On 31/07/2014 21:27, Roger Tonkin wrote:

Whilst pulling weeds today, I pull up a root and exposed a
large black ants nest,( and the damned things got all over
me!). As there were a lot of small winged ants there, my
immediate instinct was to dig out the ant powder fom the shed,
but....

I suddenly wondered: Do ants do good or harm in the garden,? Do
we need them? Are the flying horrors best off despatched?

Generally they are good for the garden and only ever worth zapping if
they become a real nuisance by raiding your kitchen or something. We had
some once find their way to candied peel in a glass jar with an
imperfect seal on it - by the time we noticed there was a continuous
line of ants exploiting this new food source!

There is usually a colony every 10m^2 or so. It is only annoying when
you disturb a nest and don't notice quickly enough and so get bitten.

Repotting cacti they can be something of a hazard especially if you
don't notice quickly enough and don't want to drop a specimen plant!

I realise that poor ignorant man that I am, I don't know!

If you disturb an ants nest then back off quickly.

It is even worse if you put a spade through a wasps nest when the best
advice is run for it and get indoors ASAP leaving the spade where it is!

Again they are really only worth zapping if they are in the wrong place
- in this case where a fence post needed replacing. So they had to go.

Regards,
Martin Brown