Service summary:
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A Grove technician will come to your home and identify the ant species and determine a control program.
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If inside, the technician will identify areas which need to be cleaned and apply non-toxic diatomaceous earth to reduce the ant population. If this does not work, a further treatment with gel bait pesticides is an option.
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If outside, the technician will find all ant nests and treat them directly.
Ant Info and Control
Ants are everywhere.
They are one of the most successful group of animals on the planet. Common ant species in Calgary include: pavement ants, black carpenter ants, odorous house ants, and thatching ants.
Ants are often beneficial to humans. They recycle nutrients back into the soil for our gardens, control other pest insects, pollinate flowers, and aerate the soil.
Unfortunately, ants are sometimes harmful as well. We don’t have any stinging ants in Alberta, but they can bite. Carpenter ants can cause structural damage in wood. Thatching ants can build huge nests with tens of thousands of individuals, foraging far and wide. Other ants can invade our homes.
While we don’t recommend eliminating ants in the yard if they are not harming you, at Grove pest control we understand there is a limit to what we can tolerate when it comes to invaders in our yards and homes.
Control
Unfortunately, ant nests cannot be relocated. Ants usually build their nests very deep. While some species in the world build colonies up to 4 meters deep, most species in Alberta build colonies 30-90 centimeters deep. Relocation would damage the nest beyond recovery.
If you’ve decided you can’t co-exist with the ants, there are a few options – but only a few. Keep in mind ants are one of Earth’s longest surviving animals. They existed alongside the dinosaurs! Their adaptations for survival are impressive. Common home remedies you might see online such as boiling water, cinnamon, borax, etc. are unlikely to solve your problem. One home solution for ant control is eliminating aphids and other sap-sucking pests on your plants. This will remove a large source of food for the ants in your garden. Sprinkling very small amounts of diatomaceous earth around ant mounds and trails can also kill many ants, but will not eliminate the entire colony. If you want immediate, permanent ant control, you need a knowledgeable technician from Grove pest control.
The Grove Difference
At Grove eco-friendly pest control, we use an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to controlling ants in your home. IPM is a pest control strategy that focuses on controlling all the factors affecting the pests such as eliminating conducive conditions, removing food sources, and monitoring the situation carefully. Pesticides are only used as a last resort. Your Grove technician will first advise you on what you can do in your home to control the situation.
To eliminate nuisance ants in the yard, Grove’s last-resort control option is a pyrethroid compound derived from the chrysanthemum daisy. The active ingredient is a neurotoxin that kills insects very quickly. This pesticide is safe for humans and pets. Really! It is harmful to bees and other insects, as well as aquatic organisms, but the professionals at Grove pest control are well-trained to minimize any effects on non-target organisms. Our priority is to reduce harmful side effects, so we will refuse to treat an area if there is any possibility of pesticide drift, runoff, or soil leeching. We target the ant colonies directly, which is why you might see a Grove pest control technician searching for the ant colony for a while before any pesticides are used.
Inside the house, ants can make nests in walls and inaccessible voids where spraying pesticides is not an option. In these situations, we recommend a very thorough cleaning program to eliminate all food sources. Then, application of diatomaceous earth will deter them from entering sensitive areas and will reduce the population. As a last resort, we can use baits which foraging ants take back to the colony and spread throughout the colony.
