A few days ago I was
surfing the Web and was amazed to find that there are more than 12,000 species
of ants all over the world. Actually, I would say more than 12,001 species.
That is, if you calculate the Atom Ant cartoon hero, created in 1965 by Hanna Barbera.
This super ant possesses enormous strength and the ability to fly.
When I was a kid, I
enjoyed watching this Superman-bug-counterpart and its adventures. Today when I
am a bigger child I look at ants in a different light. Especially garden ants.
Particularly garden ants that bother my plants.
Why Do Garden Ants Act in an Unreasonable Way?
Maybe the ants are angry at the
whole world because everyone is bigger than them. And so they say – hey, let’s
build a house and they create an anthill. After that they say – hey, let’s
visit that garden to get some food and they come to see how your plants are
doing.
There are several ways to keep ants
off your veggies, fruits and flowers, but I prefer two – use of smells and
plants that ants don’t like. The secret is to sprinkle or place mint or
cinnamon flavored gum around the base of an affected plant.
Second option is to surround the
affected plant with plants such as garlic, aster, calendula and mint. This will help to keep the ants
away.
Keep in mind that pests like mealybugs demand a differentfighting strategy.
How to Reason with Ants
When I negotiate with ants I use
herb and soap ant spray. This is how it goes – I put half a cup of tansy and half
a cup of santolina leaves into 250 ml of boiled water.
After it gets cold and strained I stir
in 1 tablespoon of liquid soap with 10 drops of vetiver oil. Before use, I
politely ask my ants to leave my plants alone and if they still won’t cooperate
then I give them a soapy shower to change their mind.
Want to find out how I dealt the problem withmealybugs in my garden?
No comments:
Post a Comment