There is still debate in gardening circles as to whether ants in the garden are harmful or a benefit. The truth is that it depends on the species of ant. Some are completely benign. Others can be useful. Still, others can wreck a plant faster than you can say, “A bushel and a peck.”
So, can ants harm your Las Vegas garden? Read this blog to find out more.
Ants are Beneficial
Common ants in Las Vegas provide one interesting benefit for the home gardener. If you see an ant on your rosebush, this usually means you have aphids. Aphids, a tiny parasite, live on the foliage of fruit, vegetable, and flowering plants. Interestingly, ants like to collect aphids and take them back to their next. Aphids are kind of like tiny cows for the ant that tends them, just like you or I would tend a herd of dairy cows. Ants harvest the “honeydew” from aphids, which is a milky, sweet secretion that ants absolutely love.
Ants are also one of the pollinator insect species, working hard to carry pollen from plant to plant. Unless the ant species is one of the more aggressive types we’re going to talk about in a moment, or unless they’ve made a huge next that has gotten in the way, they may have some benefit in the Las Vegas garden.
However, there are more harmful species of ants. We’ll tell you how to identify them and then how to eradicate them before they wreck your house or attack your pet.
Ants are Also Harmful
As you might suspect, carpenter ants like to make their homes in the wood foundations of your home. Anything that is constructed from wood products looks like a nice residence to a carpenter ant. If you see ants coming out of the woodwork or nesting in the corner of your shed, it’s time to call Preventive Pest before the damage gets worse.
The news gets worse from here. Fire ants are large, red, and angry. These can appear in your garden quickly via a small mound that can grow huge. One colony can contain hundreds of thousands or even a million of these vicious little beasts.
Not only will fire ants eat your young pepper seedlings, they may go after your Chihuahua. The sting of a fire ant – one fire ant – burns like fire. That’s because fire ants bite an inject solenopsin, an alkaloid venom. Every year, people and pets are killed by these aggressive marauders. As this story illustrates, while the sting is very painful, many people are sensitive to the venom of a fire ant sting and can succumb to the bite and die. There are even stories of people working in their gardens and being attacked. The victim often succumbs to anaphylactic shock, which can close the human airways, causing death.
Fire ants live in a large mound on the ground. If you bump it, though, they will attack.
Ants and Your Las Vegas Pest Control Company
Whether the pest is friend or foe, your Las Vegas pest control company is standing by for your call. Contact us today to help remove what’s bugging you.
