How to Kill Ants on Your Lawn Without Harming The Grass

Worried about how to kill ants on your lawn? If so, you’re not alone. Ants can be a real nuisance for gardeners, but there are ways to get rid of them without killing your grass. So if you’re dealing with an infestation of ants, read on for some helpful advice! We will share the secrets to removing ants from your lawn permanently.

How To Kill Ants on Your Lawn?

If you want to kill ants on your lawn, you must exterminate the colony’s queen, male drones, and larva. This is tricky because these members of the ant colony live deep underground. The only solution that guarantees safe, effective control is ant bait. Ants carry the poison in the bait back to the colony and feed it to all the members. This destroys the colony permanently. Anything other methods will only kill the ants on the surface, but the colony remains. The ants will return once new ants hatch.

A Brief Introduction To Ants

Ants are social insects that live in colonies, with each colony having one queen ant. There are many different species of ants, but they all have some common characteristics. Like all insects, they have three distinct body regions: the head, thorax, and abdomen. They also have a pair of antennae sticking out from their heads.

Each ant colony contains three different kinds of ants.

• Queen Ant: The queen has one job: to mate and lay eggs.
• Female Workers: The workers do not have wings, and their job is to take care of the colony. This includes gathering food, building the nest, and taking care of the eggs and larvae.
• Male Ant: Male ants have one crucial role. Their job is to mate with the future queen ants. They do not live very long after they have done this.

A single colony can hold millions of ants. They prefer to build their nests underground, but they will also make them in fallen trees or under concrete slabs. You can spot the nest in your lawn by the presence of anthills. These are small mounds of earth with an opening at the top. There can be multiple anthills on a lawn. Sometimes they appear to be moving because the ants are always coming and going.

Why Do I Have Ants In My Lawn?

Like many other creatures, ants need three things to survive. That is water, food, and shelter. If you have those things readily available, your lawn will be the perfect spot to build a nest.

Ants will start establishing a nest and begin excavating as soon as they have what they need to live. They prefer a dry, well-drained location in an area that isn’t disturbed very much. Their nests are intricate and may go deep into the earth. They will often have multiple entrances, exits, and tunnels that span the distance between them. All of the anthills in your yard may be linked into one large underground city. It is pretty impressive.

Can Ants Destroy A Lawn?

Ants may not eat grass, but they can damage your lawn by tunneling among the roots and drying them out. This can cause large dead patches on the lawn.

The anthills in the grass are unsightly and can be a tripping hazard. Mowing over them can become difficult as well. Remember, once established, a colony of ants may build multiple exits. Each one will have its own hill. It can soon become unmanageable.

Sometimes, the problem is not the ants. It is their farming habits. Did you know that some varieties of ants cultivate other insects? I kid you not! Insects like aphids and mealybugs secrete a sweet substance called honeydew. Ants love honeydew, so they farm those insects that produce it. Learn more about this astonishing process. The problem is that aphids and mealybugs can damage grass, so you don’t really want the ants to be cultivating them.

Finally, some species of ants can give a nasty bite, and you definitely don’t want those on your lawn.

This post is one of the helpful articles in our wildlife series.

How To Kill Ants On Your Lawn Without Destroying Your Grass?

It is not too hard to get rid of ants in your yard. The difficulty is getting rid of lawn ants without killing your grass simultaneously.

First off there are some things you shouldn’t do. I have seen them suggested in many places, but although they may kill the ants on the surface, they will also destroy your grass. Don’t use

• Boiling water: This makes sense, right? Boiling water will kill just about anything; so of course, it will kill your grass too.
• Vinegar: It will kill anything you spray it on, including grass. It may be toxic to the ants, but it will kill your grass too.
• Dish soap and water: The idea is that Dish soap will strip the defensive oils from insects and cause them to dry out and die. Unfortunately, however, dishwashing detergent will harm your plants in the same way. You need to find something else to deal with ants in the grass.

The above methods do not help kill ants anywhere as they only deal with the surface ants and not the queen and drones. These ants will quickly reestablish a colony.

So what will work? Let’s look at other methods for removing ants from your lawn without killing your grass.

Rake Ant Hills

The idea is to rake the anthills before they grow too large. It has to be noted that this won’t eliminate the colony entirely. Ant nests often extend deep underground, so disturbing what you can see above ground will not cause significant damage to the colony.

However, raking the mounds will cause chaos. Anyone who has ever poked an anthill with a stick knows what happens. It’s difficult for ants to maintain their colony in a constant state of upheaval and anxiety, so they’re far less likely to remain. It might help remove ants from the lawn. Still, you will need to follow up with ant bait get rid of the colony permanently.

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Use Diatomaceous Earth- Does it Work?

Diatomaceous earth comes from fossilized remains of tiny sea animals called diatoms. It absorbs the oils and fats from an insect’s exoskeleton. Under the microscope, the ground-up diatoms have sharp edges that scratch the insect and speed up the drying process. These are crucial for the ants wellbeing. Death follows the removal of those protective oils. Application is easy; simply apply the earth liberally to anthills and along ant trails.

The advantage of this method is that Diatomaceous earth is not toxic to plants, humans, or pets. Therefore, it will not kill your grass or harm family members. The disadvantage is that it only remains effective as long as dry. Consequently, it needs to be reapplied after rain or watering. In addition, it only works by contact, so it will not eliminate the queen or male drones who live underground. So, yes, Diatomaceous earth will kill ants on your lawn, but it will not get rid of the colony, and you will see the ants return as new workers are born.

Ant Bait Stations- Most Effective

Ant bait stations contain toxic chemicals mixed with something sweet that attracts the ants. Place them in known or suspected areas of ant activity. This would include ant trails and entrances to anthills. The ants feed on the bait and carry it back to their nest, where they feed it to the queen, drones, and larva. The poison kills the whole colony from the inside out. They are very effective.

The advantages are that they target the whole colony and will not harm your lawn. They can be used even if you can’t find all the anthills; just place them along ant trails.

Most ant baits are slow-acting toxins and don’t kill the ants immediately. The disadvantage is that they are slow acting because you need the ants to keep carrying the poison back to the nest for several days. Another problem is that pets or small children may access the bait stations. Do keep an eye on them when you put them down and keep children out of the area for a few days. Make sure you purchase bait stations labeled for outdoor use.

Best Ant Killer For Lawns-second best method

Ant treatments for lawns are composed of insecticides that kill insects on contact but not damage your grass.

The advantages of this method are that it is fast acting and very effective at killing all the ants in an area.

However, insecticide kills on contact, so it is ineffective at killing ants inside the nest, including the queen. It also kills all insects (and spiders), including those beneficial. Insecticides are also toxic to humans and pets, so you need to take precautions when using them.

Chemical applications are most effective when ants become active in late spring and early fall.

There are two ways to use them.

• Put the insecticide on each anthill.
• Spread the insecticide over a large area where there are many ant colonies.

Opting for individual mound treatments means using less insecticide concentrated in one specific area. This means that the treatment is less likely to affect beneficial insects and spiders in your grass.

Finding this post helpful? Check out our other creepy crawlies posts

Treating Individual Mounds

The first method is the soil drench. You will need a liquid form of insecticide. This is fast acting, but you must use a large volume of liquid to ensure it soaks right into the nest. Otherwise, the insecticide will not reach the queen, and the colony will survive. It is best to treat in mid-morning when ants are closest to the surface. Do not physically disturb the mound before or after application.

The second method is to apply ant dust or granules to the top of the anthill. However, you will need to follow up with watering to ensure the insecticide reaches the queen, or you will only kill the workers.

To be honest, Insecticides are not very efficient at killing the ant colony.

Treating the Whole Lawn

There are two kinds of treatments.

• Granules that are spread on the grass and must be watered in
• Liquid sprays.

Liquid sprays usually attach to a water hose for application. Granules can be loaded into a broadcast spreader and then watered in afterward. These insecticides are good at controlling ants on the surface but don’t destroy ant colonies that can go quite deep underground.

Safety first: Follow the label directions carefully. Use personal protective equipment (chemical-resistant rubber gloves, closed-in shoes, long-sleeved shirts, and pants). Wash clothes separately after application and wash your hands well.

How Do I Rid My Lawn of Ants? Summarizing The Research

In a nutshell, my research indicates that the most effective way to get rid of ants without killing your grass is to use ant bait stations. They may be slower acting, but they will kill the entire colony effectively. All other methods either damage the grass and only kill the surface ants. This means the ants will return once new worker ants are born.

Do you have an ant problem in your garden? Killing the ants can be challenging, especially if you don’t want to damage the grass. We hope this post has given you to information you need to help you kill ants on your lawn without harming your grass. Be sure to share this post with your gardening friends – they’ll appreciate it, and so will we!