Black ant - feature, harm and methods of struggle

Black ants are frequent residents of gardens, but can also be found in simple city apartments. By themselves, they are not harmful, however, in the course of their lives they are engaged in breeding and growing aphids, the secretions of which they feed on.

As a result, all garden and indoor plants can be covered by this small sucking insect, and it will be necessary to deduce not only the ants themselves, but also this pest.

Black domestic ants

Black ants are the most common type of insect in the European part of the country. They live in a large colony headed by a queen queen. The well-being and expansion of an anthill largely depends on it.

Appearance and lifestyle

Black ants got their name because of the characteristic color of their body, paws and head. In each nest, as a rule, there are three types of insects - workers, males and uterus. Most of the population is ants, workers who collect food, grow aphids, laying eggs and many others. Occupation determines the size of the ant. The largest in the settlement is the uterus - it can be up to 1 cm in length, the chest and abdomen are significantly larger than in other individuals. Male size - up to 5.5 mm, females - up to 4.5 mm, workers - up to 5 mm. In addition, young females can still be identified by the presence of wings.

REFERENCE! Black small ants live where there is a plant louse. They do not eat plants or food debris - their main dish is sweet padya, aphid excretions.

In this case, ants can propagate it, gradually settling in neighboring trees or house plants. The greatest life expectancy have a uterus - up to 28 years.

Males are necessary only for the period of flight of females - in July-August of each year. After mating, they kill their fellows. The female after fertilization flies awayto establish your own anthill and become a queen.

In the colony there may be several, but only for the period of the initial construction of the nest, when there is a need for a large number of workers. As soon as such need disappears, the queen is left alone again.

Benefit and harm

Black small ants are not predators and do not participate in the destruction of various insects in the garden. Rather, they contribute to the spread of such a very unpleasant pest, like aphid. The latter sucks the juice from the leaves and shoots of plants, thereby leading them to drying and death.

Ants feed on the sweet aphid secretions that appear during the tickling of the insect. As a result, with an increase in the number of ants, they need more and more "milk cows".

IMPORTANT! It is practically useless to spray plants from aphids - the ants will transfer the pasture to another, or after a while they will bring new pests to the same place.

In addition, during the construction of new anthills, they can place it on the lawn, under trees or garden paths, thereby involuntarily making changes to the created landscape design.

How to get rid of black ants in a house or apartment?

Fighting black ants can be conducted in various ways, with the use of chemicals or folk remedies. However, it is important to understand that there is no point in destroying all the insect-workers running through, because after a while the uterus will quickly restore their numbers. You must either find and destroy the queen, or move her to another place.

Chemicals act on the principle of penetration of poison into the body of an insect. These include various aerosols, pencils (crayons), powders.

Developed devices, which are based on the magnetic or ultrasonic method, have shown their worthlessness - they are not able to create a signal of such a force that can have a deterrent effect on ants.

Small black ants - This is the most common type of insect, which often settles in gardens and garden plots. It does not in itself have a negative impact on the soil and vegetation, but it actively breeds aphids that feed on sap from flowers and plants. The fight against ants must be carried out in a fundamental way - by ruining the nest and destroying the uterus, or by using various chemical means.

A photo

Next you will see a photo of black ants:

Useful materials

Then you can get acquainted with articles that may be useful and interesting to you:

  • Ants in the apartment:
    1. Uterus of domestic ants
    2. Red ants in the apartment
    3. Pharaoh ant
    4. Yellow and brown ants
  • Ant extermination:
    1. How to get rid of red ants in the apartment?
    2. Boric acid and borax from ants
    3. Folk remedies for ants in the apartment and house
    4. Rating of effective means of ants in the apartment
    5. Ant traps

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