The best gentle way to combat ants is to relocate them using the flower pot trick. To optimize and accelerate the organic method, hobby gardeners can specifically attract ants. These tips and tricks reveal how this can be achieved in the lawn and bed.
How can you attract and relocate ants?
To attract ants, you can use bowls of honey, sugar or syrup, overripe pieces of fruit with honey or sugar water, chopped tuna or marten/hedgehog droppings. By using the flower pot trick, the ants can finally be successfully relocated.
Attracting and relocating ants – instructions
Annoying black, yellow or red ants attract nature-loving hobby gardeners with the flower pot trick in order to relocate the entire colony in one go. So that the move doesn't take many weeks, you can also attract ants to make the new home more attractive to them. The following instructions explain how to correctly use and perfect the flower pot trick:
Step 1: Invite ants to the moving quarters in a flower pot
- Pad the flower pot with wood wool
- Inverted onto a walkway in the bed or an active nest in the lawn
- Ants take larvae piggyback and move into cozy quarters
- Push the spade under the flower pot
- Relocate ant nest in the pot
The new location for the ant nest should be at least 30 meters away from your own and neighboring gardens. Otherwise, ants will find their way back to their original territory within a short time using their fine sense of smell.
Step 2: Attract ants specifically to the flower pot
To speed up the moving process, you can direct annoying ants in the garden towards the flower pot. Workers are constantly looking for sweet, carbohydrate-rich foods for the queen, the offspring and themselves. In practice, these products have proven to be effective in attracting ants in droves:
- Fill bowls with honey, sugar or syrup, enriched with insect corpses
- Brush overripe fruit pieces thinly with honey or sugar water
- Canned Shredded Tuna
- Not suitable: acidic attractants, such as lemon or pickle
You can also successfully attract ants with marten or hedgehog droppings. The clever insects really appreciate the electrolyte and s alt content as a dietary supplement. Use the lures to lay several trails that point from busy streets in the direction of the flower pot.
Tip
Fighting ants becomes a bottomless pit when an aphid plague is rampant in the garden. Undaunted, displaced, frightened ants are marching back in because they are after the nutritious honeydew of aphids. By fighting lice in the garden with soft soap solution, you break the annoying vicious circle.
