Do ants making their home in your flowers harm the plants?

Answer #1 · Brent Wilson's Answer · Usually, black ants will not do any harm to your plants. If you apply insecticide to attempt to rid them, you might kill the plants and would also kill other types of beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, which keep other unwanted species of insects under control in your garden.

The real problem is when these black ants get inside your home. We had an invasion in our home last year. Got home from work and one of our kitchen cabinets was literally covered on the inside with ants. Had to throw quite a bit of food away. We bought ant traps at Ace Hardware for indoors and then I sprinkled a line of Hi-Yield Acephate dust around the perimeter of the house. This worked great to keep them out of the house for the rest of the summer. Acephate dust also works great for fireants. All you do is sprinkle a tablespoon or two atop and around the mound. When using chemicals, treat areas with the minimum of insecticide, in fact just enough to do the job. Of course, you could use acephate dust around, but not inside, a flowerbed to kill black ants if you want. But, like I said, this might kill other beneficial insects that hang around your flowerbeds.

Hope this info helped. Let me know if you have any other questions.)