Ant hills in lawn

Hi all, any ideas please on how to get rid of ants, and their patches of soil, from the lawn.

its doing my head in as ant powder seems to have no affect.

 

Hmm you can try the liquid stuff as that is way more effective than the powder

The alternative method (as demonstrated to me by my other half when we moved into the house and the garden was like a mountin range of ant hills ) is to poke a hole in the top of each nest with a stick, pour petrol down hole, leave to soak for a while. Next attach rag to end of stick and light, set fire to each ant hill and listen to the woosh as the flames shoot through the tunnels under the ground, THIS METHOD IS NOT RECOMMENDED however it did give a fantastic look to the garden at dusk as small fires danced all around the garden :D

Apologies to all ant lovers who may feel offended by this

P.S. 2.5 years later, we still have ants everywhere, but no mounds of soil (I think they prefer to keep their homes a secret from the other half)

P.P.S. Just noticed that is your first post, welcome to GC, I am sure some more sensible answers will appear shortly

 

Hi Jurassic, well, they've been on the planet since the age of your username and they'll be here when our species is extinct. :D Whatever you do they'll probably survive. Dizi's answer looks as good as any. Oh, welcome

 

I think that if you destroy their "house" a few times and they understand that it is not safe to build again in the same place, they may go to a different place.
The method of the fire it is also something that I've seen doing before and works.

 

Morning all,

The ant "hills" are currently only little heaps, but I'm looking at 10 of these patches over 3 yds square and its the front lawn.

 

Hi Jurassic, you need to do something otherwise you wil end up with the mountin range that i had.

If you don't fancy the fire option (can't say I'd blame you), get the liquid. You put a small amount on a smooth surface (margarine lid or similar), put it in their path (you will have to look at where they go) and they will go mad for it, they take it back to the nest and feed it to the queen, if you keep it up for a couple of days it should kill the nest.

Or pour boiling water into the nest (however you will probably only upset them on a short term basis with this method unless you manage to kill the queen)

You can get the ant liquid from most places (supermarket, garden centre etc)

 

hi

my next door neighbour had loads of ant nests at the bottom of her garden and i mean really big ones she used bleach first (left it to soak about 1/2 hr )followed by a boiled kettle of water every night for a week and they never returned that was 3 years ago it might and proberly will kill your lawn but should kill the ants .

good luck and welcome :D

 

I park the Hover mower over them for a few minutes and give them a'lift' to the compost heap.. :D

 

:D

 

Hi all,

looks like the liquid ant killer is the first option. I dont think I will be allowed some of the other alternatives - boiling water is a possibility.

I see there is an ant bait available but for use indoors - might try and see if it work outdoors but kept dry under a slate.

and thanks for the welcome aboard.

 

Oh, I sooooooooooooo enjoyed reading these solutions to the problem