I've had this same exact problem SEVERAL times - not with my figs, but with other potted plants. I've learned that the ONLY solution is to completely remove the plant from the pot (carefully, of course). But MAKE SURE you do it in a place where you don't mind ants going insane with rage....like the gutter of your street! Get your hose ready and go to town! Completely clean the root system and spray the ants away into the gutter. I wouldn't do it in your yard unless you want them to stay there.

You run the risk of damaging or killing some plants this way, but I've not lost a single one yet and I've done this about half a dozen times over the years. (Living in the south, you tend to get REAL creative with trying to deal with fire ants!) It's really the only alternative to chemicals that I know of.

This is definitely a job that could use two people, especially getting the plant out of the pot without getting attacked. Having the water hose ready at a second's notice always helps if you've suddenly found a few hijackers crawling up your leg! Ouch!!

But once you have the roots clean and the street washed off, you can start fresh again! Don't worry too much...fire ants are great swimmers, unfortunately. And since spring has not sprung yet, this is the perfect time of year to do this while the plant is still dormant.

Oh, and I remember reading somewhere that they really dislike certain essential oils, but for the life of me, I can't remember which ones - I don't even know if it's true, but it's worth searching out. I'll check it out and see what I can find.

Good luck, and do share how it goes! :)

~ Erin

I have never seen fire ants (thank you God!). One thing
comes to my mind for potted plants. Can them (ants) be
drowned in water for an hour or so? Possibly with some
soap/detergent added to help?

OK, ran a quick search. Pitting two Fire Ant colonies against each other will only result in one big bad colony, although it might work with different species being pitted against each other....the fire ants will win, by the way.

Grits, diatemaceous earth, and other popular remedies don't work on fire ants. Boiling water is still the number one solution, but obviously not an option for potted plants.

I did run across two conflicting reports, so it may be worth a try. Get some essential oils (which I will list in a minute). These may cost you a bit depending on where you get them, but at least they won't harm your plant AND it will smell good too! Get some cinnamon, clove, peppermint and lemon essential oils. I would put about 30 drops of each into a gallon jug and shake it like mad, then saturate the pot. It's been reported that ALL ants hate these smells and they interrupt the chemical markers they use...logic says they will move without you having to do a thing! One report swears this works on fire ants while another says it wouldn't. I've not tried it, but I like the idea. Not only that, but the oils will MAY benefit your tree, (but don't quote me on that). I can't see how they would harm it.

And to reply to the drowning question...I read that you can. However, I've tried to "quickly" dig up a mound of fire ants to put into a bucket to drown. Unless you're quicker than lightning and don't mind a lot of stings, I wouldn't suggest it. Those little buggers can teleport from the mound to your hand in about 2 seconds flat! LOL! It's just messy and will simply have your skin crawling for the next 6 hours because they get everywhere! At least with the water method, you can somewhat control where they go.

~ Erin

Put the whole thing in a real FIRE and then let's see who is
the mightiest....

P.S.
Make sure you take many cuttings of your fig before
putting it all on fire...

Living in Texas, I don't know of a permanent solution other than living with them, or constantly using a bait or other ant killer. Last year, just about every one of my containers had ants.

As a short term solution, I would combine two of the methods listed above. Bare-root the tree and spray the ants with a sharp stream of water. You may damage a few roots, but your tree won't miss them. Afterwards, soak the root mass in a bucket of water. The second step will flush out the ants (and more specifically, the queen, if they have bored into the trunk under the basal flare (yes, they sometimes do that). You will want to soak for a couple of hours.

To prevent the ants from infesting your containers to begin with, you can set your container on something and treat whatever it's sitting on. For example, my containers were on two strips of treated wood to keep them off the ground. One could soak the wood in an ant killer, or smear it with Tanglefoot or petroleum jelly to prevent the ants from crossing into the container. In order for something like this to be successful,however, you would have to make sure the top of the tree doesn't touch anything else and that grass around the container doesn't come in contact with it. Those ants will find anything they can to use as a bridge. Or you would have to effectively control the entire yard.

Whatever you do... do NOT plunge your hand into the growing medium without checking for ants. It's been two weeks since I forgot that rule and my right hand is still swollen.

~james

Go and buy a bag of cedar mulch. Then cover the top of the soil with it, pile it on. Most insects do not like cedar for some reason, so this might work. I used this on some citrus seedlings, and no insects are in that soil.

CEDAR for insect control. That's another twist! I am currently
doing an experiment using cedar for MOLD (rot) control, the
main concern being if cedar inhibits other (fig) plant growth
(unlikely since it is wildly used as mulch).

From a UCD article:

In landscapes, some mulches can repel ants and discourage nesting. For example, aromatic pencil cedar mulch repels Argentine ants, whereas pine straw provides an ideal nesting site. Be aware that not all types of cedar chips repel ants: the effectiveness of red cedar chips found in California has not been verified.

One of the problems with mulch, is you never really know what is in the bag (even from the same manufacturer from year to year, etc)

I have also seen some suggestions (sorry, I don't remember where) that if you see ants near your tree, the tree maybe suffering from some other infestation that is attracting the ants. Although I don't think that the ants really need a reason to occupy the container (and if they did, the fig itself would be reason enough), but it is worth looking for other bugs on the tree.

Another possible fix, plant peppermint in the container as a companion. Or make a watering with water that has been infused with peppermint (might also be good for spraying the top of the trees to keep ants out of the fruit.) Or a hot pepper (supposedly the hotter the better) and water puree.

I would be inclined to try the cedar mulch (if I still mulched the top of my containers). Better yet, experiment with several methods and see which one works better.

~james

Here is a link that might be useful: Ant Management Guidline

I use fine cedar mulch as part of the potted soil and I put extra cedar mulch on top. Fire ants still built a mound in my pot. And I have an extra bag of cedar mulch in my patio. There is another colony of fire ants inside the bag... So it is a myth!

I thought that I remembered reading in the soil and compost forum here that dried molasses would make the fire ants leave the area. Tried a search of that forum and there was a problem, but a search of all forums for "dried molasses" will get you plenty of hits.
I've not used it for that purpose, but have when trying to restart a compost pile. If you decide to try it buy it from a feed store instead of a garden center as it's much cheaper... 12-15$ for 50 lbs.

I know this is an old post, but I thought y'all might like to hear of my "fire ant cure" (might not really be a cure as I don't know if it kills them, but it surely atleast makes them move) ~ cayenne pepper. Regular old ground red pepper. Sprinkle the ground powder liberally all over the mound and wait a few days. They'll be gone. Be patient. And fresher pepper works better.

My new hubby who at first seemed rather anti-organic has changed a bit of his thinking due to watching me get rid of some ants this way. He swore up and down it wouldn't work, so I pointed out a pile and told him not to touch it with his sevin dust. A few days later when he kicked the top off the pile, no ants.

It seems to me people today want to make things harder than they have to be. We routinely get ants in pots here in south Florida. At the first sign of ant activity, simply buy a can of Raid and spray the soil and the pot lightly. The ants will die.
Dave

Pyganic will work for potted figs in short order. Essentially pyrethrum, it is organically certified & breaks down quickly. Always need to mix up fresh for maximum effect.

I had the starting of fire ants in a potted hibiscus topiary. We found that spraying the ground with "Bengal Roach spray" (in bright orange can) when camping in wet weather makes the fire ants dissapear, (when it rains hard they run everywhere and make it painful to camp). I tried spraying the soil in the pot of my Hibiscus with a little Bengal spray that I had left in a can. Two days later there are no fire ants in the pot!!! Can't use on fruits or vegies but on an ornamental it worked great.