Question
QUESTION: I have ants all over my lawn. I want to know how to kill them without killing my grass??? I do not know what kind of ants they are. I see ant hills all over. They look brownish & little. They don't seem to bite. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO??????

ANSWER: I would like to know where you are writing from so that I can figure out what kinds of Ants you have.  A zipcode will help with that, or your nearest big city.  I promise not to show up at your door uninvited.  rsvp

L.I.G.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for getting back to me. I live in South Easton,MA the zip is 02375.  These ants are driving me CRAZY!!!!! Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Jen

Answer
Of the dozen Carpenter Ant species in the state of Massachusetts, notes the "Carpenter Ants Fact Sheet" posted by Harvard University, 'There are only three pest species of Carpenter Ants.'  They warn: 'It is important to identify your ants.'  You can read the URL here:

www.uos.harvard.edu/ehs/pes_carpenterants.shtml

Note there are scores -- actually, hundreds -- of Ants living in the wild in Massachusetts.  They point out at the Harvard Forest Research Inst, 'Approximately 100 species of ants occur in Massachusetts':

harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/asp/hf/researchapp/showresearch.html?id=500

People often confuse Ants and Termites.  Harvard points out you can also worry about Ants, too; Carpenter Ants can be almost as big a headache. Take this little test at University of Connecticut website to narrow down your choices:

www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/homecourse/insects/termites1.htm

Note especially their caveat: 'Swarming generally occurs during early Spring.'   So you should really take a good look at these.  Yet another authority runs a website devoted to Ants and an IPM program:

www.spcpweb.org/attachments/Ants.pdf

and THESE people at the Mass Dept of Agriculture push vigorously AGAINST pesticides spraying: 'Avoid the urge to spray.  Spraying can fragment the colony -- leading to six smaller colony/nests instead of one large one.'

Because of the potential for more serious problems, I would contact one of your local pest control pro's to get these guys identfied sooner instead of later.  If nothing else, you'll sleep better.  I do know that it takes time for these insects to do damage, but it should be inspected for peace of mind and any other perqs that come up.  It is my understanding that Orange Oil is toxic to Ants.  If these do turn out to be pests, let me know, and if you do not have a satisfactory non-toxic solution from the service, I'll go over your options and their expected effectiveness.

That said, let's also make clear that Ants are not necessarily a BAD thing to have in your Grass.  One study, published in the Journal of Insect Science and conducted by researchers from several universities, declared that 'Ants perform major ecological functions' and 'are typically the dominant predators and scavengers in their size range...'  The researchers noted, too, that 'Ants are often more important than earthworms for Soil mixing, nutrient transport, and Soil aeration ... Moreover, they are major granivores in arid regions, and are important for pollination, dispersal, and protection of numerous plants.  Ants, for example, are responsible for the dispersal of a third of herbaceous plants in New York forests.'

Here is their full report:

www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1081558

So don't just assume these are BAD to have in your Lawn.  They might.  They might not.  A close up i.d. by someone who knows what they're doing is the best way to figure this out, although it is conceivable you can figure this out yourself with the handful of fairly intense websites I directed you to.  I would like to even i.d. this myself.   But it is not practical.  Just don't wipe them out just to get rid of them.  They may be a temporary problem, after all, and they may be doing something you would thank them for if you could.  Find out.

Then please tell me what you learned.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER