Ants on currants - how to get rid of pests; chemical and biological methods of combating parasites, folk remedies; ants and aphids - interaction of parasites on currant bushes; prophylactic

Causes and consequences of ant attacks on currants

Currants give off a pleasant aroma that attracts almost all types of ants: meadow ants, black garden ants, red forest ants and the like.

Causes

The main reason why ants attack plants is aphids. Aphids have a partnership with ants, where the latter protect the former by fighting insects such as lacewings, ladybugs, ground beetles and others.

And the aphids, in turn, provide the ants with a constant supply of honeydew - this is the sweetish excess liquid secreted by them. Ants consider this liquid a very valuable resource. As a rule, ants build their anthill close to some vegetation.

Consequences

First of all, insects eat the roots of plants and fruit trees during the construction of an anthill, and then:

They reduce the fruiting of plants by destroying the inflorescence by eating the nectar of flowers.
During hot weather they eat the upper parts of young shoots of bushes.
Insects colonize aphids on shrubs and trees.
In order to get the necessary nutrients, ants attack red currants and other plants and drink all their liquid, which leads to the fact that the plant may not survive the winter.

To ensure that aphids and ants no longer appear on currants, you need to use various means to combat them.

conclusions

The main reason for the appearance of ants is the active reproduction of aphids; by starting to fight them, you can get rid of ant colonies.
You can destroy the nest by getting rid of the female queen, who does not leave the hive. Gels and insecticides of intestinal and contact action will be an excellent assistant in this regard.
Folk remedies will allow you to get rid of colonies with minimal impact on shrubs and soil, but they are inferior in effectiveness to chemicals.
To treat aphids and ants, spraying and attracting natural enemies of parasitic insects to the area will help.
Timely prevention will allow you to avoid invasion by both aphids and their protectors – ants.

Beneficial effect on shrubs

Many people know from school that anthills should not be broken. This comes from the fact that even ants that are not loved by everyone can also bring benefits, namely:

Destroy caterpillars and harmful insects.
During the construction of their anthill, they loosen the top layer of soil and also fertilize it with potassium, nitrogen and humus.
They collect corpses throughout the garden and speed up the process of their decomposition.

Symbiosis of ants and aphids

Honeydew, which is secreted by aphids during their life processes, is one of the favorite delicacies of ants, whose food mainly consists of carbohydrates and protein. Of course, ants, on occasion, will happily “snack” some other insect larva, a piece of fruit, seeds or plant juice, but honeydew is a very high-calorie and affordable food, and therefore very desirable for ants.

As you know, ants are very highly organized creatures that, in the process of evolution, acquired the ability to learn and teach. So, having discovered that aphids are capable of producing such a healthy and tasty product, the ants practically turned them into their “livestock”.

They not only know how to “milk” it, tickling its abdomen with their antennae and stimulating an increased release of honeydew, but also transport aphids to the youngest, juiciest and most tasty parts of plants, and, if necessary, protect their “herds” from their natural predators (ladybugs, hoverflies, lacewings, etc.) and even build special protected shelters for them or keep them in their anthills.

Moreover, in addition to the fact that ants “breed” aphids, they themselves can actively damage cultivated plants, feasting on delicate buds, flowers and even roots, berries and vegetables. In addition, ants, in the process of their life activity, sharply acidify the soil around the anthill, and with their underground passages they cause damage to lawns, flower beds, beds, and alpine hills.

As you can see, despite the fact that ants can bring some benefit to a summer cottage - for example, by eating harmful caterpillars with larvae and taking part in the structuring and aeration of the soil - in general, they do much more harm to the summer resident and cultivated plants. And coping with such a numerous, active and omnipresent “enemy” is very, very difficult.

How to deal with the invasion?

There are many ways in which you can protect currants from aphids and ants:

strong odors;
traps and baits;
barrier;
professional products;
destruction of the anthill;
colony transfer;
destruction of aphids.

Strong odors

Like most insects, ants do not like plants that emit a strong odor. Although they do not cause them any harm, insects still try to avoid plants such as:

nasturtium;
rosemary;
marigold;
catnip;
dill;
parsley;
lavender;
peppermint;
Melissa;
fennel and other aromatic herbs.

Ants are afraid of these plants not only because of the strong smell, but because they attract insects that aphids are so afraid of. Therefore, pests will not be able to establish a colony near these plants and they will have to do this in another place in order to get a sufficient amount of sweet honeydew.

It would not be a bad idea to make a strong decoction of green plants and sprinkle it on the places where clusters of ants live. It will repel them, but the smell won't last long. This means that you will have to periodically spray the accumulation area.

Traps and bait

Garlic infusion

If you have little time, you can simply cut the cloves of garlic and place them near the anthill, but this is ineffective. Garlic will bring more benefits if it is grated and mixed with sawdust. And place the resulting composition near the anthill.

And if you have more time, you can prepare a garlic tincture, which can remove most of the pests. To do this you need:

Chop 1 head of garlic.
Fill it with water.
Leave to infuse for about 24 hours.
Pour the resulting tincture over the anthill.

Jam with boric acid

Boric acid was used long before people invented the various pest control chemicals that now fill store shelves. Despite the old age of this method, it still remains relevant, and a large number of people successfully expel harmful insects from their gardens.

