Ants Didn’t Kill Your Lawn—Sandy Soil Starved It

DC lawn, red-orange ants (maybe Pharaoh?), sod peels up, grass dying. Ants? Unlikely. Pharaoh ants don’t survive DC winters outdoors. 131 ant species in DC—none eat grass.

Real problem: sandy soil. Zero nutrients, zero cation exchange—fertilizer washes through in seconds. Sod’s thin soil layer holds nothing. You needed compost, not sod.

Fix: soil test, start compost pile today, topdress 2 inches aged compost/manure/humus. Grass needs living soil. Ants are innocent bystanders.