Well squashcat; PLEASE Be aware of two things 1) Your posts are read by international Publikum who are interested in the subject and have potentially the appropriate knowledge to solve your problem. In short: What the hell *ggg* is Aamdro?! I have NO idea, and Aunt GOOGLE shook her wise head. 2) I presume that the ants are not the problem but only the indicator of a more serious problem. Why are these ants frequenting your pots - may be there are smaller insects inside which are feeding on the roots. These insects might be the reason because they ooze liquid containing undigested overrageous sugars. In this case a bath for the roots in a dimethoate or malathion solution will be necessary and give satisfactory control. Hans-Werner

Well, I decided to go ahead and use the Bayer tomorrow. The suggestion made to call Bayer first is a good one, but if they aren't around on weekends those ants are history! I'm betting the container issue is for safety reasons when handling the pots and I have enough sense to be careful. If I had been able to obtain Orthene locally, I would have purchased that for a drench instead. I do use Amdro on mounds that are in the ground. It works well, but takes a week or so to work. I usually only treat mounds that are "in my way", since fireants, although not native to Florida, are beneficial in killing termites. I just don't want them wherever I happen to hang out. The darn things actually send out scouts. I always check the area before kneeling on the ground to plant something. Soon, there is usually a few getting into places I don't want them in, biting away. They're infuriating!!!! Anntn6b, I agree with getting rid of them. I seem to have bad reactions to things, and I sure don't want to have to use the Epistick I have on hand, followed by an emergency visit. It is NOT fun when your throat starts closing up an and you can no longer even swallow saliva. Cornmeal doesn't work. Tried it. Sandy

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

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