Ants

Good evening everyone. I have been a member for a few weeks now and have learnt so much from the LJN forum that I will be joining the BOG shortly....it seems a 'no brainer' to me! My garden maintenance business in Norfolk is now in its fourth year and the last two have been busy enough to keep my wife and I busy pretty much full time besides our annual trip to India for 6 weeks every January/February.

I have a few topics I would like to bring to the forum for advice and discussion but think it best to post them one at a time rather than bring too many topics into one post. I hope that's the right way to proceed. One of my customers has ants nests on his lawn bordering on what seems like an infestation. Earlier in the Summer he took to pouring copious amounts of boiling water all over the lawn killing huge patches of the lawn which drove me to despair as I have spent a great deal of time getting it into shape. I managed to persuade him to stop doing this but ant powder doesn't seem to have much impact. What to do? Any help and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks Jim.

Replies

PRO

Richard Gadsby July 20, 2017 at 7:57pm

Hi Jim.
Don't laugh but this year I've had ant problems on loads of customers lawns and those little bait stations you can get seem to work! I've been putting one in each corner of the lawns and in most cases have not seen any since! Worth a few quid to try anyway!
Russell Cobley July 20, 2017 at 8:04pm

Hi Jim,

Ficam W is a professional use, very effective insecticide for ants along with many other insects. I've had success dealing with a a few customers, one of which had about 60 nests in the lawn! Works well applied via a knapsack sprayer. If the consumer products are not working consider Ficam W but it's expensive so charge on accordingly!
- Gareth Upham > Russell Cobley July 21, 2017 at 5:02pm
  
  Hello Russell, just picked up some Ficam today. As well as treating the nests do you spray over the lawn as well?
  
  Gareth
  - Russell Cobley > Gareth Upham July 21, 2017 at 8:18pm
    
    Hi Gareth.
    
    It depends on the size of the ant nest but if you have some obvious ant hills you can carefully slice off the top turf layer and fold back, take out some soil (the reduce the hill height), then spray into the nest then put the turf back on. A good means to get rid of the bump! I spray around the nest (say 30 cm) but do not blanket spray the entire lawn.
    
    See it as spot treatment for each nest. The product label gives good guidance on how to apply.
This reply was deleted.
- PRO
  
  Nick @ NM Garden Services Ltd July 20, 2017 at 9:25pm
  
  Are you sure they control aphids?
  
  I suggest that you look more closely and you will find that they will be farming them for their honeydew!
PRO

Jim Gibbon July 20, 2017 at 10:32pm

Thanks for the advice Richard, Russell & John I will try the bait boxes and if there's still a problem I'll consider Ficam W or pest control.
PRO

Andrew Watts July 21, 2017 at 9:01am

If you have Pa1/6 spraying license, then sumi alfa is good for ants. Deep spike the nests and drench, then spray the lawn all over. We get it from Agrigem.
- PRO
  
  Jim Gibbon > Andrew Watts July 21, 2017 at 10:16pm
  
  Thank you Andrew, I have advised my customer about the consumer products which have worked for others. If that fails I will consider the professional options. Do children, pets etching have to be excluded from the area after spraying sumi Alfa or ficam w? I assume so.
David Benson July 22, 2017 at 12:03am

try a mixture of 50/50 volume of sugar and bicarbonate of soda, another one I have not tried is tonic water
- ken stewart > David Benson July 22, 2017 at 10:40pm
  
  Tonic water works I have being using it now for 2 summers