In summer, hordes of ants inhabit flower boxes and garden beds.
The lemon drives away the annoying pests as manure with its smell.
Ants aren't all that wrong in the garden: they loosen up the soil with their numerous dug tunnels and they eat pests.
However, when they appear en masse on the balcony or in the vegetable patch, hobby gardeners have their limits.
Fighting ants: Lemon is an effective home remedy
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The intense scent of lemons has a deterrent effect on ants.
© imagebroker/Imago
Unfortunately, pests usually don't come alone: If you have aphids on the plants, ants are also magically attracted to them, because the aphids excrete an enticing honeydew that the ants feast on.
Sweets such as fallen fruit can also attract large numbers of ants.
If the animals then undermine the terrace slabs or paved paths, they are only a nuisance.
The lemon offers a very uncomplicated method of driving them away.
A home remedy against ants can hardly be much easier to produce - with lemon manure you can use leftovers perfectly and also act as an effective deterrent against unwanted insects.
On
SWR television
, Marktcheck gardening expert Heike Boomgaarden explains how to make lemon manure:
Squeeze several lemons, roughly chop the peel and place in water (use the juice for something else, for example for a refreshing blossom lemonade)
Let the lemon water steep for about ten days.
Drizzle the lemon juice in front of the ant trail or the balcony door.
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The effect of lemon manure is based on the essential oils in the peel.
As pleasantly citrus-fresh as they smell for humans, the scent is just as unpleasant for the ants.
The animals also avoid the intensive aromas of lavender, cinnamon or cloves.
And sometimes a simple chalk line or adhesive tape on the terrace floor helps.
If home remedies no longer help: relocate the ant nest
Anyone who has a whole ant nest in their garden will probably not get very far even with home remedies.
The
Bavarian State Office for the Environment
recommends relocating the animals by filling a flower pot with damp straw or damp wood wool and placing it upside down over the ant colony.
When the ants and queen have moved in there after a few days, the pot is moved to another location.
Fight pests in the garden: 10 suitable home remedies
Fight pests in the garden: 10 suitable home remedies
Rubric list image: © imagebroker/Imago