Urgent... ant nest inside my new orchid plant :S:S

[t_riachy]

hello guys,
plz it's an emmergency, i hav an ANT NEST, inside my new orchid:S:S:@
i had aleready transfered the plant to another pot, subbmerged in water and tride to kill all the ant i saw,
but it seems that it didn't work, and somehow ants are immune to water:S:S

so plz what can i do to resolve this prbl without hurting the plant...

btw my orchid is a really big Cymbidium... plz i want to save it, and save my home from ants...

[Izzie]

How long did you soak? You might consider putting bait traps on top of the medium?


This might help:

Quoted from AOS website: "Ants

Ants seldom cause any direct damage to orchids, rather they indicate the possibility of infestation by scale, mealybugs or aphids. To control ants it is usually adequate to remove the source of food that is attracting them so you must examine your plants and control the pests that attract ants. Some orchids, especially cymbidiums, produce sugary secretions on the flower spikes. In this case, the ants can be prevented from reaching the plants by setting the legs of the bench into tins partly filled with oil or soapy water, to make an ant-proof moat."

Here's a past thread from this board about how to get rid of ants:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...-rid-ants.html



There's some good information you could use in the future in this pdf about Pests and Diseases by Sue Bottom as well: http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PD...ySueBottom.pdf

Nothing about ants specifically though. :/

Sorry I can't be of more help! Good luck!

[trdyl]

There are a few other remedies for ants in this link:

First Rays' Home Remedies

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by trdyl

There are a few other remedies for ants in this link:

First Rays' Home Remedies

Ack, that's a first- totally forgot to recommend Ray's site as well!

[Izzie]

I still wonder if ants do the same thing for orchids that they do for peonies- symbiotic relationship where they get the sap from the buds, and the buds are able to open more easily.