How to get rid of ants in a greenhouse

Ants are insects. They play a very important role in natural processes. But unfortunately for gardeners and gardeners, they do not always serve a good service. Why are ants in a greenhouse dangerous, and how to get rid of them?

Ants in a greenhouse: what species can live in a greenhouse?

Most often, in personal plots, you can find three types of ants:

• Ginger forest ant;
• Black garden ant;
• Brown meadow ant.

In summer cottages, which are located very close to forests, you can also find forest ants. In greenhouse and hothouse conditions, mainly black garden ants settle. They prefer seeds and young stalks of freshly planted crops as their food. Also, these ants in the greenhouse equip their homes right in the beds with vegetables. And the passages that they make can develop for several meters, which is why the root system of the planted crops runs the risk of deforming and collapsing. If you do not tackle this problem in a timely manner, then the weighing soil in the greenhouse will be dug up by ants.

Ants in the greenhouse: pest photos

Ants in a greenhouse: benefits and harms

Oddly enough, but these insects can manifest themselves both destructively and positively.

Benefits of ants in a greenhouse:

• They can cleanly destroy other insects and their larvae, even such as spider mites;
• Since they build many passages when arranging their shelters, they loosen the soil the most. This is what helps the air to penetrate to the root system of the bush;
• In the course of their life, they enrich the soil, with things such as:

1) Nitrogenous elements;
2) Potassium elements;
3) Humus.

All this, of course, makes the soil richer and more fertile.

Harm from ants in the greenhouse:

• They eat the seeds and sprouts of young seedlings, which, of course, leads to the death of the latter;
• For a full-fledged life, ants really need sugar. For these reasons, they often bring aphids to their habitats. For in the process of her life, she gives off sweet honey - this is exactly what ants need;
• They can bite. During their bite, they introduce formic acid, which can cause a strong allergic reaction.

Ants in the greenhouse and fighting them

At the moment, there are only four methods available to control ants in the greenhouse:

• Physical;
• Chemical;
• Combined;
• With the help of industrial pesticides.

Each method has a different level of effectiveness.

Ants in the greenhouse: pest photos

Physical method for killing ants in a greenhouse

First of all, you need to find the place where the colony settled. Ants often choose places for their refuge: under old boards, slate sheets, sheets of roofing material. They can even settle in the frame of the greenhouse or greenhouse itself, if it is wooden and rotten. To reduce the percentage of the colony, you can simply get rid of the listed items, the ants simply will not have comfortable conditions. Also, before planting seedlings, you need to process the land with this solution:

• One liter is water;
• Five grams - baking soda;
• Thirty grams - flaxseed oil.

The ants in the greenhouse won't like this. Also, if you have enough time, then you can dig the nest, find the queen and destroy it. A few more ways to force uninvited guests to leave the territory:

• Deep digging of soil in the autumn and spring periods;
• Regular loosening of the soil in the summer season;
• Timely sprinkling of all dug passages: wood ash, baking soda, or quicklime.

Ants in a greenhouse: how to get rid of folk remedies?

First of all, these are etched baits. You can make such a bait yourself, for this you will need:

• Three to four teaspoons - granulated sugar;
• One glass - water;
• A couple of grams - boric acid;
• Two teaspoons - jam or honey.

All this must be poured into a not very deep vessel. And put it every day for thirty days.
You can also drive out insects using smells that they don't like, for example:

• Elder;
• Mint;
• Sagebrush;
• Garlic;
• Anise;
• Mustard;
• Bay leaf.

There is another effective solution for ants in the greenhouse. Two or four cloves of garlic must be crushed and filled with cold water, then let it brew and pour over the ant's nest.

Ants in the greenhouse: pest photos

Combined method

For this method of fighting ants in the greenhouse, you will need old dishes, or, for example, a kettle. At the very bottom you need to put a dark cloth, and put sugar, jam or sweet syrup on it. You need to put it near the nest, very soon the ants will come to the smell and then move to such ideal conditions. After that, the dishes can be thrown away, or simply destroyed.

You can also prepare a mustard solution, for this you need: stir sixty grams of mustard powder in one liter of hot water, then let the solution brew for several days. After about three days, dilute the mixture with three liters of water and spray the crops. You also need to spill soil and moves, for this you need to dissolve one teaspoon of mustard powder in one liter of water. You can also sprinkle the passages and the space around the plant with mustard powder with a layer of one centimeter.

Method with industrial pesticides

This option should be used in the very last place, because all pesticides contain a substance such as diazinon. All alone are poisonous and can pose a hazard to beneficial insects and pets. Highly effective are:

• Thunder-2;
• Ant;
• Muratsid;
• Ant-eater.

There are also German powders:

• Delicia;
• Expel.

Conclusion

When choosing a greenhouse ant control method, consider the implications. You need to be very careful with pesticides, because you then eat the processed crop. It is best to use organic products that are not harmful.