Boric acid is tasteless and odorless. It appears to be a white powder consisting of small crystals. 100 years ago it was used to treat certain diseases and old wounds.

And for insects, boric acid is a means that can kill them. To save currants from various types of aphids and ants, a microscopic drop of acid is enough. And also if the relatives of an insect that died from acid eat its corpse, then they too will share its fate.

If you add boric acid to some tasty treat, the insect will not die immediately, but will return to the anthill with a belly full of poison.

Caution: Boric acid will not cause much harm to humans, but you should still be careful when preparing the trap.

How to use boric acid correctly:

Mix 5 grams of boric acid with jam (or other sweets) and add a few drops of cold water.
Stir until the mixture becomes liquid.
Everything that turns out will need to be placed on paper folded several times or a small plastic cover and placed near the anthill or where ants most often appear.

Jam with added yeast

When an ant eats yeast, a fermentation reaction occurs right in its stomach. First, bloating and increased gas formation occur. This situation is especially dangerous for small insects, as they are simply torn apart.

And since ants are social creatures, they will not eat the food they find alone, but will take it to their anthill, and thus almost the entire colony will die out.

Making this remedy is very simple, you just need to mix the jam with yeast, and then place the mixture in a suitable container and place it near the anthill.

Important! In the garden, this method should be used only when absolutely necessary, as this may cause harm to other insects beneficial to the garden.

Ammonia

Ammonia has a specific smell of ammonia, which insects strongly dislike. In order to get rid of pests using this method, you need to mix 2 tablespoons of the product with 5 liters of water. Fill the anthill and ant paths with the resulting solution.

Barrier

Often, in order to protect fertile trees, hunting belts such as “Inta-Vir” or “Kapkan” are used. Thanks to these traps, the ants stick their paws to them and die.

But you can also make barriers with your own hands:

A piece of aluminum foil is rolled around a tree trunk, with the bottom edge at an angle, and to prevent the barrier from creasing, you can put a strip of foam rubber under the foil.
Cut a piece of sheepskin into long and narrow strips, then soak them in carbolic acid and wrap them around a tree trunk.

If there is a need for this, you can sprinkle one of the ant trails:

ground pepper;
mustard powder;
fine wood ash;
lime.

The ants will suffocate as they crawl through this path. After some time, the ants will stop walking along this path.

The disadvantage of this method is that such protection will be washed off after the first rain.

Where do ants come from on currants?

The habitat of aphids is the inside of crop leaves. Pests overwinter under the bark of young shoots. With the arrival of spring and rising air temperatures, aphid larvae emerge. They choose the sap of young branches as food. Due to the attack of aphids, currant leaves curl, then wither and eventually die.

The fruits on the bushes decrease in size, the amount of harvest is significantly reduced. Around July, currant leaves stop growing. At the same time, the aphids develop wings. This allows the insects to move to nearby plants, where the aphids remain until autumn.

Did you know? Ants in small numbers bring exceptional benefits to plants. They destroy the larvae of many other insect pests, and also loosen the soil around crops, due to which the soil is fertilized and enriched with oxygen, phosphorus and potassium.

The main reasons for their appearance:
improper planting and poor quality care around the plant trunk;
untimely harvest;
late collection of fallen leaves;
aphids on trees and shrubs in the garden.

Along the earthen paths you can easily spot ant settlements: the mounds are the homes of insects. Pests quickly colonize new territories, moving at high speed. Ants settle in the ground near the roots of currants. They do not quarrel with aphids, but, on the contrary, form a mutually beneficial alliance.

In early spring, ants carry aphids to branches and buds, and then help them move to the leaves.

In return for their services, the ants receive a sugary substance produced by aphids - honey juice, which they feed on. Aphids harm the ground part of the currant because they suck all the nutrients from the bushes.

Due to the settlement of ants in the ground, the root system of the plant suffers. Most often, currants are attacked by forest brown, black garden and turf ants. Aphids are carried by all types of insects, so you should fight them all.

Using professional products

Before you start using professional means to get rid of insects, you must first try to get rid of ants on currants using folk remedies, since specialized preparations also kill beneficial insects, which, in turn, get rid of other pests.

Clean house

Clean Home is an inexpensive gel that works well against pests that will attack not only at home, but also in the garden.

You can apply the gel either on ant paths, or first apply it in a dotted manner on paper, and then place it in a place where ants accumulate. The poison will begin to act in 24-36 hours.

The advantages of the gel include its ease of use and availability, while the disadvantages include long periods of action, which amount to 3-4 weeks.

Important: The gel is harmful to humans and pets, so before use you need to make sure that no one is poisoned by it.

Summer resident

The Dachnik preparation is based on fir oil, which repels garden ants and other pests.

The advantages of this drug include:

Easy to prepare.
Economical.
Efficiency.
Wide range of applicability.

How to use:

Shake and open.
Pour 5 ml of the drug into an 8-liter bucket filled with water and mix with a stick.
After removing the top layer of soil from the anthill, water it with 2-3 liters of solution.

The protection will be valid for six months. In addition to the anthill, the product can also be used on beds and paths in the proportion of 5 liters per 1 cubic meter.

