Learn / Ask The Landscape Professional
I have a lawn question and bet others have the same thing going on in their yards. We have noticed an incredible amount of ant hills in our yard this summer. When it rains, the ants come out of the ground in droves. The same thing is happening at my mom's house. Is there anything we can do? It's so widespread that I can't imagine it can be treated. What causes this? And should I be worried? - Jane, Mystic
Answer
Amazingly, world-wide there are over 12,000 species
of ants that have been identified and possibly more
than triple that number waiting to be discovered. In
Connecticut, ants like to build their nests in dry,
sandy soil. The combination of last summer's drought,
a fairly dry winter and the dry spring of this year
has created outstanding conditions for ants to expand
their population and build more underground nests.
The soil in our area is incredibly dry, especially
down deep where the ant nests are located. But lately,
we have been having some heavy rain and ants and heavy
rain don't mix. So instead of building their nests deep
underground, they build them closer to the surface in
order for the nest to dry out faster after it rains.
Ants prefer lawns that are struggling and patchy, so
you generally don't see significant ant issues in strong
healthy lawns. In any case, ants don't eat grass and
generally don't damage a lawn. Ants are actually beneficial
because: 1) they aerate the soil (even more than earthworms
do) and remove debris from the lawn surface to feed to
their young or to use as nesting material, 2) eat harmful
lawn and plant insects, and 3) disperse seeds of many
plants. Ants themselves are a food source for birds, frogs,
toads and beneficial insects. One thing to be aware of is
that ants love aphids. Aphids produce a sweet, sticky
substance called "honeydew" that ants feed to their young
and the queen ant. Ants actually protect or 'tend' the
aphids like sheep. Make sure you do not have any plants
that attract aphids to your yard. Plants that are struggling
or stressed are aphid attractors. Move those plants to
better locations, or, in the case of shrubs, prune them
to allow for increased air flow. Natural enemies like
birds, lady beetles and wasps are the most effective
control for aphids.
So, in short, even though ants in your lawn may look a bit
unsettling, there is nothing to worry about.
View As PDF
To view a PDF of this article, please
click here.
About Linda Lillie
Linda K. Lillie is the President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc, the premier
landscape design and maintenance, tree care, lawn care, stonework, and carpentry
service provider in southeastern Connecticut since 1997. She is a graduate of
Connecticut College in Botany, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national
award winning landscape designer for her landscape design and landscape installation work.
