Fighting ants that have already settled on the site and have chosen a place for themselves is a difficult task that requires a competent and comprehensive approach. They multiply quickly and are very difficult to remove. Recommendations from experienced gardeners will help you solve the problem and choose a way to combat insects.
There are two methods of pest control:
- gentle, using folk methods (the goal is to scare away and not let ants into the area, but not to harm them);
- hard, with the use of special means and poison (involves the destruction of insects).
How to drive away ants without harming them
Having chosen a gentle method, you need to understand that it is less effective and acts much slower than the hard one. On the other hand, you will not disturb the ecological balance, and you will not have to subsequently eradicate other insects that the ants kept in check by destroying their eggs and larvae.
Shading and moving the anthill
To build an anthill, insects need a bright and warm place, so creating dense shade will drive them away. And you can move it with a shovel and scoop. But it will not be possible to eradicate perennial anthills in this way; the method is valid only for young settlements.
What to plant in the area from ants
Ants do not like strong odors; they can be scared off by:
- garlic;
- marigold;
- parsley;
- mustard;
- carnation.
You can sow any of these plants by organizing a temporary bed, and next year there will be no anthill in this place. If you need to evict insects faster, you can spray infusions of these herbs on the main settlement sites and plantings damaged by ants.
To prepare the infusion, the leaves and stems of these herbs are finely chopped and chopped garlic is added. Part of the mixture is soaked in water, at the rate of 3 liters of liquid per settlement. The rest is laid out along ant paths. Garlic is also rubbed on tree trunks.
What to sprinkle on anthills and paths
Experienced gardeners recommend the following proven products to sprinkle on the paths and homes of ants:
- ground cinnamon;
- coarse salt;
- wood ash;
- soot;
- tobacco dust;
- bone meal;
- red pepper.
Tough methods for controlling ants in the garden
These methods are more effective and will help get rid of ants on the site forever. However, it should be borne in mind that such exposure may lead to disruption of the natural balance.
Destroying anthills
- We fill the insects' home with kerosene, boiling water, tincture of tomato tops or a poisonous solution (2 tbsp. shampoo; 2 tbsp. vegetable oil; 2 tbsp. vinegar; 10 l of water) - we pierce a hole in the center of the anthill, pour in the mixture and cover it with film for several days.
- Fill the stirred up anthill with hot ash.
We place baits with poison
Poisonous baits attract many ants, so they are considered the fastest way to get rid of insects. They are divided into two types:
Ant traps - attract with melted sugar or honey and they stick in place. You can buy a special sticky gel for ants - “Brownie Proshka”, “Absolute”, or make an analogue yourself.
- Dishwashing sponges are soaked in melted honey and placed on ant trails. When the ants stick to the sponge, it is thrown into boiling water.
The most effective method is the use of poisonous baits. They contain substances that are attractive to ants but are lethal to ants. The insects bring them to the anthill, where the females and queen eat the poison and die.
Baits are prepared from the following ingredients:
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar; 2 tbsp. hot water; 1 tsp honey; 1/3 tbsp. chilled borax. It needs to be replaced every week.
- 1/2 tsp. ground borax; 2 tbsp. minced meat. Place in areas where ants live.
If you don’t want to prepare the mixture yourself, you can buy the effective remedy “Aardvark” - liquid, or “Muracid”, “Delicia” - in granules.
Peonies are the lushest and most beautiful flowers in the garden. Naturally, many gardeners look forward to their flowering. But there are times when ants appear on peonies. How to get rid of them? Plants cannot bloom flowers because of this. It is believed that ants are beneficial insects, but this is not entirely true. There is a type of insect that settles in residential areas and causes harm to the people living there. You should be careful with them, as they are carriers of diseases. In addition, ants breed aphids, which is also undesirable for garden plants.
Reasons for the appearance of ants on buds
The diet of ants primarily depends on the amount of carbohydrates they receive by feeding on honeydew and plant sap. It is worth remembering how sweet peony flowers smell, then you can understand what exactly attracts ants to it. If insects appear on blossoming flowers, then this is not as scary as on buds.
