Ants in the garden: How to use cinnamon to drive pests out of your raised bed
Created: 05/14/2022, 14:06
By: Andrea Stettner
When your raised bed is swarming with ants, it's not just annoying.
The insects can also harm the plants.
We show which natural remedies help.
If you find ants in your raised bed, you have a hard time fighting the small insects.
While other pests such as voles can still be locked out with a grid, this method is relatively pointless for ants - after all, the small creepy-crawlies always find a way in.
And that has consequences: ants can
damage the plants in the raised bed
, so that the harvest is significantly lower.
For example, the widely branched ant tunnels pry the cultivated plants out of the ground, causing them to starve or even wither.
If you want to prevent this, you should drive the ants out of your raised bed very quickly.
But please don't use the chemical club:
chemical ants are forbidden in the raised bed,
as they are biocides.
And who wants to spread poison between their home-grown vegetables?
That would inevitably end up on the plate later – so not a good idea.
Home remedies are the better choice and help at least as well in fighting ants.
Ants in the raised bed?
On the other hand, natural home remedies that do not harm plants or humans can help.
© Benjamin Horn/Imago
1. Drive away ants in the raised bed with water
The simplest and perhaps most effective home remedy for ants is water:
flood the ant nests
in the raised bed with a garden hose -
twice a day
, preferably for several days.
The ants will quickly run away.
Alternatively, hot water from the kettle is also suitable.
This scalds the little animals – but also the surrounding plants and their roots.
Therefore, it is better to only use it for places where nothing grows.
2. Scents drive ants away from the raised bed
Ants use scents as a guide, which makes them relatively sensitive to smells.
You can't stand certain
scents of herbs or spices
, which is why they are an effective means of combating ants.
However, not every fragrance brings the hoped-for success.
Experiment with the following scents:
Herbs:
lavender, marjoram, thyme
Spices:
cloves, cinnamon, chili powder – use a stick to poke several holes in the earth around the ant nest and sprinkle in the spice powder.
Manure:
concentrated manure made from the aforementioned herbs or lemons - simply pour around the ants' nest.
Incense Sticks:
The sticks are placed in the ground next to the nest.
3. Relocate ants from the raised bed
Instead of driving the ants out of the raised bed, you can also relocate the animals.
Along with water, this method is one of the most effective ways to get rid of insects.
To do this, fill a
clay pot with soil and wood shavings
and place it over the nest.
The sun warms the pot and thus prepares a cozy new home for the ants, which they should have populated after just a few days.
So you can easily resettle the ants where they do not disturb.
If ants are not only up to mischief in the raised bed, but also in other parts of the garden, you should first try to locate the ants' nest.
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