Ants in the greenhouse

15 years ago

I'm having this problem of finding ants running around my green house - they haven't picked a plant to nest in yet, but I figure it's only a matter of time. Any suggestions on how to discourage them - I don't mind a few - without damaging my orchids or myself? Ant stakes do not seem to work.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Featured Answer

wetfeet101b

15 years ago

If they have not yet set up a nest inside a pot in your greenhouse, you can spray a border insecticide (Ortho Home Defense, etc) around the perimeter of the greenhouse. Spray on the outside and inside walls.

For the ones that are already scouting inside the greenhouse, you can spray them with an insecticide of your choice, as long as they are not too strong. And avoid spraying the plants' leaves.
An alternative would be to spray the ants with a soapy solution. Bio-degradable dish washing soap works for me.

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Comments (10)

mudhouse_gw
15 years ago
I've had very good luck using ant baits, like this one by Terro (widely sold):
ant baits
These ant baits don't kill immediately, since the idea is that the scouts take the poison back to the nest (and the queen.) Takes a bit longer, but all you do is set these little clear plastic containers where the ants run around...and they work very hard to transport the poison back home. Eventually, they disappear.

Seems kinda mean to reward such hard work with a bad ending, but ants encourage and farm mealy bugs and other bad insects, so I don't encourage them to stay.
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The problem with using a product such as that is that you will not be addressing the source of the ants. You have to get the poison to the nest and the queen in order to get rid of your ants. I have had great success with the boric acid laced baits. Comes already mixed up and ready to place in various location where the ants travel. They will swarm on this sugary substance in a frenzy of activity! Alarming, really! But they take every bit back to the nest and pass it around to the whole crowd. The entire colony will be gone over night. I'll attach a link to the product so you can look it over. You should never use any aerosol product in a greenhouse without making certain that it can be used without causing damage to plants and to greenhouse glazing, whatever it is. There would be an information number to call on the container. But remember, using such a product will NOT end the ant problem. Here is a link that might be useful: Works on many kinds of ants!
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wetfeet101b
15 years ago
I have been looking for ant baits that actually work.
I tried several products over the years and the ants just ignore them.

I even tried placing bait right across their ant highways. The ants just created a new trail around the bait.
Either these baits do not work, or I am dealing with some highly evolved ants here and know enough to avoid the ant baits.
mudhouse_gw
15 years ago
Wonder if the baits appeal more to some types of ants than others? These ants were tiny, non-biting (much meeker than the fire ants we had in TX!) I only started using baits earlier this year. It took the ants about 5 months to find my greenhouse at all (see, I do have dumb ants.) When they showed up, I was surprised at how effective the traps were.

I did put the traps right on the "ant highways" as you said. Within a few days they were clogged with ants, and after a week or so they disappeared from my benches. Thanks for the heads up to watch for effectiveness down the road! I hope the IQ level of my ants does not increase.
kudzu9
15 years ago
I've had good luck with the traps. My greenhouse floor is bricks set in sand, and a colony of ants was excavating the spaces between the bricks. I set out the traps and noticed some diminished activity after about a week...but the traps were pretty empty of bait by that time. A second installment of new traps seems to have put them out of business.
wetfeet101b
15 years ago
I will give ant baits another try.
Perhaps my ants are already wary of the brand I use. I will try a different brand and see if they get tricked into bringing it home :)
garyfla_gw
15 years ago
Hi
I live in the ant capital of the world .lol Always at war with them .They love orchids and of course the constant warm weather and food supply.
Most kinds will go for the ant baits but Carpenters are either ignoring it or are fattening up lol. About every 3 months I have to get a couple of cans of Raid , and really get serious. The last skirmish with them produced a pile 3 feet in dia. about an inch thick !!
One saving grace they seldom come into the house like the sugar ants and they don't bite as bad as the fire ants.lol I'm always amazed at how many I kill yet they never seem to disappear. Makes you wonder how many are really out there!! gary
mudhouse_gw
15 years ago
Oh my gosh Gary...you could use dead ants as mulch! I will no longer complain about my little ant problem here. Apparently few ants are dumb enough to live in the desert, which explains why they fall right into the traps, LOL.
wetfeet101b
15 years ago
I'm not sure exactly what ants I have. They are small and mostly black.
And I don't think they ever bite us. Even when i am wiping them away from the kitchen sink with a soapy paper towel, they just try to crawl away from my hand and go back to what they were doing.
They are very good at finding sweet stuff in our house though. Leave a candy bar open on a table? in a couple of hours there is sure to be an ant trail leading to it.
I regularly spray a border insecticide around the house but somehow some of the ants find a way in.

Here's a picture of three of them inspecting my orchid buds. Perhaps someone can identify them and suggest proper ways to control them.
{{gwi:299327}}

We live right next to a large orange grove and I suspect that the ants have most of their queens nesting there. So even if I kill all the ants I see in my property, new ones just come in the next day from the neighboring farm.
Ant baits may work, but if it does not kill all the queens at different neighboring colonies at the same time, they just keep coming back.
brendan_of_bonsai
15 years ago
ID the ants first, if they don't eat your plants or sting you or farm insects that eat your plants but instead hunt for insects to eat then they are a good addition to your GH. For carpenter ants help is on the way from Paul Stamets at Fungi.com