submerge the entire pot into a bucket of water. Leave it sit for awhile. the ants will drown and/or leave.

Terro Liquid Ant Baits are safe & very effective. They will take care of the entire colony in a day or two.

Al

I actually picked up some Terro liquid right before you posted, Al. It seems to be working really well. Also, according to your "posted by" info at the top of your post, you appear to live in the twilight zone. Interesting.

Lol - I KEEP TRYING to change it back to z 5b-6a mid-MI, but it won't take!

At first I thought you were firing a shot across my bow, and I thought, "Oh no, what did I do to deserve this?" Then I realized what you were referring to, and I got a grin out of it. ;o) I'll go try to change it again - hopefully, if I'm successful, it will increase my credibility. ;-)

Al

I second the submerging-the-pot idea. Time it with one of your regular deep waterings.

As long as you have some time on your hands and don't think your plants will mind submersion longer than a half hour - some ants can live submerged for as long as 14 days.

Al

I've tried the pot in water and it works only about half the time. But this is on fire ants mostly. And those little buggers are adapted to floods in their native So. America.

I sometimes resort to a Malation drench on container trees, but only if the fire ants sting me and wont go peacefully with water treatment. Hey, if they use chemical warefare... I grew up in the fifties. No option is off the table on fire ants. If you use Malathion add a little vinegar unless your water is on the acid side. Then flush out the Malathion after a day or two and add a few earthworms to your container. I like worms in my containers, especially if I have 1/2 to 1 inch pine bark as the main ingrediant in my mix.

The Terro seemed to work well, though it never got all of them. To make sure I got the last ones, I used quite a bit of the liquid near each pot with the buggers in it, then I go to college for a week. I come back on the weekend and BOOM -- more ants than ever. Hundreds or thousands instead of dozens. :(

The annoying thing is that I KNOW these came from my awful dorm that I'm doing everything I can to move out of. We don't have ants in our house anywhere else, ever, and the plants are located in an upstairs bedroom where it would be very difficult for ants to access.

And my dorm, which used to have quite a few ants, now has none.

I'll keep using the Terro when I can, but I only bought a very small amount. A friend suggested cream of wheat as well. Any other suggestions? Maybe I'm using the Terro liquid incorrectly or have evil mutant ants, I don't know.

That bad dorm assignment has been nothing but trouble. :[

I have the same problem.

The last two/three years, the ant population has increased huge numbers. 'outside.'
If you set a piece of fruit or any edible on the walk or lawn, five minutes later the fruit is ant packed. Actually, it doesn't have to be edible. They attack non-edible plants, too.

My plants are summered outdoors. Before they're brought inside, each are hosed, brought to the kitchen sink, or bathroom tub, and re-showered.

I assumed ants died in winter.

Three weeks ago, my dog carried a Pretzel in the front plant room, and left it. I wasn't aware.
The following morning, I was going to retrive the mail. Before walkiing in the front plant room, out to the mailbox, before the front door, I noticed a black mound. ANTS! It's freezing here, and pretty cold in the plant room..ants aren't living outside..which means, these critters made homes in my plant soil. There's no other hiding place they can be living.

What is Terro? Is it a chemical? Also, how does Cream of Wheat prevent/kill ants?
I'd assume it'd be an ant meal, lol, but there are so many old-wives' tales that work, who can say?

Borax is supposed to kill ants, but if it's added to soil, will it kill plants?
What about lemon juice? Would it chase them away, eradicate or end up a tasty drink? Toni

PS. My plants do NOT have scale or aphids.

Aghhhhh I just found an ant in my bed! Ok, I'm going to repot my trees if they don't start dying very very soon. Can I even repot my citrus in 40 degree (MAX) weather?

Hopeful:
Boron is toxic above a very small ammount. A common treatmet is finely ground boric acid crystals in peanut butter. This is set in bottle caps where ants forage. It must be kept dry. So it generally is used indoors. I have never heard of using borax.

Steven, if it doesn't drop below 38F, and if you repot quickly, your citrus should be fine.. Prepare your soil and pot before hauling your citrus outside.
I leave my citrus out as long as the temp doesn't dip below 38F. Anything lower they're brought indoors ASAP. It's too close to freezing. What about wind? Is it real windy there? Take the wind chill into consideration if you plan on repotting in an open area.

Tantanman. I found out about Borax on Google, but heard Borax rids/kills ants years ago.
I was half serious when I mentioned adding it to soil.
The only chemicals I use on plants is fertilizer. I even mix organic, house-hold foods as insectides.
Last summer, I cut up egg cartons, placed Borax per cup, then set each cup where ants congregated. Thankfully, none were in my bed..Ahhhaaa!! lol.

I don't know what's going on, but the ant population has increased 10 times higher the last two/three years.
When plants are set outside, they crawl in the soil.

Anyone know if ants are egg or live bearers? Toni

Toni,

Ants have eggs.

Other than ants, how are you doing? I don't have ants (that I know of) but do I ever have scale this year. I have used alcohol but the trees are so tightly packed that it's hard to spot it all. When Spring comes and they go outside I'll get them with alcohol and beneficial nematodes. I doubt that they would ship the nematodes in this freezing snowy (and I can think of a few more adjectives) weather.

