Ants in a greenhouse - how to drive them away and not let them in again

Ants are natural inhabitants of garden plots. However, sometimes they become a source of serious problems. This is especially true for those situations when ants decide to settle in a greenhouse or greenhouse.

Ants are an integral element of the natural ecosystem. Their disappearance will quickly lead to a sharp increase in the populations of other insects, including harmful ones. However, sometimes colonies of ants begin to grow and spread throughout the area so actively that at some point they turn from garden orderlies into a real natural disaster.

Types of ants

You don’t have to be too attentive to notice that there are different types of ants in the area. They are easy to distinguish by color and size.

Redheads

The red wood ant is often found in dachas; its scientific name is Formica rufa. These are quite large insects, their length can reach up to 14 mm. Their cheeks and chest are red, and the upper part of the head and abdomen are black. From the name it is clear that the main habitat of these insects is the forest, but they often settle in summer cottages.

The presence of red ants in the garden can be identified by the high anthill they have built. Up to several hundred thousand individuals can live in such a “house”. Traveling around the country, these forest orderlies can spread weed seeds and spread aphids.

Black

The black garden ant (Lasius niger) is only about 4 mm in size. Its head and body are black or brown in color. Males of this species grow wings. The queen of black ants lays an egg every 10 minutes for 7 years, you can imagine how large the colony grows. In the garden, insects feed on fruits and aphid secretions.

The black garden ant can build nests anywhere: under clods of earth, in the roots of plants, under flat stones. Their underground home consists of several chambers connected by passages. Insects live in large communities, each individual performing a specific function. You can trace where their home is located along ant paths.

Yellow

Yellow ants (Lasius flavus) were brought to our country relatively recently. The insects are red in color and their body reaches 5-6 mm in length. The colony grows very quickly due to the high fertility of females.

These people from India are thermophilic and can easily choose a greenhouse as their home. Insects have a rather short life span, but due to rapid reproduction, the colony does not cease to exist. In the countryside, Lasius Flavus causes the same harm as other types of ants.

Reds

Red ants are often called fire ants. They were given this name because of their bright red color and painful, burning bites. An adult reaches 4-5 mm in length. Within the colony, insects are divided into individuals that produce offspring, worker ants and brood.

Ants are omnivores, but prefer to settle closer to a source of water and food, and often climb into the house. The colony is multiplying at tremendous speed. Pests can destroy planted standing crops. In harsh winter conditions, this heat-loving species does not survive outside.

Where did they even come from?

If ants appear in a greenhouse, there may be three reasons:

1. The insects went their own way and turned into the greenhouse to investigate. The important thing here is to simply kick them out in time.
2. A new nest has appeared on your site, and pests go to the greenhouse to grow aphids there - it’s more convenient. Just get rid of the aphids and scatter the cut garlic cloves over the beds.
3. The nest appeared right inside the greenhouse, by digging from outside. It’s not so easy to find - you won’t see any anthill, it’s just a small hole, under which, however, a whole kingdom is already being built. Search and destroy.

First of all, figure out what kind of enemy wandered into your greenhouse. So, in Russia the following types of ants are most often found:

• Black garden ones.
• Red forest ones.
• Brown meadows.

If your site is located near a forest, expect red insects to visit you, but they usually avoid the greenhouse. But closed, warm soil is more attractive to black garden ants, which brazenly build their nests right in the beds. And with our multiple passages underground, we disrupt the root system of everything that grows in the greenhouse, which is why we may not get a harvest. At the same time, black ants feed on plant seeds and seedlings.

But if you meet one of these comrades, proceed very carefully:

How to get rid of ants in a greenhouse forever using folk remedies

It is better to get rid of unwanted neighbors as early as possible, before their community grows to gigantic proportions. In the initial stages of infestation of a greenhouse, folk remedies will be quite effective.

Traps

You can use a jar with jam residue at the bottom as a trap. The sweet berry aroma will attract pests. The insects will fall into the trap with the sweet mass and die. Using a couple of these traps in a greenhouse can significantly reduce the number of pests.

Another composition that attracts ants is a mixture of brewer's yeast and honey. Several spoons of this composition are poured into the bottom of a glass jar and placed in the place where there is the greatest concentration of insects. You can build a glue trap. To do this, you will need a small cardboard box, the walls of which are coated with a sticky substance. Any insects that get inside will stick and die.

