Less lawn, more ants ....

 
Hi

Just bought a house in Kent that had an old age couple living in it,
the back garden (approx 90 foot by 50 foot) had very rough grass maybe
8-10 inches long - I was told by a neighbour that it was cut by their
son when he had a chance, but only maybe 6 times a year. The result is
very bumpy with dips and hollows (that I can live with) an impressive
amount of thatch (thats why God invented scarifiers) but, most
impressivly, cutting it for the first time today down to about 3
inches, I found approx 25 ants nest, with patches of earth coming
through the grass, some about the size of a dinner plate, some bigger.
They are full of Brown ants with some black ones.

Any suggestions?? I could go bankrupt boiling water to shove down them
so would rather not go that route.

Searching the web doesnt show much, one site suggested dilute solution
of borax, but little else.

Sugestions?? Anyone???

Help - or its napalm time again...




--
Paul the Stump

 Paul the Stump wrote:


Not to go off (too far) on a tangent, but the machine known as a
"scarifier" seems to be unique to the UK.  It's unknown to North America
as far as I know.

Please describe how it works.

 look up verticutter

 Bob wrote:
 

Seems to me that in the UK, scarifiers are a common product to be found
for sale at the average lawn/garden store (ie the eqivalent to Home
Depot or Lowes) but in Canada (probably US too) all you will see
(seasonally) for sale are lawn mowers and snow blowers.

Does anyone know for sure is a scarifier is the same as a verticutter
(verticle cutter), and is either of them also known as a de-thatcher?

Examples:

AL-KO 3800VB Powerline Petrol Lawn Scarifier:
http://www.mower-magic.co.uk/acatalog/AL-KO_38VLB_Petrol_Aerator.html

Honda GX160 Petrol Verticutter:
http://www.camon.co.uk/Verticutter.htm

Dethatcher (pictures):
http://www.landscape-america.com/problems/soils/dethatch.html
http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/mantis/attachments/lawndethatcher

Then we have other types of equipment:

Billy Goat CR550H 5hp Honda Compact Power Rake
http://www.cairnsmowercity.com/prod559.htm

Billy Goat AE551 5.5hp Core Lawn Aerator
http://www.cairnsmowercity.com/prod551.htm

-----------------

Earlier this spring I was looking for an all-in-one machine that would
be used primarily in the spring, and it would do the following or have
the following capabilities:

- gas powered, 5 to 10 hp
- push or walk behind (not ride on)
- important feature is that it's a high suction vaccum cleaner
  with large canister recepticle
- vacuum deck contains brushes, knives, blades, wires, or some
  other spinning, whirling mechanism that can beat the ground
  and dislodge loose debris for the vacuum to pick up (like a
  beater bar on a vacuum cleaner).  Minimal harm to grass.

Uses:

- pick up gravel, sand, pea-sized stones or small broken bits of
  asphalt on driveways, small parking lots, or the roadway in front
  of your house in the spring that was left behind by winter road
  dammage and sand/gravel put down by road maintanence vehicles
  during the winter.

- clean the lawn in the spring of all the various loose organic
  debris, leaf and twig fragments (etc) that even a lawn mower with
  a bag and with the deck set low to the ground will not pick up.

- grind up (to an extent beyond what a lawn mower would do) and pick
  up leaves in the fall.

Cost:  Between $500 and $750 USD.

Is there such a machine?

 

A Verticutter is another name for Vertimower which is used for dethatching
lawns , It is hard work and very messy .
(VERTIMOWING or DE-THATCHING is the physical cutting and removal of the
thatch, The vertimower has around 25 tungsten tipped blades) Virticutter is
not the universal name , Virtimower is and is used to Virticut .

If you want to Aerate Lawn you need an Aerator or as some people call a
Coring machine (A lawn aerator is a garden tool designed to aerate the soil
in which lawn grasses grow. Aeration improves soil drainage) the average
machines uses about a 5.5HP engine.


A scarifier can be a hand help tool normally with 3 bent prongs that are
dragged threw hard soil to break it up , a Plow , Rotary Hoe, cultivator or
Tiller all perform to the same job on different scales.

The 3 above machines are all entirely different and individual machines , No
one machine can perform all the 3 tasks.

The money you expect to pay would make a small down payment on a Vertimower.
A friend who does this for a living just paid $5300 for his Vertimower.