How to get rid of ants on your property forever and quickly! If you want to find out, read our article, the methods that I will now tell you helped me.
Plants have plenty of enemies; one of the worst pests on the site are ants. Their main harm is that they are carriers of aphids.
Ants are distinguished by their diversity of species; they adapt to almost any climatic conditions.
First, let's figure out why these insects are useful and what harm ants do to our garden.
Features of garden ants
Ant colonies live everywhere. Their main feature is fertility and high adaptability. Ants feel great and reproduce under any conditions.
Up to 10 thousand ants can live in a colony at the same time.
In each family, individuals adhere to a strictly established order. Ants diligently guard the queen. They raise offspring and selflessly fight with other colonies.
Prevention
Gardeners begin preventive measures against ants and aphids in the fall. Anthills are destroyed using insecticides or folk remedies.
- A small ant heap located far from plantings can be easily destroyed with ordinary boiling water. Pour a bucket of boiling salt water into the stirred up anthill. The procedure can be repeated every other day to destroy even those individuals that were absent.
- Dig up the soil around the trees and sprinkle with insecticide.
- Cut off damaged bark on trees and treat with an antiseptic.
- Collect and burn plant waste, leaves and dry branches.
- In the spring, update the hunting belts on the tree before insect activity begins.
What harm do they cause?
Ants happily eat leaves and sweet pear fruits that have fallen to the ground.
The main harm that ant communities cause when they settle on a pear is the reproduction of aphids. It is in the interests of black ants to create conditions on the pear tree for their normal functioning, provide them with food and protect them from ladybugs. Aphids feed on the sap of the plants on which they settle; pear is one of them.
Important! The red ants on the pear are at war with the black ones, exterminating their fellows. There is no need to worry about their appearance in your garden.
In areas where ants settle in large families, they can damage the root system of a young pear seedling. In search of food, they build underground passages and carry weed seeds. Ants harm not only young seedlings, they can destroy an already rooted tree.
Methods for controlling aphids on trees
Aphids on cherries are an insidious pest that is not easy to defeat. Over many years of struggle, many folk methods have been invented and tested, among which physical methods are popular:
- mechanical removal of insects using fingers;
- Use a hose to spray the leaves and shoots with a strong stream of water, knocking the aphids to the ground.
In addition to folk remedies and the use of chemicals, experienced gardeners advise using complex methods and rules to save cherries, sour cherries and other stone fruits:
- in the fall and early spring, it is recommended to remove damaged bark from trees and whiten the trunks, which helps destroy clutches of pest eggs;
- put sticky belts on the trunks that prevent the penetration of ants, and also destroy nearby anthills, the inhabitants of which like to breed aphids and spread them throughout the garden;
- monitor the cleanliness of the cherries and cherries around the tree trunks, regularly weed;
- remove cherry shoots in a timely manner;
- regularly apply fertilizers and fertilizing, which increases plant immunity;
- for preventive purposes, treatment with herbal infusions is used in the summer;
- by planting marigolds, calendula, dill, parsley and other fragrant plants in the tree trunk, attract ladybugs and insects that feed on aphids;
- Use chemicals only when trees are massively infested.
How to get rid of ants on a pear tree
To protect the pear from the appearance of ants, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures in advance, and not wait until the insects destroy the garden trees.
On a note! Timely destruction of aphids will protect the area from ant colonies. To deprive black workers of food, after flowering, the pear is treated against ants with the insecticides Fufanon, Fitoverm, Agrovertin, Iskra.
Spraying against aphids is carried out several times, maintaining a two-week interval.
Chemical remedies for ants on a pear
In the fight against ant colonies, broad-spectrum insecticides have proven themselves to be effective. Once in the insect's body, they block the functions of the nervous system, leading to paralysis and then to the death of the pests. Preparations that are popular among gardeners: Medvetox, Barguzin, Muraviin, Grom.
If the anthill has grown greatly and is very close to the pear, the drug is scattered in the fall. It will have time to fulfill its function, but will not get into the fruit through the root system. Having chosen this method of fighting ants, it is recommended to strictly follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Important! The use of insecticides and sprays in the form of aerosols does not lead to the desired result.
Only the worker ants die from them, and the queen remains unharmed in the depths of the anthill. Helium insecticides received good reviews from gardeners:
- Raptor;
- Storm;
- A great warrior;
- Fas.