On a note! When traps are used, only worker ants die; in this case, the queen remains alive and reproduces new offspring. After a certain time, the ants will reappear in the greenhouse.

Insect repellent

You can repel insects using strong odors to which ants are sensitive. The pests will not die, but will leave the greenhouse. For this purpose use:

• sagebrush;
• garlic;
• mustard;
• cloves;
• mint.

Fragrant herbs should be spread between plantings in the greenhouse. Pests especially don't like garlic. If you find an anthill or many passages leading to insect homes underground, sprinkle these places with a mixture of crushed garlic and sawdust. It is better to squeeze the cloves through a press to make the garlic more fragrant.

Places where ants accumulate can be watered with garlic infusion. To prepare it, pass a head of garlic through a press and add it to a bucket with 10 liters of water. After a day, the composition can be used.

Semolina or millet

The use of cereals in a greenhouse against ants can be called the old-fashioned way. The advantage of this method is its simplicity, environmental friendliness and low cost. Both products are harmless to soil, plants and humans. The principle of operation of semolina is extremely simple. Once in the body of insects, the cereal swells, the ant cannot digest it and dies.

Pests can not only eat semolina themselves, but also transport it to the nest as food for their queen. As a result, in this simple way you can destroy the entire ant family. Semolina is sprinkled on the beds in the greenhouse. Particular attention should be paid to places where ants accumulate and ant paths. Here semolina needs to be poured in large quantities. To make the cereal more attractive to those with a sweet tooth, you can mix it with grains of sugar or powdered sugar.

Ants do not like millet for some unknown reason. Perhaps pests perceive cereals as dead ant eggs due to their external similarity. Thus, insects see a danger signal in millet and leave the place where they found it. By analogy with semolina, millet is poured in places where ants are most concentrated.

Potato peelings

Scientists have found that the gastrointestinal tract of ants is not suitable for digesting starch. That is why waste is recommended as a surefire means of pest control. It is advisable to use this method at the very beginning of infection.

Potato peelings are laid out around the perimeter of the greenhouse as bait. Additionally, you can pour them with sugar syrup, a mixture of honey or jam with water. In this case, the ants will eat the bait more readily. After this, the insects quickly die. The product has been tested in practice by gardeners.

Vegetable oil

Vegetable oil does not kill ants, but repels them by contaminating the insects' paws. It is better to use an unrefined product with a scent. Oil is poured over ant paths and protection is created around the perimeter of the building. If you find an ant house, you can pour oil directly on it.

You will not notice the effect immediately. Usually the ants disappear on the second day after this treatment. Sometimes housewives pour hot vegetable oil left after frying into ant holes. This method also helps. The main thing is to first discover the insects’ home.

Recipes for preparing products

Insects do not have personal protective equipment, therefore they are sensitive to various caustic substances that damage their outer coverings. This is the basis for the principle of using some folk remedies. The following recipes are used in the fight against ants:

1. Kerosene. The protection function can be performed by a kerosene solution (2 tablespoons per bucket of water). The composition is used immediately after manufacture, since kerosene quickly evaporates. The solution is used to treat the perimeter of the greenhouse, and it is also used to water the ant paths and the entrance to the hole. There is no need to worry that the caustic substance will harm the soil. Volatile compounds evaporate quickly and do not accumulate in the soil.
2. Ammonia. The substance works well if entrances to the ant’s home are found. The most effective way is to place a cloth soaked in ammonia over the insect passages. The fabric is covered with a film on top, which should be pressed along the edges with something heavy (boards, metal rods). This compress is left for 3 days. If you notice that the ants have moved to another corner of the greenhouse, do the same in the new place. It is necessary to work with ammonia using a respirator to protect the respiratory tract.
3. Boric acid. Boric acid powder can be purchased at a pharmacy. This is a popular remedy for various pests. The substance is not used alone, but together with other components. The powder is mixed with chicken egg yolk and sugar in a ratio of 1:2:2. Small balls are formed from the mixture, which should be placed in places where ants accumulate. Sometimes boric acid is mixed with minced meat. The bait is made according to the same principle as using chicken yolk. For 100 g of minced meat, take 2 bags of boric acid. Another recipe involves using 3 bags of boric acid and 300 g of corn flour. The components are mixed and scattered near the nest.
4. Vinegar. Wherever ants were noticed, you need to apply a solution of vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. Of course, such a caustic composition should not get on the leaves of plants; it is applied along the perimeter of the greenhouse, on ant paths. Spraying is recommended throughout the summer at intervals of 2 weeks; a one-time treatment will be of little effectiveness. Use table vinegar at 9% concentration.
5. Mustard. Mustard powder is used to control ants. By the way, this remedy also helps against other pests. Mustard should be sprinkled on the ant's nest and on the paths along which insects walk. This processing is carried out once every 14 days. If ants crawl on greenhouse plants, you can spray the crops with mustard infusion. The solution is prepared from 10 liters of water and 100 g of mustard powder. The composition must infuse for 24 hours; before use, it is diluted in half with water. For adhesion, you can add 2 tbsp to the solution. l. grated laundry soap.
6. Soda. Processing can be carried out in two ways. In the first case, mix soda and powdered sugar, taken in equal parts. The mixture is sprinkled on the ant nest and the paths leading to it. If there are a large number of insects, it is better to spray the beds and walls of the greenhouse. 50 g of soda are dissolved in a 10-liter bucket of water, then the composition is sprayed from a spray bottle onto the plantings, building walls and the ground.