Cath

Cream of Wheat is the Northern equivalent of using grits to kill ants. A Northern husband's tale rather than Southern.

Toni, borax won't work unless it is incorporated with a food source and even then I'm not so sure of the efficacy. Boric acid is a much better ant-icide. That's why the Terro works so well. It's a powerful BAIT that attracts the ants which carry the stuff back to their nest. Please know that you cannot leave the Terro baits where your pets can find them. They are sweet and attractive to animals. You don't want your pets to ingest the stuff. Just like you don't want them to eat your shampoo, soap, dish soap, or anything else those naughty critters might get into just for the heck of it.

Ants lay eggs, by the way. After they hatch, the larvae are tended to by the worker ants, who will feed them the boric acid tainted food.

Something you might try in your containers is horticultural or food grade DE (diatomaceous earth). That's something you can actually feed to your animals.

Hello Cath,
Thanks..would you happen to know what ant eggs look like? Color, size? lol

Well, aside from freezing, I'm okay..And you? How are you getting along?

Cath, do you have Fish Emulsion on hand? I swear it kills Scale.
Several years ago, the owner of Harris Citrus, Ruth and I were discussing citrus. She told me, the best way to 'prevent' and 'kill' scale was to add 1 cap of Fish Emulsion in a 16oz sprayer filled w/water.

Not long after, I purchased an Olive tree, 'different online nursery.' It arrived by mail, delivered at night. I removed the tree from its box, and set in-between two citrus trees.
Just so you know, I inspect plants religiously, usually while misting.
For some reason I didn't get to the olive for days..
Then, while spraying, I noticed a brown bump on the olive's leaf. On closer inspection, there were a multitude of brown bumps everywhere, upper and lower leaves, stems..gross looking things..Scale.

I recalled Ruth's suggestion about Fish Emulsion, made up a bottle. By the way, two neighboring citrus branches had scale up and down branches nearest the olive tree.
All three plants were thoroughly sprayed.
The next day, all signs of scale was gone..Every last one. I checked and rechecked all three plants.
She also recommended to apply a second application a week after the first. I did as told.
Cath, this happened, I believe, in 2000; never had a scale problem since.
My plants are foliar sprayed w/FE twice a year. The second dose, in autumn, before plants are brought indoors.

However, I must warn you, FE has a fishy smell that lingers 2-3 days. There is an odorless type, but I've never used it so don't know if it's truely odor-free.

I'd rather deal with a little smell than Scale devouring my plants. lol.

FE is organic, so it won't burn leaves..It's actually a fertilizer, but since organic, it doesn't burn roots either.
Since I don't fertilize during winter months, I figure spraying in autumn is plants last meal of the year, and a scale preventative.

If you dare, lol, try the FE. It can't hurt, right?
I too can think of plenty adjectives regarding our weather but would get the boot from GW. lol..

Good luck..hope you rid those suckers..Toni

Rhizo, guess we were typing the same time. LOL on the Cream of Wheat..

I Googled Terro, found their website. Sure enough, last summer I ended up using these traps, 'as a last resort.'
The traps were high up, in a different room, so my birds/dogs/iguana couldn't get at them.

BTW, There's a video on the Terro site..Terro contains 5% Borax.

Rhizo, when I set out the Borax in egg cups last summer, I sprinkled a small amount of sweets directly on the center mound, hoping the scent would attract ants.
Although Borax alone kills ants, it takes a couple days, unlike bug sprays.
I read, somewhere, Borax works the same as Boric Acid. The workers or scouts 'can't recall which' eat the dead, then feed the larvae this poison.

Will Google DE, and where to find it..Rhizo, I swear, you know a little about every subject..lol..Thanks,, Toni

If you have a place, and a container large enough, you can submerge the pot in lemon flavored soapy dish water. Any ants that started climbing the tree to get away got splashed with some. I've done this and it got rid of the ants with no ill effects on the plants. In fact they greened up nice after that, so I think it was good for them.

Toni,

I do use FE but outside only. We live in the room with the citrus. My DH is patient with my plant addictions but FE in the living quarters would surely push him over the edge. Those beneficial nematodes do work very well. I just haven't used them in about 4 years. I knew the scale and fungus gnats were getting a little worse each year and kept thinking well this year I'll get it but the time slipped away as it tends to do. So THIS year it will get done.

Ants eggs are whitish, oblong shaped and a little smaller than the ants they belong to. Sometimes you'll see them being carried by the ants when the nest is disturbed.

Here the coldest weather is over by the middle of February, only three more weeks. We're almost there!

Cath

Organic Orange Oil kills ants. Needs to be diluted with water. Howard Garrett, Dirt Doctor in Texas has recipes on his web site or look on youtube for his videos.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com

I spray the inside the pot with 1 ounce to a garden spray bottle. Shake the spray bottle (it will look milky).

A BAIT (which the orange oil isn't) works this way: it is considered a food source by the ants which take every single particle or drop back to the colony chambers where it is distributed (eventually) to all members, including the queen and the young larvae. That's why products labeled as a BAIT are so effective at wiping out an entire colony of ants, rather than killing off a few here and there, or simply coaxing them to move.