In every area you can find problems, for example, ants are eating cabbage, but you don’t know what to do. Solutions can almost always be found: in some cases they are so simple that it was difficult to guess their effectiveness. It also happens the other way around: someone’s borrowed experience turns out to be in vain, ineffective, and the problem only becomes more urgent.
Almost every Russian family loves cabbage, eating it in a variety of forms: fresh, fried, pickled, pickled, stewed. This explains the fact that the vegetable is grown everywhere.The problems that arise during the growth of a cabbage can be different, they can be dealt with in different ways, but if the cabbage is eaten by ants, the summer resident begins an unequal struggle in some situations.
Why are ants harmful?
An ant is an insect that eats up the roots of seedlings. An ant will not refuse the fruits of a plum or apricot, apple tree or strawberry. Everything that is sweet, tasty and aromatic is a real boon for ants. This makes them one of the most dangerous enemies of any garden. The appearance of the ant is not accidental: it is attracted by the viscous liquid secreted by the aphid. This honeydew (as the liquid is called) is a real find and a favorite delicacy of ants.
The aphid itself receives nutrition from the sap of plants, thus, as it were, drying them out. The result of this influence is deplorable: the leaves become dry and lethargic. Gradually they fall off, the plant is exposed and dies. Such neighbors of all cultures are unwelcome guests in the garden, so they should be dealt with.
How to save cabbage
It is possible to save cabbage heads suffering from an ant invasion. Both folk remedies and insecticides are perfect for this.
Chemicals are an extreme control measure that can cause some damage to the plant, but will certainly get rid of unwanted guests - ants.
You can use more radical methods to get rid of ants. If there is an anthill nearby, you can dig it up and take it outside the garden. It will be better if the chosen new place of residence for the ants turns out to be a forest belt or a field where the insects will be happy. Knowing how to save cabbage, you can resort to different means.
The situation is completely different if the ants settled directly in the soil on the site. In such a situation, all control measures lead to a temporary result.Ants leave the contaminated area, but, as a rule, not far, and a few days after disappearing, you can see their new habitat not far from the old one.
Folk remedies
You can save cabbage forks from ants by knowing how to treat cabbage, using familiar folk remedies and plants that can be found in any forest belt or field:
- Tansy, anise or wormwood: the aromas emitted by plants repel not only ants, but also other insects. However, the measure is more advisory in nature. To repel ants, it is necessary to place thin twigs in the places where pests are found. You can prepare an infusion, which is subsequently sprayed onto the cabbage.
- Garlic, which has excellent repellent properties. To be more effective, it needs to be cleaned, the cloves cut and spread between the beds. The procedure must be repeated periodically, since the aroma of garlic will fade over time, allowing the ants closer and closer to the cabbage.
- Tomato tops. Solanine, which is found in branches and leaves, perfectly expels not only ants, but also other insects. To work, you will need to prepare a decoction, which should contain 2 kilograms of tomato stems, finely chopped and poured with 5 liters of boiling water. The product should be infused for two days. Ants will leave the cabbage bed if the plants treated with the infusion emit a tomato aroma.
- Mustard. This remedy is quite effective against ants. There is no need to sprinkle the entire bed with powder, just mark the places where insects accumulate.Moving the ants will help in this fight: the ants on their paws will spread the mustard throughout the entire territory of the summer cottage, and its particles will penetrate the body and clog the respiratory system.
- Boric acid. The powder is very poisonous to ants. A product that works great is a kind of bait: boric acid is mixed with honey or a large amount of sugar, after which it is used to treat the ants’ habitat. The resulting substance is laid out between forks and in the immediate vicinity of the anthill.
- Potato peelings. By spreading them among the heads of cabbage within the same bed, the vegetable grower can be sure that the starch contained in the potatoes will have a detrimental effect on the ants. A large amount of this substance is inevitable death for the insect, because the ant digestive system is not adapted to digest starch.
- Boiling water. This method is both primitively simple and extremely effective against ants. Boiling water should be poured directly into the pest nest. Guaranteed removal of the uterus - repeating the procedure for several days. Before getting rid of ants, you can add oil and kerosene to boiling water.
You can remove ants using regular yeast. The material should be lumber, not dry, which is sold in numerous culinary departments. To be effective, half a bar (about 75 grams) should be mixed with jam or honey. The resulting “delicacy” is spread on pieces of bread and placed near the ants’ habitat.
To save the cabbage, you can resort to replanting. There may be no ants in the new place.This method is especially relevant if the area is large enough and the ants do not move within it. It is important that when removing a plant from the previous site, the ant habitat should be treated to ensure maximum safety for the new bed.
Chemicals
In the fight against ants, drugs containing toxic chemicals can be used. These are the most effective methods of getting rid of annoying insects. The shortest time to get rid of ants and the ease of use of the drug, the short duration of the effect - these are the reasons why most vegetable growers give their preference to insecticides in the fight against ants.
The active ingredient of drugs may vary. Usually these are compounds of phosphorus and organic elements, pyrethroid compounds. Penetrating into the body of an ant, they necessarily provoke its death, bringing real salvation to the summer resident.
The most effective and popular among gardeners are such preparations for combating ants as: “Aardeater”, “Grom-2”, “Delicia”, “Muracid”. Knowing what to do if ants eat cabbage, you can get rid of the problem quickly and for a long time.
