Ants, help!

17 years ago

I noticed a few ants on the floor in the sunroom, not many, so I sprayed them with Guardian. As I was watering my orchids, I stuck my finger into a dendrobium to see if it needed water, and hundreds of ants rushed to the surface of the bark! I sprayed the whole plant with Guardian and ran lots of water through it. I don't think that's going to take care of the problem. What do I do??? I check my plants every day, and I did not see a single ant until this morning. How do they invade so quickly? I can't believe this. Liz

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Comments (5)

wetfeet101b
17 years ago
All it takes is one scout to get into the potting medium and decide that it is a beautiful nesting site. Once that scout returns to the colony and reports his findings, its only a matter of hours before hundreds of them sneak into your growing area and perform a makeover "ant style".

If they have not yet installed a queen in your growing area, the best thing you can do is repel them and make it very inconvenient for them to set up a nest. They will take enough losses to reconsider their decision.

If they have already housed the queen, it will be virtually impossible to evict them as they will defend their queen and eggs to the death.
If you manage to kill the queen though, then that sets back their colony big time. It may even cause the entire colony to die out if they cannot establish a new queen in time to repopulate the brood.

There are ant baits available that is designed to target the queen.
cbarry
17 years ago
I've read that aspartame (same stuff as in Nutrasweet) is quickly deadly to the little pests. Also, I guess pretty safe to people and pets. Haven't had to try it myself this year, but I'm ever at the ready should an invasion arise. From what I read, they are attracted to the sweetness, carry it home, eat it, and BAM! they're dead.
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Liz K 7b-8a Charlotte
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, if they established a queen, she probably drowned with the rest of them. I soaked water through the plant, removed all the medium and repotted it. It was only a matter of weeks before I was going to do this anyway. I did buy some ant traps and put 4 or 5 of them around the growing area. I also sprayed around the door and on the floor. This am, I saw a few stragglers looking "lost", but not much else except a few dead ones on the floor. I am going to run a thin line of aspartame along the floor, too. Thanks for that tip. Liz
richardol
17 years ago
The easiest solution is repotting. Dump the medium out of the pot into a pan of boiling water or spray the medium with ant poison before you dispose of it. You don't want the colony to simply re-locate.
eileen_nv
17 years ago
I agree with Richardol - repot. I had a colony in one of my Phals last summer. I dumped the medium outside, and poured scalding water over the pot. I rinsed the Phal roots clean, and repotted in entirely new mix and pot. The haven't come back, but I'm keeping watch.

I worry about using insecticides on plants, unless the label specifies that you can. Some of them are in toxic "carrier" substances. I also don't care if the ant colony re-establishes itself outside - but it has to be _outside_!