Right now, before spring comes around, is the best time to learn how to keep ants from building nests in your yard. When ants invade your yard, they are tempted to find their way inside your home too. This article will show you how to get rid of ants in your yard so they don’t get in the way of your summer fun. There are also easy ways to get rid of ants in your yard that use things you probably already have at home. If home remedies aren’t working, you can rely on cheap pest control services that offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Ants are one of the most pesky and persistent pests that can invade your outdoor space. From tiny thief ants to aggressive fire ants, dealing with ants in your yard can quickly become frustrating. When ants move in and build colonies they can damage your lawn garden plants, and even your home’s foundation.
Getting rid of ants in your yard takes some work, but it can be done through consistent prevention and control methods. In this article, we’ll explore highly effective techniques to kick ants out of your yard and keep them from coming back.
Why Are Ants infesting Your Yard?
Ants nest in yards for several key reasons
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Food sources – Ants forage for food. Sugary sap from plants, insects like aphids, and even spills and trash attract ants.
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Moisture – Ant colonies need water. They’ll nest near irrigation, leaky pipes, damp mulch or soil.
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Shelter – Objects like rocks, landscaping timbers, and debris provide cover for ants to nest under.
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Warmth – Ants thrive in heat and sun. South-facing yards and areas warmed by structures appeal to them.
Understanding what draws ants to your yard makes it easier to remove their incentives to stay.
Dangers of Ants Living in Your Yard
While ants themselves don’t damage yards, their nesting behaviors can:
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Ant hills smother grass and plant roots.
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Tunneling loosens soil and stresses lawn and plants.
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Some ants farm insects like aphids that excrete honeydew ants eat but parasitize plants.
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Carpenter ants burrow into wood, damaging structures like porches or landscape edging.
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Aggressive ants like fire ants have painful stings that deter you from using your yard.
Letting ants remain risks harm to your yard and unwanted encounters with people and pets, so take action at the first sign of activity.
Effective Methods to Get Rid of Ants
Integrated pest management utilizing multiple ant control techniques works best to evict ants from your yard. Follow these steps to kick them out for good:
Remove Attractants
Start by eliminating anything incentivizing ants to nest on your property:
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Discard debris like landscaping scraps and firewood with nesting potential.
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Prune any plants with sap or honeydew-producing insects ants eat.
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Fix leaky pipes, hoses, and irrigation to remove moisture sources.
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Move trash and recycling bins far from the house and promptly contain food scraps.
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Adjust mulch depth to 2-3 inches and keep it from touching structures.
Removing reasons for ants to inhabit your yard goes a long way toward chasing them off.
Apply Repellents
Natural repellents make yards inhospitable environments for ants:
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Sprinkle diatomaceous earth around likely nesting spots. The sharp granules damage ants.
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Spray vinegar, essential oils like peppermint, or soapy water on ant trails. This irritates and kills them.
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Place citrus peels, coffee grounds, cinnamon, and other smells ants detest around your foundation and garden edges.
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Mix castile soap and water to spray on ants directly. The soap penetrates their exoskeletons and kills them.
Reapplying repellents after heavy watering or rainfall keeps ants away over time.
Kill Active Colonies
Take aim at existing colonies using organic or chemical methods:
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Pour near-boiling water or very hot soapy water directly into ant hills. This floods nests and kills many ants quickly.
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Apply boric acid powder into nest entrances. Worker ants ingest it and unknowingly poison the rest of the colony.
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Bait with borax and sugar water. Attracted ants bring borax crystals back to the queen, wiping out the colony.
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Spray insecticide dusts or liquids into ant mounds. Chemical and natural pesticides are effective.
Be sure to get queen ants under mounds to prevent surviving worker ants from starting new colonies nearby.
Prevent Future Occurrences
Take proactive steps to keep ants from getting cozy again:
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Maintain thick, healthy turf and promptly treat brown or bare spots ants target.
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Water early in the day to minimize soil moisture at night when ants are most active.
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Apply granular insecticides around the yard’s perimeter in spring to repel foraging ants.
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Seal crawl space vents, cracks in your foundation, and other entry points to your home’s structure.
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Trim back branches and vegetation touching your home’s exterior to reduce highways for ants.
Vigilantly watching for signs of ants and jumping on issues early keeps infestations small and manageable.
When to Call a Pest Control Professional
If do-it-yourself remedies aren’t resolving persistent or severe ant problems, it’s wise to call in professional pest control. Exterminators have industrial-strength products, baiting systems, and treatment methods to eradicate entrenched ant colonies. They’ll also discover nest locations and structural vulnerabilities ants exploit so long-term prevention is possible.
Getting ants to move out of your yard for good relies on removing their food, water, and shelter while killing off colonies. Stay vigilant, act at the first signs of ants, and use multiple control techniques to ensure your yard becomes ant-free. With persistence, you can definitely give ants the old heave-ho.
Frequency of entities/keywords:
ants: 28 times
yard: 16 times
nest/nesting: 9 times
colonies: 5 times
food: 4 times
moisture/water: 5 times
shelter: 2 times
repellents: 3 times
vinegar: 1 time
diatomaceous earth: 1 time
soapy water: 2 times
boric acid: 2 times
borax: 1 time
insecticide: 2 times
professional pest control: 2 times
How to Kill Ants in Your Yard With Common Household Ingredients
Learn how to kill ants in your yard by using the following solutions. You can try to get rid of ants in the yard with things you probably already have in your home. There are eco-friendly ways to kill ants and keep your yard in prime condition. There are also chemicals, like ant spray, that will kill worker ants right away but could hurt your grass. First, we’ll discuss eco-friendly methods, then dive into potent chemical-based methods.
How Does an Ant Colony Live?
In order to effectively irradicate ants, it’s important to understand how they survive. You can think of the anthill’s top as the tip of an iceberg. The ants that live below it are about 2 to 3 inches below the surface and live in a 2 to 4 inch circle around the hill. The ants you see above the surface are called worker ants. Below the anthill is a queen ant who is the heart of the ant colony. The worker ants can start a new colony in your yard and keep going on their quest if you only kill some of them. The goal is to kill the queen ant because worker ants can’t live without her and the queen can’t live without him. We’ll talk about effective ways to kill an ant colony in a couple of paragraphs.
Ants are like many other insects in the fact that they’re attracted to food and water sources. Ants will be more likely to come into your yard if you live near a stream, river, or spring than if your yard is dry. It’s possible that your yard stays wet for longer than you’d like if it doesn’t get much sun. Ants like damp yards because they don’t have to go far to find water. Your water source is right there.
If you put trash in a garbage can, ants may come to it, especially during the warmer months when they’re more active. When ants eat, they reproduce, and their colony grows. As the ant colony grows, they are bound to find more food sources, including inside your home. As much as possible, put your trash in bags with tight closures and don’t leave smelly food out for long periods of time.
More likely than not, you’re aware you have an ant problem. But if you’re unsure, there are a few common signs to look for and identify an ant problem.