Ants in the lawn
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Ants in the lawn

Hi Doug. We have a few large ant hills in our lawn. Everybody talks of getting rid of ants, but aren't they a good part of nature? If we try to get rid of them, where will they go? Ten feet away? The neighbour's yard? Into our house? Aren't they doing more good than harm? I'm wondering if they're more of an annoyance, and taking up my time worrying about them, and maye they should just be ignored? I realize you have an acreage so probably just leave them alone, but what about when we live in the city?


Doug says that ants are nature's clean up crew. They don't harm trees, shrubs or peonies but rather are there eating fungus or taking advantage of wounds and the sweet sap.

On lawns - simply mow as high as you can. That removes the ants because you can't see them. :-)

On driveways etc read this article for natural ant control systems in the home garden.

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Ants in the lawn

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no fire ants
by: Doug

Nope - no fire ants around but there is a species hardy in Canada. The deal though is that when folks ask about "fire ants" they normally mention that it's fire ants they're asking about...

And yes, I'm more than familiar with this problem as I've spend a fair amount of time down South - Alabama, Georgia and Florida in the past few years.

Not a fun problem to have.

You must not have fire ants....
by: Clahookekm

they kill plants, they cause terrible stinging pustules when they bite, they have eliminated horned toads...wiped them out, making them a danger to plants, animals, and humans. Ask anyone with fire ants if they would mow high so they could accidentally step in a fire ant mound...I don't think so.

Guess you can tell these creatures draw strong emotional responses from those who battle them.

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