The buds emit more odor than the flower itself, so insects gnaw right through the bud in search of nectar. This causes the plant to not bloom. Or the flowers come out deformed, crooked and with nibbled edges. Many people are interested in the question: ants have appeared on peony buds, what should I do?
Interesting information. In South America, some Indian tribes initiated young men into adult men with the help of ants. To do this, a special sleeve filled with ants was put on the guy’s arm. The insect bite causes severe swelling on the child's hand, and it becomes immobile.
How to get rid of insects
Shaking insects out of buds is not the best way to get rid of them. First you need to find out which insect control methods will be the most effective, and only then get to work. At this time, there is a wide range of drugs that can be used to save peonies.
Chemical-based drugs
Chemical agents are not very effective in controlling insects, since by treating flower buds with an aerosol, the gardener will only temporarily get rid of the invasion. Dead insects are replaced by new ones.
If you use a gel for control, its effect is longer, since it acts on the digestive system and is capable of acting in a chain reaction. An individual that becomes ill can infect the entire colony. The only downside is that this bait can also kill beneficial insects such as bees. So how do you get rid of ants on peonies?
The most popular drugs are:
- "Anteater" - the drug is sold in powder or liquid form. The active ingredient is diazinon. This is a potent poison that affects the intestines of the insect. One ampoule of the drug should be diluted in ten liters of water and sprinkled on the peony bush and anthill.
Important! Under no circumstances should the diluted drug be stored for a long time. It is best to use it immediately.
- “Muravyin” and “Muracid” are similar drugs to “Anteater” and act on the same principle.
- "Expel" is a German powdered drug. The drug is based on two percent chlorpyrofos. The drug is available not only in powder form, but also in liquid form. It works great, but one condition is important. If you do not follow all the rules specified in the instructions, you can harm not only your health, but also your pets.
Special preparations will help get rid of ants
Means of physical application
In this case, special repellers and traps are used.
It should be noted! You won't be able to scare away the ants; a trap can be more effective, especially if you put bait in it. This substance acts on insects like a virus and destroys the entire colony. Traps that are safe for bees and other insects because they have small holes in the plastic that only an ant can enter.
Such drugs include:
- "Combat". One package contains four traps with the drug.
- "Raptor". The kit of this drug includes six pieces of traps containing the drug chlorpyrifos.
Folk remedies
To treat peonies against ants, you can use folk remedies. These are very simple methods that will not harm other animals, plants, and will not deplete the land or accumulate in the soil. Among them the most popular are:
- A bait consisting of boric acid and a sweet component such as jam or honey. The sweetness must be diluted in water in a ratio of one to two. Boric acid should be added to the mixture in the amount of a tablespoon. The trap is placed under a peony bush or near an anthill.
- Bay leaves will help in the fight against ants. It is boiled and flower buds are treated with this liquid. To get a positive result, you need to spray the entire plant.
- Wormwood, tansy, mint, lavender, parsley and anise have the same effect as bay leaves. Decoctions of these herbs should be sprinkled on the plant.
- Garlic works great instead of chemicals. You can simply rub the whole plant with a clove of garlic and forget about the ants.
- An ordinary rag doused with kerosene will repel insects from the plant.
- To avoid insect invasion, you need to thoroughly loosen the root zone near the bush, and also pour a mixture made from soda, lime and ash into the place where the anthill was.
- Tobacco will help drive away uninvited guests. To do this, you need to prepare cigarette butts, add water and leave for several hours. Peony buds are treated with this mixture.
- You can also use ammonia and vinegar.
Interesting. When cutting peonies, gardeners are unpleasant to see ants running back and forth along the trunk. To get rid of them, flowers are dipped in water. After three minutes they are carefully shaken off. Ants come in with the water.
Prevention against ants
In order for peonies to bloom and smell fragrant in the garden, you need to protect them and make sure that insects do not harm the flower stalk. Their invasion can be prevented with the help of preventive measures, which include the following:
- Regularly inspect the plant and flower beds to determine if there are anthills on them. Detected insects must be destroyed immediately. Next year you need to repeat the treatment to finally get rid of the ants.
