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Florida Gardening

Red ants in my Aloe plant pot

12 years ago

Red ants (fire ants?) have built a dirt mound in a pot where I'm growing aloe plants. The ants have pushed the pot's soil up. The plants themselves haven't been harmed though. In fact, the plants look greener than usual (perhaps due to the frequent rain in recent days) Could it be that the ants are helping to aerate the soil?

What should I do about the ants? Should I leave them be, or try to eradicate them? I read somewhere that garlic is good for getting rid of ants.

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Comments (5)

zzackey
12 years ago
Get them out! I have some in a nice pot of cactus. I haven't been successful in getting rid of them. I will try garlic. There are so many home remedies. I tried putting artificial sweetener on them like someone recommended and that brought more ants. We try to keep the pots off of the ground. That is when they take up housekeeping. If you can put them on a brick or something to keep the pots off the ground it should help keep the ants out.
starryrider
12 years ago
put fireant dust on them. boom gone!
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Just wanted to add some more thoughts on D.E. as to why it is so useful for the above purpose as well as many others. Insects don't have the ability to clot (unlike humans)their internal fluid (blood) there for if they get pricked they will literally bleed to death no matter how small the cuts are. D.E. can even be applied in a sprayer (with a small squirt of dishsoap to help stick it to plants or other surfaces) if kept agitated so as not to clog the nozzle. Then when it dries it will be reactivated. It will wash off so will need to be reapplied if rain or over head watering is used. The one thing I always remind folks about DE is that it is a dust and needs to be handled carefully so as not to breathe it into your lungs. (not a good thing). Use a standard dust mask if air borne dust is a possibility. Not trying to horn in Al, just offer more info on the subject.:) Happy Growing David
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Simple solution: place pot in larger container, and fill with water until it reaches the rim. Leave for a few minutes, and the ants will leave the medium carrying eggs, etc., and climb into the leaves. Hit them with ant & roach spray. Don't worry about the orchid -- wipe with a paper towel and it'll make the leaves all shiny. If you turn the plant on its side, the dead ants will fall on the ground instead of back into the pot. If you don't want to deal with all this, you can skip steps #1 and #2, and just spray the medium with the ant & roach killer. It'll accomplish the same thing, although some may escape death and just move the rest of the colony somewhere else. BTW, the pain from a fire ant doesn't come from the bite...it's from the sting. They bite for leverage to drive the stinger in, and not get brushed off easily. There's actually a worse sting from an ant here in Florida. I don't know the latin name, but locally in south Florida they're known as "bull" ants. They're mostly solitary, and you'll see them running up and down tree trunks. They're slender and about 1/4 to 3/8" long, black, with a red thorax (middle segment). I understand they're closely related to wasps. I've been stung once, and it left a horrific black spot the size of a half dollar on my leg, and took two weeks to heal. The pain is like nothing you would expect from such a tiny creature! -Bruce
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I hear that there is some product out there were you can put a ring around a plant and the ants wont cross it so if you submerge the pots again to get rid of the ants and then use that product as a barrier, the ants will not find their way back into the pots and you should be rid of them! Fire ants seem terrible. So far I havent seen any here, but there are tons of other plants that make problems and they are also pretty difficult to get rid of! Good luck! -Alex
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realspaazz
12 years ago
The ants are unlikely to do any harm to your aloes. If they are fire ants they might put a hurt on you. I have been fighting pavement ants in my potted vegetables, not because of the ants, but because of the scales that the ants are farming on the leaves. These scales have put a hurting on some of my peppers, tomatoes, hibiscus, olive tree and some others. I am still seeking an effective organic solution for control.
echobelly
12 years ago
Last summer after some heavy rains, most of my outdoor pots had ants. Some still do. The only ones I dust are the ones in the pool cage, last thing I want is fire ants in there. They don't seem to be bothering the plants, and there's enough to do in the yard without worrying about them. Keeping the pots off the ground hasn't helped me, I had a nest in a pot on a 3' tall pedestal.
lizzardly
12 years ago
If you don't plan to move the aloe any time soon you could just leave them. I've had ants move in and then out of my potted plants without having to do anything. You can submerge the pot- plant and all into a bucket of water for about an hour. This shouldn't hurt the plant if there are drainage holes for the water to escape afterwards.

I've started putting a thin layer of diatomaceous earth on top of my outdoor potted plants that seem to be prone to red ants. You can get it at feed stores.

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