Early season vegetable garden challenges include ants and weeds

Vegetable gardening can offer very satisfying results. However, there are frustrations along the way caused by the ever-present challenges of insects and weeds. I decided to highlight these issues and their quick — and sometimes not so quick — fixes.

Ants

While working on raised beds at my daughter’s school over the weekend, I received several quick, painful reminders that ants might be a good topic this week. Controlling ants in a garden can be tricky because most ant insecticides are not labeled for use in vegetable gardens.

University of Georgia entomologist Dan Suiter suggests using a bait product especially formulated for fire ants. Bait-type insecticides control ant populations with the lowest possible dose of active insecticidal chemicals, and are pinpoint accurate — so they don’t impact pollinators, spiders or other beneficial insects. Baits must be eaten by the ants to be effective.

“It’s like a smart bomb,” Suiter said. “You’re putting out a very small concentration of material, and the only thing that it will affect is the fire ants.”

Treat the area around the perimeter of your garden with a product containing hydramethylnon (such as Amdro), abamectin, indoxacarb or spinosad. These baits have not been tested for use in vegetable gardens, so Suiter says to apply them in a circumference around the garden, or put a small amount in a cap just outside any raised planters that may be infested.

“It is okay to put them outside the garden,” Suiter said. “Fire ants forage widely, and they’ll find it even 10 feet away.”

Apply the baits in the late afternoon of a dry, sunny day. Generally, the ants will find the bait within two hours and carry it back to their mound. A full colony collapse may require a second treatment about a week later. Home remedies are not recommended, since some are more likely to cause the ants to move than to die, and others can harm people and the environment.

Weeds

Weeds in the vegetable garden are another ongoing headache. They can rob nutrients, sunlight and water from vegetable plants. In addition, they harbor insects and disease pathogens, which can attack vegetable plants.

Frequent rain earlier this spring provided the moisture for a bumper crop of weeds. Now we have to deal with them. Controlling weeds in the vegetable garden is generally a matter of prevention and hand cultivation.

Mulch goes a long way to discourage weeds. Suggested materials are wheat straw, pine straw, pine bark or leaves. In addition, newspapers make an inexpensive, yet readily-available source for a physical barrier. Place several layers underneath your favorite mulch material.

Compost, sawdust and grass clipping can be used only if they aren’t from a source contaminated with herbicides. Ask your supplier about their use of pasture herbicides prior to stocking up. Many times, these chemicals don’t break down as they move through animals’ digestive systems. Tomato plants, one of the favorites in Middle Georgia gardens, are particular sensitive to herbicides.

Small weeds can be easily removed with a hoe, cultivator tool or by hand. After weeds gain a foothold, however, they are much more troublesome. A very short list of post-emergence herbicides labeled for vegetable gardens, along with their restrictions, can be found at this link to the Georgia Pest Management Handbook: ent.uga.edu/pest-management.

Many a vegetable garden has been severely damaged by the improper application of chemical pesticides. Even the drift of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round-up and other products) used near vegetables can cause big problems with sensitive plants, such as tomatoes. So, use great caution when applying chemicals in your vegetable garden.

The important first step in dealing with problems in the vegetable garden is to be aware of potential issues and identify them when they occur. Regular scouting enables the gardener to attack problems when they are small so they can enjoy the satisfaction of growing vegetables while minimizing the frustrations. Happy gardening!

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Early season vegetable garden challenges include ants and weeds."