My garden is full of ants and woodlice,how do i get rid?

[Totallyfloaty35]

Or down to normal numbers? I mowed the lawn yesterday and hundreds of woodlouse were crawling out of the grass storing bit,it was gross.I can see them crawling all over the lawn(it cant be normal to see tribes of them?
Ants are everywhere,all my path has heaps of sand on it with thousands of them.My plants are covered in black fly as they are being farmed by the ants.When i water the garden the ants go crazy and my kids run inside screaming as they get everywhere.
Now i admit i am reluctant to murder them,but its got to the stage where its impossible to sit on the grass, help please...

[Totallyfloaty35]

bump

[Totallyfloaty35]

so just me with the crawley problem then?

[scurryfunge]

Kill the ants but the woodlouse are harmless

[Totallyfloaty35]

Thanks,i reckon that if i kill the Ants the woodlouse will end up dead too though.As will most of my plants as a lot of ant killers seem to destroy other insects etc.

[FreeButtonBee]

oh dear. You really have an invasion.

If you can manage it, wash the plants with black fly with a strong solution of fairy liquid and water. Getting rid of the 'harvest' will help discourage them. They will go mad though and move them to other plants but if you are persistant hopefully they will move to someone else's garden.

You need to target the ant nest really ie kill the queen and hope the rest of the ants lose interest. Apparently polenta is a good non-toxic killer of ants. They eat it, can't disgest it then drink some water, it swells up and they expode! Nice!

I have also used the ant bait stations to fairly good effect. The bait is hidden and so other insects are protected from it. The worker ants carry it back to the nest and feed it to the queen/babies. They come in a little round plastic pot about 1cm high. I'd scatter the garden with two or three in the areas with the highest concentration.

[ppeatfruit]

Ants are annoying but are they harmful?
there must be something that likes to eat them? some bird or other natural garden occupier. i second the washing up liquid.

[ppeatfruit]

I just had a brill idea! those insects would do a good job at breaking down compost for you; you could sweep them up and put them on yr. compost heap or start one if you haven't got one!

[Totallyfloaty35]

Oooh more replies, thankyou for the suggestions.I have a gardener coming Monday,will see what he suggests too.

[linspins]

Try this,
this
it must be hard having them all over your lawn when the kids want to sit down. I have nothing against ants but there comes a point when you get too many!

[CuppaTeaJanice]

Please, please don't use ant powder if you have kids.

A friend is a nurse in a childrens ward. A toddler came in one day who had touched a small amount of ant powder and, as toddlers do, put his fingers in his mouth. He didn't make it through the night .