Managing Ants & Bees In Your Lawn

These two insects are not the most common to be found in our UK lawns and won’t come across people’s minds that often, but they do exist, and you may find that you currently or one day have these little creatures making a home in your lawn.

Managing Bees

These little bees normally turn up around Late Spring as the weather starts to warm up, they won’t hang around long though, usually just a couple of months. They are also not your regular types such as bumble or honeybees, they are in fact miner bees, but don’t be put off using the lawn as they have no sting.

It will be obvious if you have these friendly bees in your lawn as you will notice them from time to time flying in the area and the mini like volcanos created by the excavated soil. These are very small holes and will not cause much damage at all, it will be beneficial to your lawn by adding extra aeration.

If you feel that the bee mounds are causing an issue or are unsightly, all you have to do is sweep them up on a dry day. This will not inflict any damage to the bees.

These are actually quite cute insects that are responsible for a good amount of pollination which is great for the environment. You should not be put off by them and remember, they are only visiting for a short period of time.

Managing Ants

There are over 30 different types of ants in the UK and you will know if they have invaded your lawn due to the piles of soil, they create that are circular mounds. The most common areas that ants decide to migrate to is well drained dry soils, so if you have a sandy soil base, they will be more likely to appear.

Ants can cause a couple of issues in your lawn, one being the mounds they create, not only are they unsightly but it can cause problems when mowing. The second issue you will have is that the ants will cut through the roots when creating their underground tunnels causing the grass to go yellow or worse make patches.

Some species of Ants don’t cause to much issues and should be tolerated if you can. If you must remove them from the area, make sure to use products that won’t cause any damage to the grass. For getting rid of ants quickly you will want to use “ant killer granules”, there is two ways of using this product, firstly by spreading the granules dry or by dissolving them and sprayed on the surface.

Another product to consider is a “ant bait station” containing a poison that ants carry back to the nest. This is also a great way to prevent ants from making a home in your lawn as the bait station can be left.

The next stage is removing the ant hill/mound, they will not naturally level out as the soil has come from underground, this will cause issues when you go to mow the lawn. All you have to do is brush/sweep the mound on a dry day to disperse it over the lawn.

If you are looking to sow new seed, feed your lawn or want any additional advice, please get in touch, we are more than happy to provide as much information as you need to achieve your lawn goals. You can contact us by phone on 08004118141 or by email at sales@a1lawn.co.uk.