Grom-2

Grom-2 is a granule designed to get rid of pests such as soil flies and garden ants. For the drug to start working, you just need to spread it over the surface of the anthill so that the insects can come into contact with it. The drug is valid for 2-3 months. It must be applied with rubber gloves; although it is not harmful to plants and soil, the same cannot be said about human skin.

Thunder-2 from ants: instructions for use and principle of operation, read more in this article.

Phenaxin

This product is intended not only for treating premises, but also for vegetable gardens. It causes insects to curl up and not die immediately. First, on their paws, they carry the poison to their anthill, where they infect their relatives with it.

How to use:

Sprinkle a thin layer of powder onto the ant paths. If necessary, you can apply the powder again after a month.

Important! When using the drug, you need to make sure that the powder does not get on the plants. Phenaxin is safe for people and pets, but you still need to wear gloves when using the drug and keep your pets out of the garden for 1 month.

Muratox

Muratox gets rid of not only ants, but also fleas, larvae and basement mosquitoes.

How to use:

Dilute 1-2 ml of the drug in 10 liters of water.
Dig up the anthill and water it with freshly diluted solution.
Sprinkle with earth.

Or you can lure the insects with some sweetness and spray them with the solution. Valid for 1 month. Muratox is dangerous for fish, so you should avoid possible contact of the solution with the water.

Ant-eater

One ampoule of anteater is diluted in 10 liters of water, and then you will need to water the anthill with the resulting solution. The drug will begin to act in 2-3 weeks.

Read more about how to properly use Anteater against ants in this article.

Pyrethrum

Pyrethrum is an insect repellent powder that is almost completely natural and very effective.

To prepare the infusion you need:

Mix 300 grams of powder with 1 liter of water and let the solution brew for 12 hours.
Do the same, but with 4-6 liters of water.
Then mix solutions 1 and 2.

Use the resulting mixture to spray plants. All manipulations with the solution must be done with rubber gloves.

Antiant

This product has a filler that attracts ants, and it also does not have an unpleasant odor. It is necessary to evenly distribute the product along ant paths and their clusters. The ants will disappear in 2 days. The duration of action of the solution is almost 50 days.

Methods for controlling insects without harming currants

If you notice pests on a bush, do not hesitate to exterminate them, otherwise you will lose your berry harvest in the future.

Strong odors

Ants cannot tolerate the pungent odors of some plants: wormwood, mint, parsley, garlic. Place the chopped greens under a bush or near an anthill. Tomato tops can also help in the fight against insects. The main thing is that the greens are freshly cut, as they do not release their fragrant aroma for long - only a few hours before they wither. Because of this, it needs to be periodically replaced with a new one. To avoid having to do this often, it is easier to plant mustard, marigolds or tomatoes between the currant rows.

Marigolds help protect plantings from pest invasion, and water extracts from the plant have a powerful insecticidal effect on dangerous insects

Traps, bait and barriers

A more effective way is to make a trap from double-sided adhesive tape, which must be secured to a board and installed on ant paths or under a bush. Such a device is built around the trunk of a tree; its purpose is to prevent pests from climbing onto the plant. It is recommended to place sugar or honey in the center of the trap to attract insects.

A jar of sweet bait will also help you. Water is prepared in half-liter containers, after which they are placed in the path of movement of the ants. Insects attracted by the sweet smell will crawl into the traps and drown in the sweet syrup. All you have to do is periodically throw out the drowned ants and replace the product with a new one. At the same time, do not expect miracles: there will be no strong effect from such a trap, only some working individuals will die.

The following recipes are suitable as bait:

At 2 tbsp. l. warm water, take 1 tbsp. l. granulated sugar, 1/3 tsp. borax and 1 tsp. honey or jam. Transfer the resulting mixture into a flat dish and place it in places where ants accumulate. Due to borax, the sweet bait becomes a real poison for pests.

The simplest use of borax against ants is to sprinkle the powder on the anthill
2 tbsp. l. mix minced meat with 1/2 tsp. borax and place it near the anthill.

Ants love not only sweets, but also meat; they will definitely be attracted by the smell of minced meat.
1 tbsp. l. yeast, pour water to the consistency of sour cream, add 1 tsp. jam. Place the bait in a flat dish and place it near the anthill.

Once in the ant's stomach, the yeast will first cause severe bloating, and then completely rupture it

It is known that ants are terrified of water. So trenches around the bushes filled with water will help as a reliable barrier.

Some gardeners know that ants are afraid of simple millet. But it is still unclear why. It is believed that insects mistake yellow grains for dead eggs and leave dangerous places in panic. As a result, the millet expands in the stomachs of the ants, and they die. Also, fungi that are dangerous to insects develop on grains carried into the anthill, which can also cause their death.

Some summer residents suggest sprinkling ant paths with small cereals - semolina, millet, corn grits

Insecticides

If traditional methods do not help, then chemicals are used, the most popular of which are the following:

A clean house contains a substance poisonous to ants - chlorpyrifos, which has an intestinal contact effect on insects. After consuming the bait, the ant does not die immediately, but carries the poison to the anthill, where it infects other individuals. To kill insects, apply gel to cardboards and place them near the ants' habitat or under currant bushes. Periodically it is necessary to change baits to new ones;

Gel Clean Home is available in plastic syringes, convenient for use.
Summer resident is the safest remedy for use against ants in the garden. It contains only natural phytocomponents with a spicy fir aroma. The working solution is prepared at the rate of 1 ml of the drug per 1 liter of water. Next, the bushes where the pests were noticed are sprayed with the product;

The drug Dachnik is available in 5 ml bottles
Grom-2 - contains the active substance diazinon, as well as food additives. Thanks to them, ants willingly eat the bait. While in the insect’s body, the drug disrupts the functioning of the nervous system, causing paralysis and causing death. To get rid of ants on currants, you need to make depressions around the damaged bushes, pour granules into them and lightly sprinkle earth on top;

Thanks to food additives, ants will easily find bait in the form of Grom-2 and will willingly eat it
Phenaxin is a product in powder form, the active ingredients of which are fenvalerate and boric acid. In addition to toxic substances, it contains a special oil for sticking the powder to the legs of insects. The drug is easy to use: pour a layer of powder near the anthill or on the paths of movement of ants;

Do not pour a mountain of Phenaxin, a layer of 0.5 mm is enough
Muratox is an insecticidal agent in liquid form, which contains the predominant substance diazinon. To destroy ants, a solution is prepared (1–2 ml of the drug per 10 liters of water) and then the paths and places where insects were noticed are treated with this composition. The duration of action of the drug is 3–4 weeks in dry weather. After rains, the procedure is repeated.

Muratox is available in 10 ml bottles

Destruction of an anthill

If ants continue to attack your bushes, then complete destruction of the ant colony is an option. Here are some effective ways:

Fill the anthill with boiling water, kerosene or a strong infusion of tomato tops.

The insecticidal properties of tomato tops, which repel pests, have been known for a long time.
You can stir up the place where the ants live and cover it with hot ash - after this procedure, the surviving ants leave their habitable places forever.
Prepare a solution: 2 cups of vegetable oil, 2 cups of any shampoo, 2 cups of vinegar and 10 liters of water. Make a hole in the center of the anthill, pour the resulting mixture into it and cover the anthill with film for several days.

Even the cheapest shampoo is suitable for fighting ants.
Read also: Features of poplar moth and the fight against it
Use the chemicals Muratox, Muracid, Biorin or Sinuzan according to the instructions.

Muracid is a concentrated preparation that is used to destroy anthills in vegetable gardens, gardens and wooden houses

Moving an ant nest

If you do not want to use toxic substances in the garden, you can simply move the anthill along with the colony outside your area. This is easy to do: after finding the ants’ habitat, dig it up, put it in a bag or bucket and take it to the forest. Cover the area where the anthill was with ash.

How to destroy an anthill

Boiling water

First you need to dig out the anthill, and then fill it with hot water from the kettle, trying to keep a distance from other plants. This method does not guarantee 100% pest control.

Kerosene

Dilute 150 ml of kerosene with 10 liters of water.
Rake up the anthill and use a shovel to make a couple of holes in the top of the anthill.
Pour the prepared solution into the anthill and cover it with polyethylene so that the smell does not disappear quickly.

After some time, the ants will change their place of residence.

Strong infusion of tomato tops

Since ants cannot tolerate strong aromas, you can scare them away by placing tomato tops on the anthill.

Hot ash

In order to destroy an anthill, first you need to stir it up, then pour the ash remaining after burning the grass, leaves, and branches while still hot into the ants' holes. This method will cause a lot of problems for insects and kill their embryos.

Vegetable oil solution

To prepare this product, you need to mix 10 liters of water with 400 ml of vegetable oil, vinegar and the same amount of shampoo. Then pour the resulting solution into the anthill, first making several holes in it, and then cover it with polyethylene. After 2-3 days the ants will disappear.

Prevention

To avoid the appearance of ants on the bushes of berry crops, you need to frequently cultivate the soil on the site and between the rows of the bushes. Insects prefer to settle in untouched soil. In the spring, treat the trunks of the bushes and the areas under them with a solution of lime - ants cannot stand its smell, so they will not be able to get close to the currants and transfer aphids to them.

Treat tree trunks and surrounding soil with a strong lime solution

Chemicals

Muratox

Dilute 1 gram of muratox with 10 liters of water and pour the solution into the anthill, and after 3 days the pests will disappear.

Muratsid

Also dilute 1 gram of the product with 10 liters of water and pour it into the anthill. The pests will disappear in 1 day.

Biorin

Dilute 2.5 ml of the drug with 1 liter of water and spray the anthill with the resulting solution. All ants will stop appearing after 1 day.

Sinuzan

Dilute 1 liter of water with 2.5 ml of product and spray the ant paths and the anthill itself.

How to get rid of it?

If there are too many ants in the garden, you will need to destroy some of the anthills. How to get rid of ants? What to do if they have become too prolific on the site? To do this, you need to resort to several methods:

destroy anthills using folk remedies or chemicals;
prevent insects from growing on trees by arranging trapping belts;
place sweet poisoned baits on ant paths.

Ants very often choose black currant plants for aphid colonies.

How to get rid of insects if ants appear on currants? Saving currants from ants will not be easy. The fight against ants begins with getting rid of the anthill:

near the anthill, scatter ground red or black pepper, tobacco, ash, dry mustard, cinnamon;
along the circumference of the anthill, water the ground with vegetable oil, kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel, chlorinated lime, urine, ammonia;
bury the head of a herring in an anthill;
Sprinkle salt or Karbofos powder along the main trampled paths of ants;
sprinkle millet, corn flour, baking soda on top of the anthills;
cover the anthill with tomato, parsley or wormwood leaves;
water the anthills with boiling water and vinegar;
pour a mixture of sugar and boric acid onto the anthill; instead of sugar, you can use jam or honey.

Experienced gardeners mix yeast with jam, leave the mixture for several hours and place it under the currants. The worker ants get drunk from this treat, stop feeding the young, and the colony dies.

In the spring, garlic is planted near a currant bush affected by aphids. Neither ants nor aphids can tolerate the smell of this plant. Planting garlic will rid the currants of both insects at once.

Many gardeners do it even simpler - they use chemical insecticides:

Diazinon is a very potent drug, it contains a 60% Diazinon emulsion concentrate. Once in the pest's body, it causes paralysis and death. It can be sprayed on currant branches; it does not accumulate in plants.
Anti-ant - consists of boric acid and bait, scattered near the anthill for the ants to eat. The effect will be noticeable within a week.
Pyrethrum - contains a natural insecticide made from ground chamomile. Treat the anthill with the powder form, and the currant leaves with the water form.

Very effective and popular are ant gels such as Global, Rubit, Brownie, Raptor.

If ants have bred aphids on currants, then you need to think about how to save the currants from these pests. There are many tried and true ways to protect blackcurrants. For example, spray the branches:

a solution of liquid soap or dishwashing detergent;
infusion of garlic or onion (1:10);
a decoction of yarrow, tansy, onion peel, wormwood, peppermint;
infusion of potato leaves, tomato, chopped garlic, tobacco;
a weak solution of potassium permanganate with the addition of liquid laundry soap;
clean water and sprinkle them with ash.

A good result is obtained by fumigating a bare bush in early spring with dry wormwood branches sprinkled with 1 tbsp. l. dry garlic and 3 tbsp. l. pharmaceutical chamomile.

You can place picked wormwood and tomato shoots under the currants; their smell repels aphids. Adding soap to solutions not only improves its adhesion to leaves, but also creates an alkaline environment that aphids cannot tolerate.

Do not forget to thoroughly process the leaves on all sides, unfold the wrapped ones into lumps and rinse well in the prepared mixture. The treatment will need to be repeated 3-4 times until the aphids disappear completely.

Transferring an ant colony

Ant colonies often consist of several nests connected to each other like a net. For this reason, you will have to move not only the main anthill, but also the nearest ones.

The new place for the colony should be similar to the previous one, and there should be no other anthills of the same species near it. Also, the distance between the previous place and the proposed one should not be more than a few hundred meters.

It is best to dig an anthill at sunset, when all the ants are in their nest. You need to move the entire nest, both its upper and lower parts. Large bags and buckets can be used for transportation. Usually the anthill goes 50 cm deep into the ground, but this distance can reach up to 2 meters.

The anthill does not need to be completely buried in a new place; the upper part should not be covered with earth. If the ants suddenly don’t like the place, they will move it to the right place.

Important: It is advisable to move the anthill in the summer so that the insects have time to prepare for the cold.

Professional methods

Professional remedies for ants
How to treat currants so that ants do not approach them and aphids do not establish themselves, gardeners know and share their experience.

Pyrethrum

Spray the bushes with a solution of pyrethrum. The powder is obtained from a special type of chamomile. The composition contains a natural insecticide that kills insects. Getting the drug is problematic due to production cuts.

Antiant

The Antiant drug will help save currants. The active component is boric acid. The substance is safe for humans, non-toxic to plants, and causes paralysis and immediate death in insects.

Auxiliary ingredients – food additives, flavorings. The product is produced in capsule form. They are sprinkled around a currant bush if ants have attacked it in a whole column. Leave it on the anthill. The drug will take effect within a week.

Gels

Insect repellent gels
Preparations in the form of a gel are used indoors and outdoors. The active components retain their properties for two weeks. The composition includes broad-spectrum insecticides. Causes death if ingested. The effectiveness of the following products has been confirmed:

A great warrior;
Brownie;
chops;
Raptor;
Storm.

The gel is applied to a board, a piece of plywood, plastic, thick cardboard, and placed under the currants.

The peculiarity of this method of control is the mass death of the anthill. The insects eat the poisonous bait themselves, drag it to the nest, and feed the queen and larvae. The death of the insect occurs within three days after entering the stomach. The ants, unaware of anything, continue to eat the bait. Then comes mass death.

Destruction of aphids

Aphids are one of the most dangerous pests in the garden. The aphid is very tenacious and prolific; it attacks a large number of garden and garden crops.

Wood ash infusion

Some gardeners use wood ash as a fertilizer, but it can also be used as a remedy against aphids and as a preventive measure for plant diseases.

How to cook:

Pour boiling water over 300 grams of sifted ash.
Boil for half an hour.
Sift, sift and dilute with water to a 10-liter volume.
Then add 50 grams of soap.

Treat currants with the solution in the evening in dry weather to prevent ants and aphids.

Biological drugs

It is much more effective to use special biological preparations against aphids. Some of the most common are:

Aktara

250 ml of the drug should be dissolved in 1 liter of water, then shake well and start spraying the currants. The solution cannot be stored in this condition.

The insects will die in a day, and the protective effect will last for 2-3 weeks.

Karbofos

Dilute 1 packet per 8 liters of water; spend no more than 1.5 liters of solution per bush. The protection period is 1 month.

Rovikurt

Dissolve 10 grams of a 25% preparation in 10 liters of water and spray the currant bushes with the resulting solution. The protection period is 15 days.

Inta-Vir

You need to mix 1 tablet of the drug with 10 liters of water and spray the currants before flowering and after harvesting. You need to know when to stop and do not spend more than 2 liters of solution on 1 currant bush. The protection period lasts 2 weeks.

Do not spray the plant at the beginning of flowering.

Ants and aphids. Why do currant leaves curl?

If there are ants on currants or in a greenhouse with tomatoes, it means that aphids are parasitizing on the leaves. As already mentioned, this is due to the fact that pests love the juice that aphids produce. When aphids appear, the leaves begin to curl. For this reason, it is important to get rid of not only ants, but also parasites. If this is not done, other insects will soon settle next to the currants and the situation will repeat. Read about measures to combat bud mite on currants here.

Where do ants bring aphids from and how to drive away pests

Ants take aphids from the inside of currant leaves. After this, they transfer the pests to other branches and buds of the plant. This way, aphids reproduce faster, providing food for the entire anthill.

Control methods that will help save currants

The following remedies will help get rid of pests:

Take 30 grams of soap and dilute the product in 10 liters of water. It is more convenient to use liquid soap because it dissolves faster. Spray the resulting product on the currants. This will lead to parasites sticking together. As a result, the aphid will die.
Take potato leaves, chop the plant, place it in a large container. You can use a bucket. Add water and place the container on the fire. Wait for it to boil, cook for a few minutes. Next, leave the broth to infuse for 24 hours. The resulting preparation must be used to treat currants. To get rid of the problem, it is recommended to spray multiple times.
Take 200 grams of peeled garlic cloves. Fill the product with one liter of water. Leave the solution to infuse for 7 days. Stir the preparation throughout the entire time. After this, spray the product on the currants.
Take onion peels in an amount of 200 grams. Fill the product with two liters of water. Leave the product for three days to infuse. Spray the finished product on the currants.
To combat aphids, you can use wormwood. To do this, take 30 grams of dried plant, 300 grams of fresh herbs. Place them in a container, add 2 liters of water. Boil the solution and leave for 24 hours to infuse. After this, start spraying the bushes with the drug.

Prevention of occurrence

To ensure that aphids almost never appear, you need to constantly monitor the health of the plants.

You also need:

Clear the garden of leaves.
Mow down the weeds.
Cut out root shoots and tops on which eggs can overwinter.
Destroy or contain anthills in spring and summer.

How to kill ants in strawberries: effective ways

Ants not only love to feast on strawberries, but also love to make their home under this crop. To destroy ants in this case, you need to act quickly and decisively.

We begin the fight by destroying aphids as much as possible. You can spray it with various decoctions, for example, from wormwood, or place branches of crops that have the most pests in containers with water for a couple of minutes.
Next, you can use products with boric acid. For example, mix a couple of spoons of honey with a spoon of sugar and add 5 g of acid to the sweets. Treating strawberries with the product
You can also make such baits. We take live yeast, mix it with granulated sugar and roll the resulting mixture into bead-sized balls. We spread the product near the anthill, strawberries, along the paths where insects walk
If all of the above does not produce results, we try to destroy the anthill. You can dig up the house of pests, and during the procedure add salt, soda, and ash to the ground
You can also act more humanely. You dig up an anthill, place it in a container and take it somewhere. You can go to the forest, field
You can try filling the anthill with a decoction of some herbs that are aggressive to ants, for example, wormwood, pine needles, garlic
Also, to protect strawberries from pest attacks, it is recommended to plant them next to garlic and onions.

Common Mistakes

Mistakes of those gardeners who decided to deal with aphids:

they plant garlic thickly;
After collecting garlic seeds, you must dry and check them, and then repeat the process before planting;
infusions and decoctions are ineffective over large areas; in this case, you can use chemicals;
After processing the trees, you still need to cut off the tops;
If wounds are found on trees, you need to cover them with varnish and then spray it with copper-containing preparations. Otherwise, the tree may get sick.

It is very difficult to remove aphids and ants, but if you want to get results, then you don’t need to focus only on poisons. You need to constantly monitor your garden, every tree and plant. And only then can you get a good effect.

General description of aphids

There are about 4,000 species of aphids in nature. Our plots are usually inhabited by leaf gall aphids (on red and white currants) and gooseberry shoot aphids (on black currants). The aphid colony actively reproduces, simultaneously destroying more and more plants. Over the course of a season, they can almost completely destroy a medium-sized bush, which will weaken so much that it cannot withstand the cold.

