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What are these pests and red ants
wakeshine
Posts: 975
Could anyone tell me what these are? Are they maggot? We have loads of ant mounds ruining our lawn. We dont know what to do. Nematodes, fire or water?
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Posts
Hi
they look like ant eggs however ants dont like being disturbed so poor some boiling water over them and if that does not shift them get some ant powder and spray around infected area
they are helpful in some areas of the garden but not ruining your lawn
good luck
Hi, thank you. We didn't pour the boiling water yet but will do. We thought these were maggots. Can't believe these are eggs. Thank you for clarifying this! Now I am more disturbed by this! But at least now we know. Could be the queen nest then? We tried making a fire but I am not sure this has worked. The worker ants just took the eggs and ran away. There must be so many nests - the lawn is a total mess.
they are vine weevil grubs, have a close look and they have brown faces, you need to squash them otherwise they eat all the roots of your plants
just re-read your post, are the eggs in with the ant nest? if they are then they could be the ant eggs if they are moving and in a separate place then they could be vine weevil grubs
Last edited: 03 June 2016 21:42:05
They will be ant pupae, not eggs, although they are sometimes sold as ant eggs for goldfish food.Obviously the true eggs are very much smaller. I would apply ant powder.
Thanks all. Whether eggs or pupae, I am really freaked out. And I'm really sorry if the photos grossed anyone out. This is a real problem. We were staring at the mound with these pupae or whatever and stressing about the ants for so long just wondering what it was, that we did not act quickly enough. We did not make the fire quick enough, and we did not even pour the boiling water as suggested. As it was 9pm we decided to go inside. Now I am thinking the ants and the pupae have just moved away. Does pouring boiling water really work? Can I still do this? I thought ants like heat.?
Thanks sangy67 - I did initially think they were grubs or maggots. I saw a vine weevil grub elsewhere, it was just as you described. Again I don't think I killed it...where did it come from and what can I do about these?
My father thinks that we are having this ant problem because we have got too many pots on the patio and with bedding plants. Me and my mother have too many flowers he reckons. We have a lot of roses in our garden too. Could this be the reason that we have this big ant problem? Or does everybody have ants?
hi wakeshine, i've got loads of ants too, i've got black ones, my daughter in law has red ones, mine are in the borders. I think tbh that everyone seems to be having ants at the mo, you certainly can pour boiling water on them but bear in mind you don't want to be pouring boiling water where you have living plants as it will probably kill them. use it in cracks in paving usually you will see like where the soil looks 'sandy' and will have an entrance hole in it, it will work as no living thing likes boiling water on them if that is a hole you have dug in the lawn you could pour some in there if that is where they are? and replace the lawn. i have problems with ants 'farming' greenfly. They like the sweet sticky secretions greenfly are covered in, so they find greenfly that are on buds and bite their wings off keeping them prisoner on the buds then the ants feed off the greenflys sticky stuff! i can't pour water on them as i have plants all in the beds, last year i sat where an empty space in the beds was and watched them marching about and finally followed them back to the nest hole, i used some ant powder but to be honest i didn't like using it, so this year i shall just leave them, all i do is blast the greenfly off any buds with a hose or some diluted washing up liquid with water in a squirty bottle and use that on the greenfly.
i found some vine weevil grubs in a pot of compost, urhhh made me feel sick but i put some gloves on and squashed one, disgusting as the white innards squirted out (makes me goosey thinking about it) so i stepped on the rest, some recommend spreading out the infected compost on a patio to let the birds eat them but i think my birds are too well fed for that the vine weevil lays the grub eggs in the compost and then the grubs start eating your roots so if you see a plant dying in a pot for no apparent reason they are usually to blame, they need getting rid of, you can buy stuff to kill them but don't know what it is called. an adult vine weevil looks like this, if you see one step on it, here's a pic of the horrid grub too
Last edited: 03 June 2016 23:35:28
Eek Sanjy6 thank you. That explains quite a lot actually. My extablished Buff Beauty rose out front was covered in greenfly two weeks ago. I mixed up malathion and sprayed it on and it worked to get rid of the greenflies. Says on the bottle I need to repeat a week later which I haven't done yet. There is definitely an ants nest right underneath that rose bush, because there is as you say a lot of excavated soil in fine silts. I have planted marigolds in that place, because I read that this helps keep the green flies of the Roses, but if it's the ants that are farming the flies and causing the problem, then obviously marigolds was a bit pointless. Not to mention that the slugs have eaten quite a few of my marigolds anyway! Now I just feel a bit stupid. I started this gardening malarkey to help my mother, who isn't very well at the moment, but it's just turning into a nightmare because all I seem to be doing is Reading or dealing with pests. When will the fun happen?
Thank you for the information about the Vine weevil. I did look at the pictures after you mentioned it, and I'm very grossed out. It was definitely there and it explains so much. I had ordered 135 plug plants on a Wowcher deal, as I had a leftover voucher to use. It was really cheap, and I thought my mum could use these to make some baskets. We just had to use the voucher and didnt know what to do, so we thought let's order these plug plants and see what comes. When they arrived they were actually extremely tiny ridiculous micro plug plants! I had put a few of the begonia ones in a bowl and they never came up, just died. They were covered in slime too but no slug trail. Now I know why! This was the pot in which I think I may have seen the Vine weevil. if I see another one I will squash it. Disgusting! I think one has to be careful what compost we use and where we order plants from...and i dont even think I threw the compost away. This is more worrying than the ants!
Last edited: 04 June 2016 00:15:11
i know what you mean but sometimes you can worry too much about all the pests etc, i used to go out at night with a torch looking for slugs & snails every night! now i have more or less decided to let nature get on with it, i do wipe or blast off greenfly with a hose & if i happen across a snail munching it goes in the brown bin haha but there is a chain of events in nature & i've come to realise & relax a bit about it, the vine weevils grubs freaked me out a bit but i would get rid of them as they desroy things, i'm not sure who their enemy is so i shall have to google it and see. i ordered plug plants last year and they were weeny so i didn't plant them out as they wld be a slug/snail snack, i did however just keep them in the little plastic greenhouse and kept potting them on until either they were big enough, i had killed them or saved them for this year, now they are large plants, i just left them outside all winter on the back steps in all the elements once they were big enough, i was overun with geum'mrs bradshaws' which i wasn't fond of so sold those out the front for £3 each as they are quite large, i just put an 'honesty' pot out with them. the money paid for plants i do like if you have a lot of pots you can just keep a general eye out/under your pots for vine weevils and squish as you find them. A good idea when you buy from garden centres etc is just give the plant a bang on the shelf before buying it to shake out ony weevils hovering near the holes in the bottom and before you plant it just check it in general for grubs, that's it really all you can do. i wouldn't worry too much about the ants situation if they are just in the garden. These slugs are good slugs as they eat other naughty plant eating slugs and only eat dead plants
try and enjoy the actual gardening and let nature take care of whose in it, the more wildlife you encourage in the more balance you will have. ants will get in anywhere with dry soil if you are bothered by them do some boiling water if it's not going to affect any plants or just give where they are a good soaking with the hose as it will disrupt their tunnels/nest, hey and don't feel stupid about anything, gardening is a constant learning curve, i have made tons of mistakes and i've only been seriously gardening for three years, i learn everyday by my mistakes i just google everything now haha or ask on here x
Sorry that should have said weeding and dealing with pests...thank you for the moral support and info !