It should be remembered that single treatments are practically useless. If you use folk remedies, you must reuse them every 10-15 days. After all, if the ants see that the danger has passed, they will again settle in the greenhouse and multiply there.

Destruction of an anthill

It often happens that ants create their colonies not far from the greenhouse, which causes negative consequences. Pests will come there for food. In such a situation, it is necessary to move the nest away from the greenhouse or destroy it. Physical methods will help reduce the number of pests, but they will not be completely eliminated.

Filling with homemade compounds

There are 2 methods to fill an anthill:

• with the onset of frost, the upper part of the anthill is removed using a shovel, and water is poured under pressure;
• in the summer, fill the nest with molasses and water with jam. This will immediately cause the growth of yeast, which destroys insect reserves. After this, the ants try to look for a new habitat.

When insects settle in beds in a greenhouse before planting seedlings, it is necessary:

• prepare 2 buckets of boiling water;
• use 1 spade bayonet to dig out a nest;
• pour boiling water over the beds and leave the greenhouse, leaving the door open.

Important! It is not the ants that die from boiling water, but their eggs. Pests in such a situation take the surviving offspring with them and run away.

Sometimes anthills are watered with vegetable oil when other methods have not helped. Sunflower oil is much easier to use: after frying, the remaining hot oil is poured into the holes.

Backfilling with dry material

However, the nests are not only filled, but also sprinkled with dry material: dried mustard, ash, lime, crushed pepper, saltpeter. Mustard powder will repel insects.

It is also possible to defeat pests with the help of millet. The ants perceive it as eggs and drag it inside the anthill. Then you need to water the nest, the grains will swell and block the passages. In addition, millet smells unpleasant to pests. After 2-3 weeks, the ants will begin to move out of the garden bed in search of other places.

Another simple way to escape from pests is to loosen the anthill you find and then sprinkle it with tobacco dust or lime.

Effective preparations for ants in a greenhouse

And everyone can devote a lot of time to greenhouse plantings; some summer residents come to the site only on weekends. When there is too much to do, it is difficult to find time to treat the greenhouse against pests. In this case, chemicals will come to the rescue:

• "Muracid";
• "Ant-eater";
• "Ant";
• "Thunder".

They should be used in strict accordance with the instructions. Manufacturers promise the death of insects after using chemicals for 2-3 days. Ready-made powders and gels should be used carefully, wearing gloves. After using chemicals, the greenhouse must be closed so that pets and children do not have access.

Prevention

To avoid the appearance of large numbers of ants in greenhouses or greenhouses, it is necessary to regularly loosen the soil, destroying the passages, paths, and paths familiar to these insects. When digging and loosening, you can destroy their lair and destroy the queen. When digging seasonally, you need to add ash, charcoal or insecticides in the form of granules to the soil.

It is important to maintain order in the garden, to avoid deposits of rubbish, fallen leaves, branches, and remnants of building materials. It is under them that garden ants like to make their nests. If the greenhouse has a wooden frame, there may be an anthill in its rotten foundation. It is worth carefully inspecting the structure and if a nest is found, destroy it, treat it with insecticides, and, if possible, replace the parts with new ones that are protected from parasites.