Aphids are sometimes eaten by small birds, so they should also be attracted to the site

An adult aphid is a small insect, up to 2 mm long, light green, yellow-green or gray-green in color. It feeds on plant sap, piercing the lower surface of leaves or young shoots with its proboscis. As a result, the leaves curl, wither, and the shoots become bent and stop growing. Insects are carriers of dangerous diseases that completely deprive the plant of its vitality.

Aphid activity peaks in June, and several generations of this pest may appear over the course of the summer. Moreover, if the plant weakens and ceases to saturate the huge colony, winged insects begin to hatch and fly to neighboring bushes.

Aphids usually attract ants, which feed on honeydew, the insect's secretions. Ants guard aphids and carry them from place to place, so they also need to be fought.

The easiest way to combat ants carrying aphids is to pour boiling water over them and destroy the anthill

Prevention in spring during flowering. How to protect garden crops

It is easier to prevent any problem than to fight it. This also applies to harmful insects. The following preventive measures will help to avoid the occurrence of ants and protect currants

Plant garlic next to the currant bushes; ants do not like its smell, which will provide the bushes with reliable protection;
use baking soda to get rid of aphids in a timely manner, this will help avoid insect infestations;
whiten the bottom of the branches of the bush;
in the spring, before the buds appear, treat the plant with anti-ant agents;
after the first leaves appear, re-use the preparation to spray currants;
do not use large amounts of fertilizers, do not fertilize frequently, as this may attract pests and harm the plant;
if buds appear too early in the spring, pour hot water over the currants;
regularly dig up the soil in the area, loosen the soil under the plants - this will scare away the ants, since insects do not like to be disturbed.

Traditional methods - what can you spray with during flowering and save the plant?

Environmentally friendly: do not kill ladybugs and bees. The following methods are good against ants:

Scald with boiling water (first stir up the anthills; repeat the procedure several times; do not use near currants, so as not to destroy their roots).
Water the anthills with a solution of kerosene and diesel fuel (measure 10 tablespoons of each substance, dilute in water (10 l)), place it near a container with oleic acid, the smell of which ants are “afraid of.”
Place poisoned baits for insects (containers with a mixture of equal parts of boric acid and honey (sugar, jam or yeast) under the plants: such “feeders” are safe for people and animals; boric acid has a nerve-paralytic effect on ants; yeast spoils their food supplies , “intoxicate” the insects, and they stop obtaining food for their queens and larvae).
Sprinkle anthills and bushes with lime, wood ash, tobacco dust, red pepper or cinnamon.

Ants are sensitive to the acid-base reaction of the soil; they will not build nests in soils that are limed or treated with ash.

Currants can be sprayed against aphids with herbal decoctions and infusions:

Garlic - half a kilogram of raw material is infused in five liters of water at room temperature for one day; sprinkle with strained garlic water.
Tomato leaves - chop fresh tops (4 kg) and dry tops (2 kg), boil in water (10 l) for half an hour, cool, strain; store in a cool place, apply by diluting the decoction in a ratio of 1:5.
Wormwood and ash - mix 500 g of herb, 5 liters of water and a glass of ash, leave for 5 hours; Before use, dilute with water 1:2.
Also celandine, potato tops, dandelion and onion; mustard is also suitable for these purposes, but it is a strong allergen.

Infusions and decoctions will stick to the leaves better and will not be washed off by rain longer if you add laundry soap to them (

Aphids are also eliminated by fumigating bushes with celandine smoke and treating them with laundry soap.

Facilities

The main means used to kill insects are chemical, mechanical and folk methods. Let's talk about them in more detail. Shakespeare will tell you about growing winter onions in this material.

Mechanical methods

Mechanical methods of combating aphids and ants are highly effective and at the same time are non-toxic - there are no treatments with aggressive drugs that penetrate the leaves, internal structures of the plant and fruits, negatively affecting their taste and nutritional properties.

The fight against aphids on currants using mechanical methods begins in early spring and ends in the late autumn months. Seasonal pruning must be done.

Be sure to cut out and eliminate diseased shoots. In the summer, infected branches are cut off, removed from the site and must be burned. The main disadvantage of the mechanical method is that it is effective only for minor lesions. For prevention purposes, weeds are pulled out from under the plants and care is taken to ensure that ants do not set up their homes under the currants. You can attract ladybugs and other insects to the site that destroy aphids. For these purposes, marigolds and alyssum are planted in gardens.

Closer to autumn, the currants are inspected again, all damaged branches are removed and burned with fallen leaves. Healthy shoots will need to be supported by spraying with protective compounds, and the ground under the bushes will need to be carefully dug up. Find out about ways to grow Troy onions in this article.

Mechanical methods of fighting ants include pouring boiling water over anthills, physically destroying them, or destroying them with gasoline. Ultrasonic repellers also work, but gardeners say that the effectiveness of this method is average.

Chemicals

If the area is heavily infected, and neither mechanical means nor folk recipes help, chemical means of protection remain. They can have different effects on insects:

intestinal – from the inside, when aphids enter the body along with food;
contact - from the outside, in case of direct contact with insects.

The final processing is done when the crop is completely harvested.

Chemical treatments need to be done several times per season. Follow the calendar of events to avoid harming the crop.

