Black ants in Orchid pots

[iceicebaby]

Hi I have been noticing black ants colonies in my orchid potting medium.
I use charcoal as the medium.
What my concerns is; will these ants cut the roots of the orchids?

Waiting for a reply and thanking in advance,

Dev

[Donald]

To my knowledge, they themselves do not destroy the roots, they will carry in scale and other undesirable pests then feed off of the sap the pests produce. Click on this link for more info:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...-rid-ants.html

[iceicebaby]

Thank you so much for the reply. I have lost plants to rodents.
The last thing I want is to loose plants to ants.

[stefpix]

This could be one of the couple of most radical organic solution for ants
Pangolin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
probably would keep some rodents away as well.
perfect for a greenhouse - but if can be ok for windowsill growers too...

[RosieC]

I want one of those!

[stefpix]

I think it would not pass the UK quarantine restrictions

[RosieC]

Ah! There's always a flaw

[Psyguy10]

Donald's link is a good solution. I agree ants do not harm the orchids themselves; in fact, they can actually help open up old potting mixtures by burrowing. But the risk of them carrying diseases/pests is too great.

I had ants once in my Cattleya warneri, I flushed the pot with mildly soapy water (Dish soap-soap, lol) and they were gone pretty fast.

Good luck in getting rid of them.

[stefpix]

did you rinse after the soap? how much soap?
i have some ants burrowing here and there