Ants.
Ants as a garden pest are generally one of our lesser pests, but some people do find them a nuisance. The black, or garden ant, is the one most likely to venture into the house, from a nest in the garden. The worker ant is brown, nearly black and about 5mm long, but the queen ant is mid-brown in colour, about 15cms long and is only likely to be seen in the summer months, but this is very rare.
The queen ant makes a nest in the soil, below paving slabs, in grass or hollow tree, usually near building or walls.
The worker ants follow well marked tracks, usually into your house to find food. Once one ant has found a food source lots more will follow, they are usually attracted to sweat foods.
Tips.
1) The first line of attract to free your-self of ants is to remove the food source.
2) Have a spray bottle filled with soapy water, and spray any ants you see.
3) Leave cuts of bitter cucumber around, as ants really do not like it.
4) Mint tea bags also act as an ant deterrent.
5) Other items that ants dislike are; citrus oils, cayenne pepper, coffee grounds, cinnamon, and lemon juice.
6) Mix ½ a teaspoon of honey, borax, and aspartame, together and leave in bottles or jars, and the worker ants will take the bait mixture back to the nest. Do be sure children and pets do not have access to it.
7) Leaving a low wattage light on can disturb the ants routine.
8) Garlic is also disliked by ants.
You can copy this article, providing it is copied in its entirety. Permission is granted for you to share the complete and unedited version of this article with others providing the following conditions are
met; The document remains intact and entire. The web site; www.companionplanting.net is clearly stated as the source of the
document. A hyperlink to that web site is provided in any accompanying message or documentation.
