ants?

[tedro]

Hi,

My phal, I just noticed, has a few ants! No ants in here, have no idea where they cam from or why.
I was looking at my phal and saw an ant in it!
A few minutes later, I saw 2 ants walking around the base! no water there. I put those two out and a minute later saw one more.
I thought of flushing it with water, but not the right time, maybe tomorrow.

Any reason they are "in" the phal, only?

[SouthPark]

The ants may have wandered in from outside - that's if you're indoors. Or they may have been in the pot already when you first got the orchid ...... just depends on what really happened.

But that's ok. Ants tend not to harm orchids, or that's what I generally think. I have ants living in orchid pots growing outdoors, and no harm done to those orchids at all.

However - if you don't want ants from outside bringing in some sort of disease or pathogen, then maybe some carbaryl or imidacloprid can help.

[JScott]

Flower spikes and young growths will often secret a sticky, sugar substance (some call it honeydew), and sugar ants can be attracted to that. It doesn't harm the plant at all; in fact, it can be good for the plant because the ants remove of the honeydew can help reduce the risk of fungus. If it's just a few ants, don't worry about it. Ants are everywhere.
If you find that the ants have colonized the pot, that can be inconvenient if you bring your plants inside in the winter. BY fall, I always have a few pots with ant colonies in them. I've found the best way to get rid of the ants in the pots is to submerge the pot in a bucket of water. Put a stick in the bucket too, so the ants can evacuate the pot, climb up the stick and out of the bucket, and relocate elsewhere. Some of them may congregate at the tops of the leaves, and you can just take a hose sprayer, and spray those ants off the plant. Occasionally I have to follow this procedure twice to get them all out, but it usually works on the first try.

[tedro]

Wow,

Glad I asked! Yes, just a few.
Thanks for the removal tips!

I’ll have to see how many others, if any show up.


🙏

[DirtyCoconuts]

ill echo the above.

jscott's method is super effective AND humane.

I have ants on all my plants outside...they do good work



as a side note...if you ever want to read something cool, google why myrmycophelia is called that! then looks for videos of the huge colonies

[tedro]

Thanks, DirtyCoconuts,

I saw none this morning... maybe sleeping.
I will look that up!

Thanks, all

[Roberta]

Along with not wanting ants in the house... they can be a problem with orchids. Not because they harm the plants or flowers themselves - they don't - but because they "farm" aphids which ARE harmful. They'll actually carry aphids to that honeydew. Industrious little beasties... they let the aphids suck the sap (aphids are equipped to do that , ants aren't) , and then eat what the aphids excrete.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i should have added that i have a LOT of lady bugs so i don't worry too much about that...i keep the creepy crawlies working for ME

[tedro]

Thanks Roberta!

Might I *see aphids? or, can i tell if there *are aphids?
Wouldn’t/will aphids get on my parlor palm, next to the phal?

[JScott]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

ill echo the above.

jscott's method is super effective AND humane.

I have ants on all my plants outside...they do good work



as a side note...if you ever want to read something cool, google why myrmycophelia is called that! then looks for videos of the huge colonies

Thank you for noticing the humane aspect of my ant removal procedure. I think ants are just so cool, and they're really helpful to the environment. I just love ants, and I avoid killing them any time I can (fire ants are the only exception. They are non-native invasive species, and they hurt like hell if you step in their nests, so I tend to be less humane with them)