- You must constantly ensure that anthills do not appear in the garden.
- When replanting flowers from place to place, you need to add ash to the soil. It will serve as fertilizer for the plant and protect it from insect invasion.
- In the same bed with peonies, you need to plant plants that emit aromas that repel insects.
Before fighting ants on peony buds, it is better to try prevention. It is easier to prevent the appearance of ants on a plant than to get rid of them later. Removing an anthill is much more difficult and requires considerable effort. Moreover, if aphids are also bred, which are capable of clinging to the plant and feeding on its juices.
In order to get rid of insects once and for all, first of all, you need to study their behavior and how their way of life works. Constantly identify places where colonies form and remove them. Although ants do not pose a serious danger, they spoil the flowers in buds, and it is for their sake that the plant is grown. That is why taking preventive measures in the garden is the most effective method of controlling insects.
Peonies are one of the most favorite flowers not only of Chinese emperors, but also of Russian flower growers. Lush and beautiful bushes decorate many gardens and summer cottages, but they are often attacked by pests that spoil the buds and the flowers themselves. The problem of how to get rid of ants on peonies is very acute for those who have insects literally occupying flower bushes on their property.
Ants and peonies
Why ants love peonies is explained simply: they are attracted by the sweet liquid that accumulates in the petals and sepals of flowers, as well as on top of their buds. Like all lovers of sweets, they climb peonies to enjoy the “yummy”, but at the same time they harm the plants themselves.
Ants on peony buds drink nectar that is released from the petals that have not yet opened. When the only “sweet tooth” sits on a flower, it cannot cause any harm, but a numerous invasion of insects that cling to the buds of peonies can cause significant harm: they gnaw and spoil the petals, which leads to the drying out of the flower that has not yet fully opened. Often it turns out skewed or has unsightly gnawed fragments.
On a note!
Also, ants on peonies can become carriers of fungal diseases, infecting the flowers. That is why it is necessary to fight them as soon as the first signs of an attack appear, otherwise the bright beautiful flowers will never bloom.
Fighting ants
To save peonies, you can use both traditional and chemical methods. Almost all methods that are commonly used in the area are suitable. However, when choosing what to treat peonies against ants, you should take into account that the same insecticide or poison will be tried not only by ants and other pests, but also by beneficial bees.
Traditional methods
- rubbing the stems with garlic, the smell of which;
- squeeze the juice from the garlic head into 3 liters of water, mix, sprinkle on the stems and inflorescences, water the ground around the bush;
- sprinkle the soil around the bush with wood ash, which will have double benefits: it will help protect the peonies by repelling insects and fertilize them;
- spraying or sprinkling the buds with tobacco dust, tincture on cigarettes or “bulls”;
- prepare a solution of 1 liter of water, 3 tablespoons of honey and 1 tablespoon and sprinkle on the peonies;
- spread bait made from a mixture of boric acid and;
- treating plants with wormwood infusion prepared from 20 g of herb and 1 liter of boiling water, which must be left for 1 hour, then filtered and sprayed;
- make bait from sweet water or seafood brine, pour it into jars and place it between bushes, many ants will drown in the tasty liquid in 2-3 days;
- You can save peonies by destroying the entire colony of insects: for this you should find one located near the bush, dig it up and pour boiling water, sunflower oil or boric acid solution on top, covering it with film;
- A bait of 1 tbsp will help remove pests. l of boric acid per 0.5 l of water sweetened with honey, which must be poured into containers, the treat is placed directly under the flower bush;
- For preventive purposes, a folk remedy for ants will help: planting plants near flower beds whose smell ants cannot stand: mint, marigolds, lavender, etc.
On a note!
What to do if there are ants sitting on a cut bouquet: peonies need to be dipped, flowers down, in cold water for 1-2 minutes, then taken out and shaken, all the insects, along with drops of water, will fall down.
