Flying Ants!

7 years ago

In northern NJ. Came home from work today and finally had a chance to inspect the brown spots in my lawn after a week or so of rain. Which are circular and scattered across the lawn in a couple of spots. Only to discover countless numbers of the guys in the pics below crawling everywhere. They seem to be flying ants, though maybe someone can correct me on that? Was also considering flying termites but it looks like a pinched abdomen, which would mean ants.

Now I was do some reading online and it seems that flying ants are not harmful to your lawn. Or so some website tells me. But all of these flying ants seem to be mostly on the brown patches. And the grass pulls right up, like grubs had eaten the roots. I dug around but couldn't find any grubs. I had problems with grubs three years ago and this would be the time of the year where damages are noticed, but also they would have mostly hatched by now.

So, did these ants destroy my lawn? Was it june bugs and the ants happened to move in after? Maybe a fungus? We've had a lot of rain the past month. Would a fungus destroy the roots and make the grass pull up easily? Should I treat the lawn for these ants? I know for grubs it's best the apply a preventer in late spring/early summer and when they hatch the damage is already done. I'd rather not spray poison on my lawn as we are expecting a new baby at the end of October. And ants seem harmless anyway.

Any ideas?

Featured Answer

Paul MI

7 years ago

The brown lawn patches could indeed be the result of grubs or even a fungus. The ants would not be the issue.

That particular ant you photographed is a young queen. This time of year is typically when many ant species produce new queens and males. Mating swarms are common as males jockey to be the one to fertilize a female. Females then search for a suitable location to start their own colony.

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Comments (6)

PRO
User
7 years ago
The antennae of your insects is also very ant-like.
tropicbreezent
7 years ago
Worker ants are female and don't fly. The queen ants (fertile females) and males do fly and mate while flying. That's why you're seeing the winged ones, they're just going or just come back from the mating flight. There are not many ant species that feed directly on vegetation, and very unlikely where you are. But some ants "farm" small creatures which do feed on vegetation. I haven't heard of that happening on lawns. There are some species of caterpillar (lawn grubs) that do feed on roots of grass and cause dead patches of lawn. These can multiply and eventually destroy a lawn. They don't have any association with ants and I'm pretty sure they can avoid ants in the ground and not be vulnerable to them. I'd check out about lawn grubs first.
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dchall_san_antonio
7 years ago
So, did these ants destroy my lawn?

No. If they did it would be completely barren leaving only soil.

Was it june bugs and the ants
happened to move in after?

No. June bugs don't work in circular pattern.

Maybe a fungus? We've had a lot of rain the
past month. Would a fungus destroy the roots and make the grass pull up
easily?

Absolutely a fungus. Circular spots in the lawn are always caused by a fungus. The ants may be attracted to the fungus, but they are not attracted to healthy grass.

Should I treat the lawn for these ants?

No. Insecticide always harms the soil. It will recover, but there's no need to spend the money or time simply to move some ants around. If you treat for the fungus the ants may go away automatically. Or not, but ants are almost never a problem for a lawn.
idiotsavant
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks for the replies. Learned a lot about ants the past few days haha. Yeah I'm going to go with fungus do to all the rain. I was going to plant new seed this weekend (I'm a couple of weeks behind I know) but I guess I should treat for fungus first? Will that interfere with seeding? Any recommendations on what to apply? Thanks again!
Anita Rushlow
7 years ago
Paul MI I am having the same prob with the flying ants. I usually close my pool by now but decided to keep it open with the warm temps. I remember this happening once before and it may be that I kept my pool open longer that year as well. It is good to know that I am not the only one with this prob! Also, thanks for sharing that it's mating season for these little buggers. Was planning on enjoying the pool tonight but I can't keep up with skimming these pests outta the pool!