The product is squeezed out closer to the anthill, its aroma attracts insects. The gel sticks to the ants' feet and spreads throughout the home. The toxic substance destroys the chitinous shell, and after a few days the insect dies.
Folk recipes
Gardeners resort to traditional methods of fighting ants when they need to get rid of unwanted inhabitants at the time of pear ripening. The drugs included in biological agents do not pose a danger to the human body.
Proven recipes:
- Sweet solution. Add 250 sugar or jam to 10 liters of water, pour the mixture into the anthill, making a hole on top. These insects store their food reserves in the form of carbohydrates and sugars. Natural yeast that is in the soil begins to grow rapidly, filling the anthill. Insects leave their homes.
- A mixture of linseed oil, soot and table salt. The ingredients are mixed well and applied to the tree trunk in a dense layer at least 15 cm wide.
- Soap solution. Pour 500 ml of sunflower oil into 10 liters of water, the same amount of vinegar and shampoo. A hole is made in the upper part of the anthill, the mixture is poured in and covered with plastic wrap for several days.
- Decoction of tomato tops. The more concentrated the liquid, the faster the ants will leave their home.
- Impregnation of the pear trunk with garlic juice. The bark of the tree is rubbed with lobes or arrows of plants from the Onion family. For a better effect, a protective belt is made from greenery around the pear trunk.
- Ground cinnamon. Ants cannot stand its smell. The spice is sprinkled over the anthill, after which the insects run away from the house. Knowing that ants do not like strong odors, gardeners place leaves of anise, mint, parsley, wormwood, tansy and smoked fish heads in places where they accumulate.
Boric acid, lime or wood ash is poured into the tree trunk circle, and the soil is dug up. These components are harmless to humans; the ashes feed the plant with nutrients and help remove ants under the pear, making them forget the way to the tree. The only drawback of this method is that insects can choose a place under other plants.
Mechanical methods
Another option to remove ants under a pear tree is to use mechanical means of protection. These include glue belts and traps.
In recent years, more and more gardeners have resorted to mechanical methods, since good insecticides are expensive
Belt-skirt for pear
At a height of 25-30 cm from the ground, the trunk is coated with a mixture of sawdust and mullein or clay. The width of the strip is 15-20 cm. In the same place, attach flexible tin, foil or a plastic bottle to make a skirt. Such a barrier prevents ants from crawling along the pear trunk or getting close to the fruits and leaves.
Hunting belt
To install a hunting belt on a pear, its trunk is coated with a mixture of clay and sawdust, and a thick fabric with an adhesive layer applied to it is attached on top of it. As in the previous case, it will not allow ants to damage the fruit crop.
Ready-made sticky belts are sold in garden stores. Some gardeners use fly sticks for this purpose.
Options for adhesive composition for a belt around a pear, made with your own hands:
- Mix burdock oil and tar in a 1:2 ratio. Boil the mixture for 4-5 hours.
- Mix crushed rosin, petroleum jelly and pine resin (in a ratio of 1:4:8) until smooth.
- A glass of sunflower oil is brought to a boil, 100 g of grease and beeswax are added. The mixture is mixed well and brought to a boil again.
- Castor oil and crushed rosin in a ratio of 7:5 are simmered over low heat for 1.5-2 hours until the mass becomes homogeneous, thick and viscous.
The hunting belt is systematically inspected, cleaned of adhering ants, and the adhesive layer is refreshed as necessary. It is especially important to update sticky belts after precipitation.
The hunting belt protects the trunk of an already large tree well. To save a young pear from ants, use a water barrier. A tire cut lengthwise is buried around the tree and filled with water. An ant will not cover a distance of more than 10 cm on water. In addition, the waterer will attract birds that feed on garden pests.
Preventative work
Following basic rules for maintaining cleanliness and order in the orchard helps to significantly reduce the number of aphids and other pests and reduce the risk of developing diseases. Work is carried out almost daily - the common phrase “cleanliness is the key to health” directly applies to fruit trees and shrubs.
- Before winter, when the harvest is harvested and the leaves have fallen, all garden waste, including fallen leaves, dried out weeds and cultivated plants, is collected and disposed of.
- At the very end of winter or early spring, before the buds open, trees are treated with preparations aimed at destroying aphids or their larvae.
- Between the trees, it is advisable to plant annuals or perennials whose aroma repels pests: tansy, calendula, garlic or onion, mint, marigolds, lavender.
