower sides of the leaves.
Extra tip: If your water is very hard, soap effectiveness drops. If possible, use rainwater.
It may take a few rounds until the job is too heavy for the ants and they decide to move.
Diatomaceous Earth: A Formidable but Fragile Barrier
Diatomaceous earth is made up of razor-thin micro-skeletons of algae. It’s a mechanical barrier: when ants step on it, they suffer micro-cuts that lead to dehydration. It’s one of the most effective biological solutions to date.
Watch moisture carefully: Diatomaceous earth loses all effectiveness once it gets wet. Morning dew or a light shower clogs the powder and neutralizes its abrasive action. For optimal protection, reapply after every rain event or sprinkler irrigation.
Diatomaceous Earth: The Humidity Weakness
Diatomaceous earth is a mechanical (physical) insecticide rather than a chemical one. It is made of fossilized microalgae (diatoms) whose walls are silica.
Lethal Razor Effect: Under a microscope, these grains look like shards of glass. They puncture the ants’ exoskeletons, causing dehydration within hours.
The moisture angle: It’s their Achilles’ heel. As soon as diatomaceous earth gets wet (dew, morning moisture, irrigation), the pores clog and the abrasive power is lost.
Application: Dust onto dry soil.
After rain: If a shower hits, the powder becomes ineffective even after drying in the sun (it tends to crust). Reapply is essential.
Caution: Although natural, it is a very fine powder. Wear a mask when spreading to avoid irritating your airways, and avoid applying it to flowers to avoid harming pollinators such as bees.
Diatomaceous Earth is a natural product made from microscopic fossilized algae, mined from quarries with no chemical processing. An excellent natural repellent to protect the home from fleas, ants, and to help with bed bug removal; insecticide for plants… It also absorbs odors well (garbage, litter, shoes).
To discover at Bébé-au-naturel.com
Erect a Barrier
Ants are known for using trees of all sizes to climb up and farm aphids. You can see the tireless workers moving back and forth along the trunk. As a general rule, a simple ring of sticky glue around the tree is usually enough to persuade the ants to abandon the idea of exploiting that plant.