You can also fight ants on peonies using insecticidal preparations:
- Apply any insect-killing gel to all stems with buds, however, due to washing off during rain, the procedure will have to be repeated. Gels and Raptor, which includes 6 traps containing chlorpyrifos, are popular.
Knowing why there are ants on peonies and what harm they can cause to flowers and bushes, you should take care in advance to destroy the anthills located on the site, because, having multiplied in large numbers, “forest orderlies” can cause a lot of trouble to useful garden and vegetable crops, as well as beautiful flower beds.
While admiring the lush blossoms in the garden, we suddenly notice how arrogantly ants are taking over the peonies. How to treat plants against uninvited guests? Or are there no harm from them? It turns out, like all predators, ants fulfill their role as orderlies, destroying caterpillars, but, nevertheless, cause significant harm to plants.
Reasons for the appearance of ants on buds
Ants feed on fast carbohydrates, which they obtain from honeydew and plants. They are attracted by the sweet nectar released by peonies that have not yet blossomed. Near large bushes of these plants or right in the rhizomes, entire ant colonies can often be found. As soon as the peonies begin to form buds, the ants extract a sweet liquid. Nectar is concentrated in the petals and sepals of flowers, which is where insects flock.
Do ants harm flowers?
Not all owners of gardens with luxurious peonies are inclined to blame the ants and drive them out of the area. Many people believe that these organized insects do not cause much harm. They simply feast on nectar, crawling along the surface of the buds. There are opinions that thanks to ants, peony flowers bloom faster. In search of nectar, ants chew through the sticky film on the buds, helping them open. Perhaps in such gardens the colonies are few in number or there are other sources of food for their inhabitants.
Most gardeners systematically get rid of ants and have strong arguments about this.
- A large number of ants on the buds leads to the fact that they can dry out without having time to bloom, or bloom weakly and much later.
- In search of food, insects gnaw through the petals and sepals and suck out the nectar from them, so the blossoming flower is lopsided, irregularly shaped, with ugly holes.
- Ants can become carriers of fungal diseases by infecting plants.
If ants are spotted on flowering peonies, they will cause less harm to the plant.
How to protect peonies?
Even shaking off ants from the bush every day will not help protect the buds from damage. Usually they take more decisive action - using insecticides, baits, or protecting peonies from ants using folk remedies.
Chemical methods
When spraying peony bushes, you must carefully study the instructions for the product and follow safety rules. It is better to work with chemicals in the morning or evening - this way you can protect the bees from contact with the poison.
- Peony bushes are treated with any broad-spectrum insecticide - for example, Inta-Vir, Decis, Aktara are suitable.
- They use targeted preparations to combat ants on peony buds: “Ant”, “Anteater”, “Muracid”, “Phenaxin”, Expel. The same means are used to cultivate the ground near a bush or anthill.
- Anti-ant preparations in the form of gel “Clean House”, “Great Warrior” or others are smeared on the stems of peonies with buds.
Plants should be treated in the phase of small buds, the size of a pea.
Using bait or traps
If you see a lot of ants near a bush, you need to follow them and find an anthill. If insects live right next to the rhizome, they are removed with poison or sweet bait baits are constantly used to distract them from the flowers. Remember: a large anthill can destroy a plant.
- Of the poisonous bait traps, the most effective are “Raptor” and “Combat”. They are specially designed for ants; larger insects will remain intact.
- They also make homemade baits based on honey, water and boric acid, which is harmful to ants. The ratio is 10:10:1 (instead of honey, sugar syrup or jam is also used). Baits are placed on cardboard or covers and laid out near the anthill.
From the treasury of people's experience
Gardeners use plants whose smell is unpleasant to ants. Insects often avoid places where such herbs are located.
- Near the peonies you can plant parsley, marigolds, tansy, and wormwood.
- The most famous method is to spray the stems and buds of peonies with a daily infusion of garlic. To do this, grind 30-70 g of garlic, grate a piece of laundry soap (5-10 g) and dilute these components in 1 liter of warm water.
- There are tips to rub the stems of peonies with garlic cloves or spread the infusion on the buds using a brush.
