Ants have made a home in my oncidium orchid!

[omallytheallycat]

I have had this oncidium for a couple years. its lived in a sun window inside my house. Some how ants found there way in and built a colony in my plant. I have tried flushing and re-potting. As well as using ant bate. Nothing is working. I moved it into my laundry room to make sure its the only one of my 20 or so plants that is infested and it is. Its also the one that is almost always in bloom. What can I do. I have heard of using garlic and vinegar but Im not sure how much to use....can I soak the hold plant in a vinegar garlic Cinnamon solution? I have a slop sink so I could submerge the hole plant. I have tried this sever times for sever hours with plain water but I just cant kill the buggers. They look like reg house ants. I'm desperate and willing to try about anything...I told my husband if i dont get rid of them in another week ( I have been battling them for a month now) I'm going to call an exterminator!! PLease help me!! Im open to anything except killing the plant. Oh and one last thing the plant doesn't have any other pests so the only reason I can see for them living in it is for water( I live in the desert) and or the sap the plant likes to leek when it flowers.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Suggest you do this outdoors.

Put the plant in a bucket or container deeper than the rim of the pot.

Slowly fill your "bucket" a bit at a time (like a centimeter at at time every 5 to 10 minutes). This will raise the water level slowly and should minimize air pockets the ants can live in. The ants will move up & out. You don't need to flood the leaves (potential for rot, etc.)

When water is up to the rim of the pot, the ants will all be out. You can then spray with a general purpose, orchid-friendly insecticide (try Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Dual Action; if not available in your area, you can try something else that is water-soluble, suitable for orchids and house plants).

You may need to repeat the above after a few days, but it should not be necessary to keep doing it.

Return the plant to its location in the house. To be safe, I would put a Terro brand liquid ant bait (Borax-based) on top of the medium, or at least near the pot.

[kindrag23]

What about also changing out the media? Incase of eggs? I am not sure about how this will work on orchids....but I have a dog outside and don't really care for using the hard core stuff especially when it states not to allow children and pets near it for 24 hours...

Stone ground Corn meal works really well. The ants eat it and it causes them to explode. You place it over the nest and will sometimes have to apply once or twice but it does work! Also may work as a great preventative that won't harm family members or pets.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Hi Kindra

As the ants move out of the pot they will also move the eggs. Eggs left behind & not tended by the ants will likely rot and die.

[kindrag23]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

Hi Kindra

As the ants move out of the pot they will also move the eggs. Eggs left behind & not tended by the ants will likely rot and die.

Good to know.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Orange Guard works instant and repels for quite some time! I did use it and I can say it really does work, HOWEVER I did kill with it new growing spikes, flowering spikes also, and tiny new growths! So be careful if you use it. It is really great smell, and safe around pets, even around food!

[GardenTheater]

The ant baits can take two to three weeks to work as it takes a while for the poison to get ingested by all the trouble makers. I leave ant baits out by my indoor and orchids all year long. It is working well. You can probably get rid of most of them with the dunking and control with the baits. I try to avoid the heavy duty stuff too.

[omallytheallycat]

I tryed bate for WEEKS like about a month now and no luck. I cant move it outside since its winter My day time high is like 55 and the lows are well into the freezing. I live in WA state so its a desert but it also gets REALLY cold. So It has to be something I can do in the house to kill them. I cant find anywere that sells orange gaurd in my area. I have sweet orange oil and pepermint oil can I mix it with water and spray the plant? I took all the media off and Im going to put it back in with almost non for a couple days till Im sure I wont have to rince it again. It seems like no matter how many times I rince the plant more cants ants keep apearing as if out of thin air on the plant!!!! I spent like an hour rinceing all the media out since it was root bound. I tend to over anilize and make things harder then they should be. I need someone to just tell me exactly what to do. lol I have dinner partys on the weekends and I dont know how many more times I can explain that the ants are not becasue I'm filthy its becasue they like my orchid plants.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

Suggest you do this outdoors.

Put the plant in a bucket or container deeper than the rim of the pot.

Slowly fill your "bucket" a bit at a time (like a centimeter at at time every 5 to 10 minutes). This will raise the water level slowly and should minimize air pockets the ants can live in. The ants will move up & out. You don't need to flood the leaves (potential for rot, etc.)

When water is up to the rim of the pot, the ants will all be out. You can then spray with a general purpose, orchid-friendly insecticide (try Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Dual Action; if not available in your area, you can try something else that is water-soluble, suitable for orchids and house plants).

You may need to repeat the above after a few days, but it should not be necessary to keep doing it.

Return the plant to its location in the house. To be safe, I would put a Terro brand liquid ant bait (Borax-based) on top of the medium, or at least near the pot.

This is how I always do it. Just make it happen inside instead of outside. Easy peezy.

[omallytheallycat]

Thank you I will try this If they come back. I will post if it works or not in a week or so if they are gon