Everyone loves a nice garden, add some nice bushes, maybe roses, toss in some tulips and lilies and you got yourself a little garden. That garden is going to need some protection, though, what kind you ask? It needs a ground cover! Now, what do you use for ground cover? Moss? Pebbles? Or maybe mulch. Mulch is made from various kinds of wood and is essentially the chopped-up leftovers from construction and furniture manufacturing companies. The wood is ground down into chunks and used by most homes and businesses to cover the dirt in their garden to make the garden appear more pristine. It also helps plants grow better by protecting their roots from sun damage, water damage as the wood absorbs a lot of the rain and keeps certain pests away. It suppresses weeds it maintains soil moisture helping the plants grow big and strong and it prevents erosion of the soil and keeps the temperature of the soil consistent even when the hot sun is beating down on it. While much of this can be handled by moss or pebbles a lot of people swear by mulch as the only answer to covering a garden.
Wood mulch can attract insects like termites and carpenter ants. Carpenter ants love mulch because it is easy for them to build nests inside the pieces. They can even use the natural formation of the mulch to create a nest without even having to chew through the wood. They do not eat wood, this is a misconception born from termites who live in the wood permanently and eat the wood for sustenance. Carpenter ants still need food and they are very fond of human food for its high sugar content. Alcohol, sweets, ice cream and other treats can attract them so be careful feeding your children outside. The mess on the kitchen floor is worth not having carpenter ants. The central issue with them is not their invasion of your grounds in whatever wooden detritus may be present but that they will rapidly use that as a landing pad for satellite colonies. They breed by producing new queens and large, winged males that are sexually active. The males mate with the females in a mating dance often by windows for the light. If you find wings and dead males in your house especially by the windows then you have a severe infestation in your home. This is assured if the carpenter ants are on your property. It is not a matter of if, but when.
So how can you prevent ants from forming a colony in your mulch and then moving on to make one in your home? You can make sure to keep your garden away from your house, put it in the middle of the yard or to the side but keep it at least 3 feet from your home. You will also need to make sure to stir the mulch daily to prevent ants from forming a colony in the mulch. This is an effective way to reduce them. Alternatively, you could sprinkle cedar oil on the garden mulch and kill the ants by suffocation from the highly potent oil. Cedar mulch itself is very effective as a natural insecticide and even prevents mould. If you have to use mulch then use cedar. You can also exchange the mulch for something else. Pebbles have the same effect of protection and filtration but do not absorb the water and do not do much to prevent mould and moss. Clay beads are also good for this purpose and will absorb water and prevent mould.
If you have them in your home then you will need to act fast. The ants are interested in your food so store it all in hard glass, metal or plastic containers that cannot be penetrated by an ant. You will then want to buy boric acid from the grocery store. don’t worry, they have plenty. The main ingredient in Borax soap is boric acid and the content is more than enough to kill ants. So mix it with some sugar, water and flour and make tiny balls to put around the house. Do not worry about your pets, there is not enough boric acid there to harm them. The ants will eat the meals of boric acid and will take them back to the nest where the queen and all workers will feast. This will quickly end your infestation and you won’t even have to inspect for their nests.
