Summer brings great things like cookouts, swimming, and baseball, but it also brings so many bugs. Ants can turn your pavement and yard into a mountain range as they work together, building anthills and destroying your soil. Let’s learn why your yard has so many ants and what you can do to prevent them.
Ants Marching
Ants treat your lawn like they are squatters taking over an empty property. If you give them what they need for survival, they will be more than happy to make themselves at home. Ants, like all living things, must have access to food and water to survive. Therefore, if you’re not taking care of your yard, they may start building on your property like they’re playing a game of Monopoly.
Anything from leaky pipes, birdbaths, ripped trash bags, and discarded food will cause ants to investigate. Assuming the ants like what they see, they will leave a distinct scent that alerts their comrades that they have found an ideal nesting ground.
Deterring the Ants
Unless you want to harvest them to create a massive ant farm, no one should want these little pests hanging around, so let us educate you on some strategies to deter them. Simply put, the most effective method for limiting your ant population is eliminating the things that interest them.
Ensure there isn’t any standing water or discarded food, considering any food source will intrigue ants; they are like ravens in miniature form. The process of fixing this begins with you and your habits, so preventing an infestation is possible if you alter some behaviors.
Eliminating Hills and Colonies
More drastic means may be necessary if taking the appropriate measures isn’t adequate, and anthills are still popping up like fast food franchises. There are natural ways of handling these pesky insects, and then there’s the chemical option.
Natural Route
Fortunately, there are many products that people commonly use that ants aren’t fond of. If applied correctly, vinegar, lemon juice, pepper, and mint act as repellents. When employing natural methods, it is frequently necessary to be diligent since the approaches are based on scaring the ants rather than destroying the colony. When the preventative materials are no longer present, the ants will often return to the nest.
Chemical Route
When the scent of lemon and mint doesn’t get results, it’s time to shift your plan towards the chemical route. Boric acid has the potential to wipe out an entire ant colony. When combined with the desired food source, ants will consume it and transport it back to the nest, ultimately poisoning the colony. Following the manufacturer’s guidelines for safe usage when using these types of chemicals is critical.
If you have tried everything and still don’t understand why your yard has so many ants, Paradise Lawns can come to the rescue with our exceptional ant control service. We apply five blanket lawn treatments of organic ant, flea, and tick control throughout the summer so that you won’t have a care in the world. Contact us today to receive an instant quote!
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