- Spray the buds with infusion of bay leaves.
- Wood ash is used to dust the ground around the bushes.
- Tobacco dust is sprinkled on the soil around the peonies, and the bushes are sprayed with infusion from half-smoked cigarettes.
- To treat plants, use a solution of laundry or tar soap, as well as diluted dishwashing detergent.
- Place a rag soaked in kerosene on the soil around the bush.
Installing a barrier
You can try making a trap that will prevent ants from getting to the sweet buds. To do this, make a round hole in a sheet of thick cardboard, the diameter of which is equal to the volume of the bush at a height of 20-30 cm from the ground. The bottom of the cardboard is smeared with an adhesive substance, such as Vaseline. To install a trap on a bush, you will have to cut the leaf on one side. When installing the sheet, make sure that there are no cracks on it through which ants could crawl up.
Ants still harm the beauty of the peony flower. If the appearance of the flower basket is important to the gardener, insects will have to be removed from the bushes. You must also make sure that there is no anthill under the rhizomes.
How to treat peony buds against ants?
Ants not only collect nectar from peonies, but to make it stand out better, they gnaw on the sepals and petals of flowers that have not yet bloomed. As a result, they become bent, stick together, and as a result, many buds dry out. And if they open, the flowers turn out to be ugly, one-sided. In addition, ants in this case can also be carriers of fungal diseases.
The main thing is to regularly treat the buds formed on plants with insecticides while they are still very small, about the size of a pea, otherwise it will be too late. They can be treated with karbofos (70 - 90 g per 1 liter of water), inta-vir (1 tablet per 0.5 liter of water), and other insecticides (Fufanon, Aktara, Decis, etc.). A separate point is the fight against ants, but this is a long, grueling process, so for now, deal with the consequences. I smear the buds with infused garlic with a brush until there are no ants.
Do not treat with anything, the peony bud is covered with a sticky film, which is eaten by ants, thereby helping the flower to bloom (a specialist was consulted in the newspaper)
But there are cases when ants also harm peonies; they not only collect nectar, but also spread infections and fungal diseases, and also gnaw the sepals and petals of flowers that have not yet bloomed. This causes the buds to stick together and dry out. And if they open, then the peony flowers may be disproportionate, one-sided, although no matter what flower blooms, it is still beautiful in its own way.
And yet, how to get rid of ants? Everyone solves this issue differently, here are the methods that gardeners and flower growers resort to:
Treat the paths near the flower bed with the preparation “Muracid” and “Grom-2”.
Water and spray peony buds with tea and sprinkle with baking soda or salt.
Pour boiling water with acetic acid (1 tablespoon of vinegar per 1 liter of water) or dichlorvos into the anthills
Peony buds are sprayed with water infused with cigarettes or cigarette butts or sprinkled with tobacco dust.
Peony buds are treated while they are still small with karbofos (70-90 g per 1 liter of water) or intavir (1 tablet per 0.5 liter of water).
Smear peony buds with garlic infusion.
Ants cannot stand the smell of kerosene. If you dampen a rag and place it next to the bush, they will go away. They also get rid of ants on currants.
If ants are scurrying around on or near your peony, they have made a nest among the rhizomes. The peony will gradually begin to die. In spring, ants eat the edge petals of future flowers on the buds. It is enough to drop a drop of anti-ant gel (for example, “Great Warrior” or “Clean House”) on each peony stem below the soil, and the ants will not climb on the buds. If there are a lot of ants around the peony on the ground, then remove the top layer of soil about 2-3 cm thick and you will see oviposition. It is necessary to pollinate the eggs and the ants running with them using the preparations “Phenaxin” or “Muravin”
In order to get rid of ants on peonies, you need to find the anthill itself. Dig it out and fill it with hot clay water and cover it with soil.
Try placing a container with a fragrant mixture, such as sunflower oil or sweet syrup, next to the flower bed. The ants will definitely migrate there; all you have to do is change this container every day.
There are plants that ants really don’t like and avoid them - lavender, marigolds, mint. Plant one of them next to peonies.
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