Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:34 pm
Although ants are omnivores, they prefer to eat other animals. In summer and autumn they add berries. They especially love the excretions of aphids. Seeds are not spurned either, but they are not overly fond of them. So if you plant a lawn and find ants on the freshly sown area, you still don’t have to worry.
Ants do very little damage. They only hollow out dry areas under stones (on terraces, for example) or are unpleasant when they nest in the house. Their population is kept within tolerable limits by other animals.
Water scares away ants
If you want to drive away the ants, we advise permanent watering of their nest. If the ants are in the compost, you need to keep pouring a can of water into the compost (daily at first) and mix the rotting with the help of a digging fork.
With a shady lawn you could do the same (so always water, don’t mix;-), but then the lawn will be too wet and you will soon have a wet mossy meadow. That would be too bad for the expensive shade seed. The ants on the lawn will get back together and build a new nest in the ground somewhere, most likely at the edge of the lawn, along the path or some other rather dry place.
One more thing: ants will be less active soon, winter is coming. If you notice that the lawn is fully colonized in spring, only daily watering and nasty smells will help.
Ants can interfere with the enjoyment of a beautiful lawn, but they are not pests. At most, they cause harm by occasionally stirring up small seedlings and lawn grasses from the soil, which can then dry out.
To get rid of the little crawlers, you can take advantage of their weakness: Ants don’t like many odors. Pour a liquid with a strong odor into the ants’ nests or near them. Cheap perfume is suitable, but cedar oil or eucalyptus oil (pharmacy) works better. These strong scented oils need only be applied drop by drop, and the ants will flee.
Ants are also disturbed by moisture, they prefer dry places. If you always water the lawn well, the ants should leave soon.
Only if these measures do not work, you should resort to means offered in specialized shops or garden centers, for example bait boxes.