How to protect plants from ants with natural tricks

The father of the popular Mafalda of Quino, he was in love with his plans and, therefore, he had a clear enemy: ants. What happens in the famous cartoon is usually a reality in which worker insects can be harmful. So: how to protect our plants?

THE ants Clippers are a difficult pest to eradicate from garden or balcony pots, but there are home methods and a wide variety of insecticides.

In this sense, the Secretariat for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INT), provides a series of recommendations for achieving adequate biological control.

“THE black ants They are certainly among the most frequent and least loved visitors to our garden, among the best known species are the red one, the carpintera and the Argentine one,” they specify on the site.

Although ants play an important role in nature, they generally cause problems the crops. That’s why you need to learn how to regulate the population and take care of the plants.

Some methods to protect plants from ants

These range from broken rice baits and traps, to home remedies. What usually works very well is that ants carry toxic substances to his nest.

The most used baits are shells citrus fruits, honey, cereals of broken rice. Traps are those plant species highly preferred by ants, which they will attack first.

Why are my plants full of ants?

There are multiple reasons why ants are attracted to some plantssuch as lack of regular cleaning, food remains or the presence of aphids.

You have to keep in mind that ants live all over the world. The only place where they have not been found, at least for now, is Antarctica or Greenland.

So, they can appear in a house for various reasons and the main one could be lack regular cleaning. Another thing that can motivate them to move inside instead of outside is the cold.

By taking refuge indoors, they can attack plants and damage the roots, which ultimately kills them.

How to eliminate ants naturally

There are several methods and we will list some of them. The first is with garlic, coffee beans, bay leaves, mint or other herbs and spices. They must be placed in strategic points and this scares the ants, who do not like the smell of these foods.

With sodium bicarbonate You can also scare them. You put it mixed with sugar in a place where they collect it and it can be fatal.

Use citrus peels It’s also effective. The ants accumulate them in the anthill and, when they decompose, they end up being harmful to the insect.

corn flour. Using polenta can also kill them, because they are difficult to digest.

chalk powder Acts as an ant repellent. It must be placed around the plants so that they do not climb on them.

Vinegar mixed with water It is a good protector for plants. This combination is sprayed and repels insects due to its strong odor.