How to get rid of ants from my organic vegetable garden? Ants eat my Strawberries before they ripen.
I use companion planting and don't have a problem with any other bugs or pests, I just don't know how to erradicate ants from my crops.
Cornmeal. Sprinkle cornmeal around your garden. Ants eat the cornmeal, cannot digest it and pass away.
Benificial nematobes! You can buy them at garden supply centers, and sometimes places like Home Depot, or probably order them online. They are microcsopic "bugs" that go down into the ant coloney and eat the eggs. So you may still see adult ants for awhile, but they will eventually die, and the eggs are gone! You mix the nematobes with water, and spray them on. Plus they don't harm anything, except dirt dwelling bugs, like fleas, ants, etc. Hope this helps!
The best companion plant to repel ants are the allium plants-- onions, chives, garlic, leeks, and shallots. Tansy is really great for ant control, but it is poisonous to grazing animals as well.
You can also take your used coffee grounds and spread them around your strawberry plants. Coffee grounds are beneficial to the soil too!
Keep a spray bottle filled with soapy water for spraying any ants you see.
For other pest control, read here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Organic-Gardeni … er-Control
Another organic solution is cinnamon and black pepper. Liberally spread them around your strawberries and you should be good to go!
Of course, I'd recommend pest control, not just a deterrent!
Dust the berries, plants and the dirt under them with my favorite non-toxic bug killer, diatemacious (spelling may be wrong, not done with coffee yet}. Get the kind in garden centers not the kind used in swimming poos as it has bleach in it. It is deadly to ants and other insects yet won't hurt plants. Just re-apply after it rains.
Since your garden is an organic one, try "Worm Tea" (http://hubpages.com/hub/Red-Wiggler-wor … e-Worm-Tea) Worm tea is made from worm castings(dropping). In a nutshell, it's the juice of their droppings, It surely is an organic way of repelling those ants without having to spray harmful insecticides that may leave harmful chemical residues when you harvest your organic garden's bounty. Try it! ^^
Diatomacious Earth. It's all natural. You sprinkle it around the plants. It is coarse to insects. When they walk over it, it scratches them, and they dehydrate within 24 hours.
If you get rid of the uncles, the aunts will follow LOL. Sorry, I had to do it!
Black pepper is the cheapest way. Simply sprinkle black pepper all around the edges of your beds to make a fairly solid line and the ants will keep away. Ants often follow aphids so you might want to check your strawberries for aphids as well.
diatomacious earth will repell the ants. Just sprinkle around the strawberry garden and coat the soil also.
Ok no jokes here...I'm still trying to recover from the park and uncle bits...lol
Seriously, the cornmeal is a good suggestion or you can mix three parts water with one part lemon juice(concentrate works too) spray the plants. It does not harm the plants and the oil naturally found in the lemons makes it hold during rain. Should be repeated once per week.
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