- During the season, the grass is not allowed to grow, especially weeds; the space under the trees is regularly watered with infusions of wormwood and tansy.
- They attract natural enemies of aphids - ladybugs, hoverflies, birds. Entomophagous insects will be attracted to bushes of dill or leaf celery; feeders, drinking bowls, and nesting houses are installed for birds.
How to remove an anthill
If a colony of ants has already built an anthill near the trunk of the pear tree, use a shovel to load it into a bucket or garden wheelbarrow and take it away from the site. When digging out an insect house, you need to get to the queen, otherwise the ants will come back again.
It is recommended to move the anthill outside the site in the evening, when the entire colony has gone home
After the anthill is moved out of the garden, the area is sprinkled with salt or quicklime. Another effective method: the area where pests used to live must be watered several times with boiling water.
Insecticides for insect control
to use store-bought insecticides to control insect pests on fruit trees.
, which have a number of advantages. The advantages of such funds include the following:
- Excellent efficiency.
- Ease of use.
- Universal action of insecticides.
- Long lasting effect.
- Affordable price.
All such insecticides are usually divided into highly specialized and complex. As the name suggests, complex ones are capable of affecting various insect pests, while highly specialized ones destroy only ants. We can recommend that you give preference to contact poisonous baits and insecticides, which are highly effective and easy to use.
Today in specialized gardening stores you can find various dry poison powders, all kinds of poisonous preparations and insecticidal gels, which are characterized by maximum durability of use
.
We can recommend that you use drugs such as Thunder 2, Muracid, Anteater. These insecticides effectively destroy adult ants and larvae, which ensures that you will get rid of these pests.
We can also recommend that you use various insecticidal gels, which are easy to use. Such gels are characterized by long-lasting action, which guarantees that you will get rid of ants and other pests for several months.
special adhesive double-sided belts on sale.
, the operating principle of which is extremely simple. Insect pests, moving along the trunk, will end up on such an adhesive belt from which they will no longer be able to get out. It is necessary to attach several of these adhesive belts to the tree trunk, and soon the problem with ants will be solved.
What benefits do ants bring to the garden?
Ants in the garden are not only a nuisance. Some consider them to be orderlies. Useful functions of ants:
- loosen the soil, provide the roots with oxygen, saturate the soil with potassium and phosphorus in a form that is easily absorbed by plants;
- destroy harmful insects, caterpillars, their eggs and larvae;
- attract birds to the garden, providing food for them.
Ants carry plant seeds from place to place, but given that gardeners have to constantly fight weeds, this is more of a minus than a plus for insects.
Causes
New insect colonies arise thanks to the queen ant. These are females with wings. They can fly long distances in search of a suitable location.
In the selected area, the female builds a nest and lays larvae, from which worker ants are born. They are the ones who improve and expand the anthill.
A large queen ant lays eggs.
How to protect a pear from ants
Carpenter ants destroy not only the root system of the pear. In old trees they settle in hollows or cracks in the trunk. If insects have settled in the tree, the pear should be thoroughly cleaned of tenants, and then the trunk should be treated with an insecticide against ants. A highly effective drug that helps cope with this problem is Anteater. After processing, the hollow on the pear is sealed.
If ants attacked a pear seedling and settled right under the young plant, the tree may die in a few years. The plant will lack moisture due to excessively loose soil under the roots. You can try to save the pear by providing it with frequent and abundant watering.
Folk remedies
Recipes for solutions inherited from ancestors work less effectively, but they are non-toxic for people, animals, birds, and therefore they can be used more often.
The following compositions are common for spraying pears against aphids.
- Dandelion or chamomile flowers (0.5 kg/1 liter of water) are infused for 24 hours, boiled for 15 minutes, and “seasoned” with two chopped heads of garlic. The resulting solution is cooled, filtered, and diluted with water 1:10. For better adhesion, add 30 g of soap, preferably green - it is a reliable insecticide in itself.
- Wormwood, celandine, as well as garlic or onion shoots, and tomato shoots are used to prepare a repellent at the rate of 1 kg of fresh green mass per 10 liters of water. They insist for a day. The composition is suitable for weekly spraying of trees after sunset.
Dusting branches with tobacco dust or wood ash, spraying with infusion of tobacco (shag), to which green, laundry or tar soap is also added, also help to cope with aphids.
