What Are Ants?
Ants are insects that live in nests which can contain up to thousands of ants. Ants live in colonies and will rarely be alone. The majority of ants are wingless females (known as worker ants), but there will also be a fertile female known as the Queen ant, as well as male ants. The job of the worker ants is to look after the nest and gather food for the colony.
How Do I Identify An Ant?
Ants will have 3 distinctive parts to their body - the gaster, the thorax and the head. The majority of ants will have a pair of antennae on their head. Worker ants as previously mentioned will work to find food and can be seen doing this by moving along a trail behind each other. To find the nest, simply follow the trail. During the mating process, ants will swarm (the reproductive ants within the colony will have wings) above the nest.
Are Ants A Problem?
Ants aren’t particularly destructive they can just be a bit of a nuisance. They will feed on other insects and the honeydew secreted by aphids. They don’t do any damage to plants but they can disturb the soil around plants and particularly turf as they are building their nests. Ants do not have a sting however they can bite.
We recommend using a pesticide such as Sven as it can be used on a wide range of areas, including certain crops. As an organic method of control we recommend using Nemasys F which contains parasitic nematodes of Steinernema feltiae.
For more information on controlling ants, please get in touch with our sales team on 01522 246491.
