What to do against ants in the raised bed? | Get rid of it effectively

• Ants in the raised bed
  • Recognize
  • Prevent
  • Fight
  • Resettlement: instructions

After the construction of the raised bed the fright. Ants. The efficient insects like to nest in raised beds, because they find plenty of food here, are protected from predators and can devote themselves undisturbed to the breeding of their aphids. For the gardener, ants in the raised bed can quickly become a plague, which has a negative effect on the vitality of the plants.

Ants in the raised bed are a common problem and can cause great damage. While the raised bed is protected from rodents such as vole with a grid, ants can still nest due to their size and cause loss of substrate due to their nesting, which means that crops such as lettuce, cucumbers, pumpkins and flowers are no longer supplied with sufficient nutrients.

For this reason, it is important to attack the colonies as quickly as possible, otherwise you will expose the plants in your raised bed to great danger. The big advantage: They can either prevent insect infestation or fight it directly.

Ants in the raised bed

Recognize

First of all: The big problem with an infestation by ants is their pleasure in digging. They set up numerous tunnels, which are important for the care of the young and queen and are created within a short time. If ants nest in the raised bed, they begin to lay their aisles under the plants, as they have the ideal basis for a well-structured construction due to their roots.

The consequences are:

• Substrate around plants is lost
• slowly these are lifted out of the substrate
• Nutrients can only be absorbed with difficulty
• This leads to a lack of nutrients
• they dehydrate due to a lack of water

If the ants in the raised bed are not fought, they can spread to the entire container, which will put a heavy strain on any plant in it. The good: The tunnels can be seen from the outside. As many ants frolic around plants, look for entrances as they indicate a nest of insects. Likewise, you should look for possible roads that create the animals.

Above all, these are recognizable by the fact that there are always a large number of female workers moving along a given path that leads, for example, to food sources. Thus, you can quickly detect an infestation without your plants begin to show symptoms of nutrient deficiency.

Tip: Another indication of an infestation with ants in the raised bed can be aphids. If the lice have selected their vegetable and fruit plants as food source, Formicidae are also not far.

Prevent

To prevent an infestation of ants in the raised bed, you should protect it from the insects. Fortunately, there are a variety of preventative methods that prevent the arthropods from settling in the first place, which takes a lot of work off your hands.

Herbs

If you grow intensive smelling herbs, the insects think twice about settling in your raised bed. Since the animals do not like the essential oils, they stay away from them, which makes your work much easier. For this reason, you should plant the following herbs directly into the raised bed or keep them in pots around the bed.

• thyme
• lavender
• marjoram

It is precisely this combination that keeps the ants away and is ideal for your herb garden .

cinnamon

Scatter cinnamon in your raised bed at regular intervals. Here again, the factor odor is crucial, because cinnamon is so intense that ants in the raised bed have no chance and forgive themselves within a short time. But since cinnamon is washed out of the ground, you'll need to replace the powder over and over again to maintain the effect.

Fight

7 effective measures

If you have noticed the infestation too late and the ants in the raised bed have already laid out heavily, you do not have to despair. There are many more ways to drive off the insects or kill them in the desperate case.

baking powder

Baking soda is a classic among ant foods. Pour some baking powder either directly into the nest or onto the surface of the substrate and moisten it with a spray bottle. As soon as the insects come in contact with it, they go bad and die. Unfortunately, baking soda is not the most reliable medium.

Incense

Incense sets again on the smell factor . Do not worry, you do not light these, but put them in the wrong direction. The smell spreads over the earth and the ants go wild. The more the incense stick smells, the more effective the effect.

spices

In addition to the above-mentioned herbs, you can also design a variety of spices that the ants in the raised bed do not like. These include dried chili peppers, lavender flowers, lemon peels and cloves. Once you detect an infestation, lay out a large amount of the spices around the nest and the plants, and over time the animals will have to look for a new home.

roadblock

The classic roadblock made of chalk can be used even in the raised bed. Chalk the paths of the ants in the raised bed to protect your plant. It has proven useful to draw complete barriers that are undercut.

herbal manure

Make a manure of herbs such as tansy, yarrow, marjoram or thyme and distribute them directly to insects using irrigation water. The ingredients effectively expel the pests.

coffee grounds

Bring coffee grounds on and into the ground. Not only does this act as a nitrogenous fertilizer additive, but the substances contained in the coffee effectively act against the ants in the raised bed. You usually have to replace the coffee grounds over time.

Put under water

If your plants can withstand it, you can put the nest completely under water. Take your garden hose and put it in one of the openings to the nest. Run the water for about 15 minutes and repeat this twice a day for about a week. Over time, the ants will feel that their new home is repeatedly flooding and posing a danger to the colony. You then pull out.

If the above methods do not work, you should use boiling water as a more aggressive option. This provides an immediate death sentence for the entire colony, as they can not harm the heat. Even the entire nest can be completely destroyed in this way within a short time. A major disadvantage of this last resort is the fact that your plants in the raised bed in most cases also take damage or even completely die. It is best to choose one of the above methods.

Tip: If the ant attack decays strongly, you can resort to insect repellent in an emergency to combat the pests. However, you should use them only in raised beds with ornamental plants, as the toxins of the funds collected in the leaves of salads or fruits of many fruits and vegetables and thus consumed by humans, which may adversely affect your health.

Resettlement: instructions

Resettlement has proven to be one of the best methods of controlling ants in raised beds. The big advantage of this method is the preservation of the ant colony, which simply moves and leaves alone your high bed in peace. In addition, their plants can also recover and do not suffer from applications such as boiling water. For the resettlement you need the following materials, through which you can create a new residence with little effort for the animals of the family Formicidae.

• Bucket or flowerpot without drain hole
• Wood wool or earth
• spade
• gloves

The gloves are recommended if some of the animals could hurt your way and hands when transporting the ant nest. So go play it safe. It does not matter which earth it is, as long as it is not too loose, otherwise the ants in the raised bed will not accept the new habitat and relish their day's work with relish. Once you have found a suitable bucket, proceed as follows to relocate the animals.

1. Fill the bucket with enough substrate or the wood wool. You can use plenty of substrate or wool, so that the insects accept the new nest and thus change their residence in the long term. If you use soil, you must tap it firmly so that it does not fall out of the pot immediately. Wood wool in most cases hangs quite well by itself in the bucket and if necessary, you can just add a little more.

2. Once the container has been filled, place it with the opening facing down directly on the existing ant nest or something next to it. Make sure that the bucket is in good condition and does not tip over, as this will make relocation difficult. You can also complain with stones or a brick so that it does not fall over in bad weather.

3. Now you have to wait two to three days. In this time, the ants in the raised bed should have colonized the new home, as the insects are always eager to new nesting sites. When it comes to fresh earth or woodwool, the queen quickly moves into it, taking the entire colony with it. Carefully check that the ants have picked up the pot. If you can only find a few ants in the old nest, you can easily make the move.

4. Pick up the spade and place it under the nest. Now carefully lift it out of the raised bed and transport it to a new place. Once you have chosen a suitable place, carefully pull the pot or bucket off the nest if possible. Then you can add fresh soil to the nest, so that the insects have a little more options for expanding the nest . If the pot can not be pulled off, you should just wait until the nest has left.

As you can see, this way you can easily master the ants. Since this method has no negative impact on the plants in your raised bed, it is very popular, even if it brings a little wait.