Folk remedies are not used during flowering and ovary formation.
Hunting belts
This method of eliminating pests involves tying tree trunks with special belts. Their width varies for each method, the average is 20 cm. Options for creating fishing belts:
- the clothesline is generously treated with Vaseline and wrapped around the trunk at a level of 20 cm above the ground (Vaseline interferes with the movement of insects and is absolutely harmless to plants);
- trunks in the garden are covered with film and coated with grease, resin or birch tar;
- double-sided tape or adhesive tape will help protect garden crops; aphids, ants and other pests stick to the base;
- To combat ants, they also use cotton wool soaked in a carbolic solution: they tie it around the trunk for 3 days, after which the bandage is changed (three such procedures are enough throughout the summer).
Professional traps
If you cannot defeat an ant colony using folk remedies, you should use poison. Control on fruit trees is carried out using:
A suitable product is sold in any hardware or specialty store in a tin tube. It is best to use before the fruit is fully ripe.
Garden glue works similarly, but the difference is the presence of insecticidal agents. Insects can take particles of gel from the trunks with them to the anthill. They eat themselves, feed the larvae and the queen. Within two weeks, the entire ant family dies.
The trunks are coated with gel and the bait is placed on pieces of plywood or plastic. Validity period is about 20 days. Mass deaths are observed within a month.
What is the danger of aphids for fruit trees: signs of damage
When a fruit tree is overpowered by aphids, its leaves begin to curl, which in turn negatively affects the shoots and the future formation of flower buds. The fact is that the processes of photosynthesis in such branches are disrupted, as a result the plant ceases to receive normal nutrition.
As a rule, aphids appear first on young shoots, from which it is easiest to extract juice; the small pest usually does not sit on old shoots.
As you know, ants are considered forest orderlies, but at the same time they are real pests of the garden and vegetable garden. It is they, as a rule, who carry aphids to fruit trees and then protect them, since they love to feed on their carbohydrate secretions—sweet honeydew.
Video: aphids on plums - characteristic signs of damage
Belts
When asked how to protect trees from ants and aphids, gardeners answer briefly - with hunting belts. The control method in gardening is to tie the trunks at a height of 20 cm from the soil surface. The width of each belt is individual. On average - 20 cm.
- Clothes lines are generously lubricated with Vaseline. Tie in several turns with a continuous line. Vaseline interferes with the movement of insects and does not harm trees at all.
- They fight ants and aphids in the garden with solid oil. Initially, the trunks are tied with plastic wrap. Solid oil is spread on top. The protective layer is periodically renewed.
- Tie plastic wrap around the trunk. Coat it with resin and birch tar.
- Adhesive tape or double-sided tape can protect trees. Ants, aphids, and many other insects stick to its base. You can use paper fly tape.
- You can fight ants in trees with a modern mouse trap. It is a glue for trees. The universal product is used as glue against ants. The peculiarity lies in the composition, which does not lose its properties for a long time under the influence of sun and rain. The ant repellent is applied in a continuous line in several passes. The slightest touch is enough for the insect to stick tightly. The drug is sold in any hardware or specialty store.
- Soak cotton wool in a carbolic solution, tie it around the trunk, you can use the method on bushes. After 3 days, remove the protective agent and apply a new one. Repeat the procedure three times over the summer.
You can fight ants on trees with any viscous substance that retains its properties for a long time and prevents the movement of pests.
Plant repellent
Ants do not like the smells of some plants. They can be planted directly in the garden, or periodically scattered around the garden plot or tied on trees.
- sagebrush;
- tansy;
- elder;
- peppermint;
- pharmaceutical camomile;
- calendula.
You can prepare a saturated cinnamon-based solution and spray the garden.
Great results are achieved in the fight against ants using a combination of folk and professional means. Insecticides are recommended for use in special cases. There are many safe ways to get rid of pests. If the location of the nest is known, pour boiling water, boric acid, or gasoline.
Use of plants
You can get rid of ants in a simple way - by scattering certain herbs on the area, the smell of which insects cannot stand. Bunches can also be hung from trees or used to make rich infusions and sprinkled over the garden. Insects do not like the following types of plants:
To avoid the pest returning to the garden, it is important to carry out spraying procedures systematically. In addition, in order to get rid of ants for a long time, it is necessary to periodically replace scattered and hanging herbs with fresh ones.