Garden ants harm and benefit
Content
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- Ants
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- The benefits of insects
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- Ant harm
Everyone from school knows that it is impossible to destroy anthills in the forest, because their inhabitants care about the surrounding nature. But in the garden or in the garden little workers can give a lot of trouble to a person. Forest ants live in the garden, the benefits and harm of which will be described below.
Types of ants in the garden and summer cottage
Most often, a person is confronted with a garden and forest species of ants.But besides them, other inhabitants may appear on the plot. Each brings its own benefit and harm to gardeners.
Dark brown ant
Insect prefers to settle in old trees and hollows. In the garden, ants hunt harmful insects, recycle old wood and breed aphids. They have an average size: working individuals grow up to 4-5 mm, and the queen - up to 6-8 mm.
Drifter
At the cottage is rare. This species is quite large: queen reaches 18 mm, and working individuals - 14 mm. Prefer to settle in the following places:
- rotten stumps;
- snags;
- rotted tree roots;
- log buildings.
On a note!
Drifter recycles wood, which can cause a lot of problems for a gardener. The ant will damage garden furniture made of wood until it turns into dust.
Forest ants
They are also called red ants. They settle in the forest, but can appear in areas that are located close to the forest belt. They also breed aphids and feed on its secretions.
Ants on the site collect dead insects and destroy pests. In the forest, they contribute to the growth of plants, and in the garden they cause harm to fruit and vegetable crops.
Ants are yellow
They love to live underground.In the air, they appear only in the period of summer, which begins in July and ends in August.
On a note!
Yellow ants I plant bred on the roots of plants, and thin out the seedlings, biting its roots.
This species leads to the death of plants in the garden. You can find them by “bump” above the ground and vegetation that has thinned out above this bulge.
Black ant
They love to settle between the stones and in the old stumps. Behaves aggressively. A house of a yellow ant can be chosen and evicted from there. Ants in the garden are breeding aphids, which destroys cultivated plants.
The benefits of ants
These arthropods perfectly fertilize the soil. The earth is enriched with potassium and fluorine, becomes loose. Thanks to this, plants grow better. Their foliage becomes strong and green.
Insects prey on various pests that inhabit the beds and trees:
- caterpillars;
- spider mite;
- slugs;
- midges.
In one day, the ant family is able to eat and collect about two thousand harmful insects.
On a note!
Gardeners and gardeners are interested in what ants are useful for the garden. The greatest benefit brings the forest view.Some people planted several conifers on the site to create a favorable environment for the anthill.
Insects like to eat sweet floral nectar, so they participate in the pollination of flowers. Forest ants collect dry leaves, twigs and blade of grass from the whole area, thus they clean the area near anthill from trash. And gardeners may notice that in the area of the ant house the vegetation always feels better.
In ant courses, many beneficial microorganisms are formed that nourish the roots of plants, making them strong and resistant to changes in the environment.
Harm caused by ants
The benefits of hardworking insects are not small, but the harm from ants in the garden is great. In the forest, toilers help the trees by planting aphids in their foliage. So plants struggle with fungus. In the garden aphid disfigures young plants and prevents them from developing.
Interesting!
Hardworking arthropods protect aphids from other insects, and with the onset of cold weather they take it to the nest. In spring, the ant family again plants pests on young leaves, in order to further use it for their own purposes.
But not only aphids interfere gardeners. Here's what the ants are harmful in the garden:
- They feed on sweet fruits and spoil them. Garden strawberries and strawberries are most often affected.
- Ants gnaw through the petals of unopened buds to get to nectar and eat it. Because of this, the flower dies or becomes ugly.
- An anthill located on an alpine hill is difficult to pull out, and its appearance spoils aesthetics and damages flowers.
- Insects enter the private house and spoil the food supply.
Pests love to collect the seeds of some plants that are considered a weed at the dacha. It should be near the anthill to appear a bush of celandine, as the next year the weed will begin to grow in all beds. This happens because its seeds are spread by ants.
On a note!
Celandine is a medicinal plant. And also it is added to the feed for chickens and planted near the hives.
In addition to aphids, insects breed worms, cicadas and some caterpillars. All of them eat plant food and can harm plants in the garden.
Garden ants, the harm and benefits of which are obvious, are frequent guests at the sites. And although they fertilize the land, gardeners prefer get rid of insects on fruit trees, beds, using various poisons and home remedies. But sometimes it is worth leading fighting aphidsand not with its "owner".
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