How to quickly get rid of ants in a greenhouse with cucumbers, what to do?
Ants are insects that contribute to the spread of aphids, destroying plantings. Therefore, when a large number of these insects appear, many summer residents ask themselves: how to get ants out of a greenhouse with cucumbers? A similar desire to get rid of such insects is also due to the fact that they oxidize the soil, gnaw on young shoots and flower-bearing stems. Ant control in the greenhouse can be carried out in various ways: folk, chemical or mechanical. Each of them has its own characteristics.
How to mechanically control ants in a greenhouse?
If ants appear in the greenhouse, you need to find their nest. Further, you can remove ants from the garden by following the instructions for implementing the following mechanical action on them:
- If the anthill is small, it must be picked up with a shovel and taken to a distant place.
- If the nest has reached a large size, it must be covered with some material that does not allow sunlight to pass through. After that, the heat will cease to flow into the anthill, and the insects will quickly leave it. A positive result should be expected in a few days.
- Regular loosening will create an unfavorable environment for these insects to live, and they will soon leave their home.
- The discovered anthill is filled with kerosene or boiling water. Then the nest is destroyed, and the procedure is repeated again. Such a mechanical technique allows you to deprive insects of the house, which is why they leave the site.
To prevent the ants from destroying the seedlings of cucumbers, the soil around their home must be watered with a decoction made from tomato leaves, sprinkled with soda ash, millet or ash.
If the summer resident wants to eliminate the risk of ants hitting the planted crops, he needs to dig a trench around the greenhouse. Then the depression is covered with cellophane, reinforced with stones and filled with water. Such a barrier protects the greenhouse from insect attack.
Eliminating ants with chemicals
If ants appear, cucumbers can be treated with chemicals. These products will scare off pests and eliminate the risk of damage to plants. Most often, substances are used for these purposes, which include diazinon, an organophosphate compound that acts on the nervous system of insects, paralyzing them. The most popular of these are the following drugs:
- Thunder.
- Ant-eater.
- Bazudin.
- Muratsid.
There are also other effective drugs that have a targeted effect against ants. These include Absolute-gel, Summer resident, Get, Raptor, Karbofos.
If the ants in the greenhouse began to destroy the plants, they can be controlled with formalin. For this, the substance is diluted with water to obtain its 10% solution. The resulting solution is used to treat all the cracks in the greenhouse as carefully as possible. Also, by treating places where insects accumulate, you can significantly speed up the process of their retreat. You need to spray the product very carefully so that it does not end up in the garden with cucumbers and on the leaves of the plant. To completely get rid of pests after a few days, it is necessary to re-process.
Folk recipes
Many summer residents do not want to use various chemicals to get rid of pests, fearing that their substances will accumulate in the fruits of the plant. In such situations, folk remedies will come to the rescue.
- In order to protect the cucumbers from the attack of ants in the greenhouse, it is necessary to organize a garden bed on which onions, parsley or mustard will grow. You can also plant these plants if ants are already in the greenhouse. The specific smell of these crops will repel pests.
- If a cucumbers are planted in a barrel, around it you need to lay out bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, garlic, elderberry or mint. The smell of these plants will repel insects.
- It is required to pour a small amount of vegetable oil into the anthill with a syringe. In 2-3 days the insects will leave the greenhouse.
- You can lure ants out of their greenhouse structures by spreading a mass made from honey and boric acid along pest paths and in places of their accumulation. If the ants have eaten the bait, their vital activity will actively fade away, since such a mixture is harmful to their body. It is worth considering that such a product should not be laid out if children and pets who can eat the product have free access to the summer cottage. Otherwise, its particles can be hazardous to their health.
- Similar to the previous method, you can use other baits. They should be prepared from minced meat, eggs, a mixture of yeast and borax with jam, sugar, honey.
- Cucumbers are saved from pests and potatoes, garlic, tobacco. In order for the pests to leave the greenhouse as soon as possible, cucumbers can be processed with garlic, potato or tobacco infusions. To do this, each bush is sprayed with liquid, and then it is poured into the holes. And near the nests, you need to put fresh or dried tops, sprinkle it with mustard seeds.
- Get rid of pests with rhubarb. To do this, you need to grind its stem to juice. The resulting gruel is laid out in those places where ants accumulate. After a few days, the pests leave their nest. Wormwood spread out on the beds has a similar effect. If the insects start up again, the procedure is repeated.
All of these tools will help you quickly get rid of annoying pests and save the cucumbers. If one of the remedies is ineffective, you need to try another.
Boric acid
If ants appear in cucumbers suddenly, they can be removed with a prepared composition of boric acid. To prepare the composition you will need:
- 10 grams of boric acid;
- 0.5 cups of water;
- 5 dessert spoons of sugar.
How to get rid of ants in a greenhouse with cucumbers using this tool:
- The first step is to prepare insect repellent that harm and attack seedlings and adult plants. Sugar dissolves in water. The liquid is cooled and mixed with boric acid.
- The resulting liquid is infused for 5 hours, and then mixes well.
- Then a cotton pad is moistened in the resulting product and placed in a dirty tin can.
- The container is slightly covered with a lid so that the liquid evaporates more slowly and provides access to it.
- The container is placed close to the nest.
If the ants in the cucumbers have already strengthened their position, you need to make several such jars. Pieces of bread soaked in the prepared solution are laid out in the ant passages. With this approach, the ants will move away gradually. After a month of regular installation of baits, they will begin to leave the house and completely retreat after another 2 weeks.
Black soap
What if the ants do not leave the greenhouse after all the described remedies? In this case, a solution of black soap will help remove pests.
- Mix 1 bucket of water with 400 grams of black soap.
- To the resulting liquid add 2 tablespoons of carbolic acid and 10 tablespoons of kerosene.
- The liquid is mixed until smooth.
- The whole garden is treated with such a liquid, watering the nests of ants.
After 2-3 sprays, the ants retreat.
Most often, ants appear in greenhouses, moving from trees infected with these pests. If any trees in the area are infested with ants with aphids, they must be removed as soon as possible. For this, the trunks are coated with tar or peat. To get rid of insects using this treatment should be as soon as possible, while their colony has not grown much.
So that ants and aphids do not eat the grown crop and cucumber seeds, it is necessary to start processing the greenhouse as soon as possible. The first step is to pay attention to mechanical ways to eliminate pests. If mechanical methods do not help, fight insects using folk methods.
Most often, it will take more than one day and not a week to completely get rid of pests, but if you watered and treated the nests and planted plants correctly, the pests will gradually recede.
If the ants attack suddenly, it is best to use chemicals. Also, these remedies are good when folk recipes are ineffective, when ants feel at home on cucumbers, despite all the methods tried by the summer resident. In order not to allow pests to start in the garden again, after getting rid of them, it is necessary to carry out prevention, caring for the planting and the greenhouse.