Before planting seedlings in a greenhouse, some gardeners carry out pre-planting soil treatment:

• pour boiling water over it with the addition of hot pepper;
• prepare a mixture of one liter of water, 5 grams of soda and 30 ml of flaxseed oil (can be replaced with another vegetable oil) and water the ground with this solution;
• simply pour a large amount of boiling water over the beds.

When using all means to combat ants in a greenhouse or greenhouse, it is important to read the instructions and compare the harm that even folk remedies can cause with the troubles that ants cause. Sometimes the remedies are too aggressive. In addition, if ants do not live inside a greenhouse or hotbed all the time, but crawl in there from time to time, there is no need to fight them. This can disrupt the natural eco-system, which is important for the normal ripening of the crop.

Preventive measures

It is better to try in advance to prevent the appearance of ants in the greenhouse. The following are used as preventive measures:

1. Regular loosening. Ants do not like it when their nests are disturbed and their passages are filled up; the insects will go elsewhere.
2. Use of fertilizers. Such agents as superphosphate and ammonium nitrate are destructive for ants.
3. Maintaining cleanliness in the greenhouse. It is necessary to promptly remove garbage and rubbish from the greenhouse structure. Boards, roofing felt, rubber, and slate should not be stored there.
4. Digging the soil in spring and autumn. You need to dig the ground deeply, additionally adding lime, ash or baking soda to the soil.
5. Treating the beds before planting with a special solution. It is prepared from 30 g of vegetable oil, 5 g of soda and 1 liter of water. The resulting mixture is evenly sprayed onto the soil in the greenhouse.
6. To prevent ants from approaching the greenhouse structure, you can plant aromatic plants nearby - lemon balm, marigold, rosemary, lavender.

Traps

If there are not too many black ants, you can try traps to combat them. The simplest and most common among summer residents is a bottle or jar with a funnel inserted into the neck. Jam, honey, sugar syrup are poured onto the bottom and a convenient “bridge” is made for the ants from the ground to the neck. When ants appear, such traps are placed in the beds. Insects crawl inside and cannot get out. This method is suitable if you need to reduce the number of pests. Of course, you can’t get rid of an entire colony of pests this way.

Not very convenient, but you can still use glue traps to remove ants from the greenhouse. An adhesive composition is applied to a paper or plastic base, which remains sticky for several days or weeks. Insects stick to it and die. There are also electronic traps, they kill with a weak discharge of current. But firstly, they need a constant power source. Secondly, when working with the ground, you can accidentally touch them and receive an unpleasant blow. Thirdly, this can kill all the insects in the greenhouse and destroy the eco-system. For the same reason, you should not use ultrasonic repellers to get rid of greenhouse ants.

Getting rid of insects with jam

Surprisingly, you can use jam to fight insects. Sweets attract insects, so you can lure them into a trap with the help of jam. To do this, you need to pour jam into the container; you can use a plastic bottle with the top cut off. The container with jam should be left next to the anthill for a couple of days, after which the stuck insects should be poured with boiling water.

This method will not help get rid of a large anthill; it can be used to get rid of scout ants and prevent the appearance of anthills.

Using Potatoes

Potato peelings can be used to repel ants, as ants do not digest starch.

To do this, you just need to scatter potato peelings or chopped root vegetables on the site all season long. They will repel ants and anthills will not appear in the greenhouse area.

Using Vinegar and Soda

Baking soda is a universal remedy that will help get rid of many problems. You need to use a small amount of soda, then it will not harm the earth. You can use soda as follows:

1. 2 tbsp. soda must be diluted with two liters of boiling water. The soda must be stirred well, and after that, pour it all into the anthill, pour it directly into the passages. The treated areas must be covered with earth or covered with dense material to prevent oxygen from entering;
2. Baking soda can also be used in dry form by mixing it with powdered sugar. The ants will mistake the mixture for food because of the sweet aroma and the soda will kill them;
3. You can also use a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to get rid of pests. To use this mixture, you need to make a small depression in the anthill and pour soda into it. Vinegar should be poured on top of the soda, after the reaction has passed, the crater should be covered with earth.

As you can see, soda can be used in any form; it will help get rid of insects, even if you just sprinkle it around the anthill. However, it will act for a long time, so it is better to use the methods described above, they act faster.