The main chemical agents for aphids that can be found on the open market are Karbofos, Inta-Vir, Fury, Aktara, Konfidor. Follow the instructions strictly - do not violate the dosage or frequency of treatments; be sure to use personal protective equipment while performing work. And, as we wrote above, do not ignore preventive measures - they are much less toxic than chemical treatments and will help avoid infection and protect the crop. This link will tell you about the benefits and harms of blue onions.

The most effective against ants and scale insects are chemicals based on diazinon, a powerful contact-intestinal poison. It is absorbed through the skin into the insect's body, resulting in paralysis and death occurs after a maximum of 3 days. Protective time after treatment is 3 weeks. The poison diazolin is included in such drugs as Muracid, Grom-2, Anteater and Ant. Features of the funds:

Grom-2 is a granular insecticide of 2nd degree of danger. The use of personal protective equipment during processing is mandatory (gloves, goggles, respirator). To destroy an anthill, remove the top 3 cm of soil, add poison and cover with soil. As a rule, you need to wait 3-4 days - and the area will be clear of uninvited guests.
Ant is also a granular form that effectively affects garden ants. The product is safe for plants and animals, is sold in 10 g bags, belongs to the category of food baits, it does not need to be diluted with water. The drug is buried 2 cm deep near the anthill. The bag is enough to process 5 squares. Hazard group 2.
Muracide is an insecticide against house and garden ants, available in the form of a solution, diluted with water. The death of insects begins 2-4 days after treatment. The insecticide is used to prepare baits - they are placed in small containers near the bushes. For 100 ml of water, take 100 g of sugar, 20 g of honey and a drop of the product.
Anteater is a remedy for garden ants, available in the form of ampoules; to prepare a solution, 1 ml of the concentrated drug is diluted in 10 liters of water. This volume is enough for one-time processing of up to 10 anthills.

Chemicals, even the latest generation, are aggressive and still have a negative effect on the berries. Therefore, they should be used after harvesting, if, of course, you are worried about its safety.

Folk remedies

Folk remedies are also quite effective in the fight against aphids; they do not harm ladybugs or bees. To repel pests, decoctions and infusions of herbs are most often used, which can be found in any flowerbed or garden bed. This:

tomatoes;
marigold;
garlic;
red pepper;
celandine.

Aphids usually settle on the underside of leaves, so you will have to treat and spray every branch along the length of the plant. The young shoots are tilted, then lowered into a container with a solution and washed thoroughly. Calm, dry weather and evening hours are optimal for work. Read about the best varieties of currants for the middle zone.

It is necessary to wash not only currant bushes with infusions and decoctions, but also everything that grows on the ground beneath them.

To prepare marigold infusion, take dried flowers. For half a regular bucket of crushed dry grass, take a bucket of warm water, the infusion time is three days, then the decoction is filtered. Before spraying, add 50 g of soap to the infusion.
For the garlic mixture, take 0.5 kg of garlic heads, chop them thoroughly, and pour warm water (room temperature). The infusion time is 24 hours, then the composition is filtered and used for spraying.
Take only fresh red peppers - 10 kg of fruit per bucket of water is enough. Use cold water, then boil the mixture for an hour. The prepared solution is placed in a cool, dark place for several days. For spraying, a glass of concentrate is diluted in 10 liters of water. To make the drug more active on the leaves and stay on them better, as in the case of marigolds, liquid soap is added to it.
Ash and wormwood are also effective folk remedies for currant pests. You need to take a glass of ash, 500 g of wormwood herb and pour it all with 5 liters of ordinary water. Infusion time – 5 hours. In order to obtain a working mixture, part of the solution is combined with a couple of parts of water.
Tomato tops - mix 4 kg of fresh and 2 kg of dry tops, add a bucket of water and boil for 30 minutes. Cool, strain, place in a cool place. For spraying, the concentrate is diluted with water 1:5. You can also add soap.
A solution of soda ash is prepared from a tablespoon of soda and a liter of water. The product is cheap, effective, and helps against fungus quite well.
Celandine tincture - take 4 kg of herb (fresh) per 10 liters of water, leave for 24 hours. Use the resulting solution to spray currants. Since celandine juice is poisonous, work is performed with gloves.

Methods for treating currants against aphids and ants

If the blackcurrant leaves begin to curl, and swollen areas appear on the red or white varieties, aphids have appeared on the bushes. Over time, ants will follow the aphids, and together they have every chance of destroying your crops. Therefore, do not waste time and immediately begin pest control as soon as you find them on the bushes.

Aphids love the reverse side of leaves and overwinter as usual under the crust on young shoots. When it gets warmer outside in the spring, the pest larvae begin to actively crawl out and feed on the sap of young shoots. As a result, the leaves of the currant bushes begin to curl, wither and die. There may be berries, but they are small and not tasty; yields drop noticeably. In mid-summer, when the foliage stops growing, the aphids develop wings and fly to neighboring plants, where they live until autumn. Harmful insects actively reproduce, closer to autumn they again settle on currant bushes and lay eggs there.

The ants will definitely join the aphids, the question is how quickly this will happen. Contrary to popular belief, ants do not eat aphids, but rather spread them to branches and buds, thereby providing themselves with tasty food - namely honey juice. Anthills - the main homes of pests - are easily found along paths and hills. Black garden, brown, and turf insects are commonly found in gardens. You need to fight aphids and ants together, otherwise there will be no results.