Ant infestation

[rbarata]

I've found it in the pot of my den nobile.
Do you thik it's ok to repot it at this stage?

[Roberta]

I think is ok to repot to get rid of the ants. But you may not have to... If you mixed up some dish liquid soap with some water, and dunked the whole thing (plant, pot, and all) into that soapy water and left it for a couple of hours or overnight, you would do significant damage to the ant colony. (Even if you repot, a dunk might be a good idea anyway... to be sure you have gotten the last ant, you certainly don't want any survivors) If doing the dunk, just rinse well to get rid of the soap and dead ants.

[rbarata]

I believe soaking the whole thing is not viable. The plant is more than 3 ft tall with several canes... maybe repot is easier.
The ant colony is established only in the medium so I think I can discard sucking pests (also I've been giving showers to the plant every time I water it so, if they exist, their population is at a minimum and not enough to attract so many ants).
I've put the pot under plain water just to flood the medium completely with water but there will be always some air pockets.
I'll see...maybe I'll repot...the last lime I did it was 3 years ago.

[dounoharm]

amdro...and done....

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

amdro...and done....

rbarata is located in Portugal and probably can't get that specific product. What is the active ingredient, that might be available there in some product?

[estación seca]

Some ants spread mealy bugs and aphids from plant to plant, in order to harvest the honeydew secreted by the sucking insects.

Can you get boric acid powder? It is sold as roach poison. Take several bottle caps. Add some boric acid powder to each. Add either sugar solution or cooking oil. Some ants like sugar and some like oil. They will carry it back to their nest.

[will1986]

I've used Terro liquid ant bait for this exact problem in a Dendrobium pot in the past. You may not have that brand, but it is just a boric acid solution. It's kind of thick and syrupy, and you just put droplets of it on little cards or something. The ants are attracted to it and they eat it but it takes a while to kill them, so they take it back to the colony to feed the larvae and the queen, and then the whole colony dies.

It's kind of freaky at first, because you'll see way more ants than you even knew were there at first, but then after a few days, they'll all be gone.

But repotting wouldn't be a bad idea if it's been three years. Is the plant actively growing right now? My Dendrobiums are in growth. The new growths are quite large, but there is still active root growth, so I don't think it would be too late.

If you can't find a prepared ant bait product with boric acid, ES's recipe above is the same.

[Fernando]

From time to time I've ants, too. More or less every summer.
They aren't a problem. Just submerging the pot in a soapy solution (jabón potásico) and giving the ants a way to flee into the garden (a bridge so to say), and they will do so.
You would like it too before repotting! After three years that might be a good thing to do.

In my opinion there is no need to use pesticides.

[rbarata]

unbelievable!

3 hrs after the pot sinking in water the ants found a new way to it. The pot was in my bedroom, when I went to sleep found a ant line that was croosing, literally, the house. The path had it starting i my son's bedroom and was finishing in the pot.

My den is now officially growing outside!

I will repot it, it's almost finishing its growing but, since we will have at least one more month of warm/high temps I believe it will recover

[Leafmite]

As I grow many tropical plants in a nice, light, perlite-laden, sandy soil I have sometimes experienced problems with ant colonies in my pots. Some of my little trees have pots too large to be completely submerged in water and so I need other solutions. Here are a few:

What you could try is to do whatever you did before to clear out the ants but, then, circle the pot with a think line of dish washing soap and make certain no part of it touches anything else. Another thing to do is to fill a container with water and prop the plant in the center, making certain, again, that no part of the plant touches anything else. Most ants will not cross water or soap and will go elsewhere.

The borax is great if the ants are of the type that will eat it but, sometimes, the ants are not interested. Sevin ( Carbaryl - Wikipedia ), if you can get it in Spain, will very quickly wipe them out.

I sometimes use Artemisia absinthium to clear the ants out but that is not always an easy plant to find and the leaves must be fresh and enough leaves are needed for every pot. The types of ants we have here avoid the plant and by putting some freshly picked leaves on top of the soil, it sends the ants scurrying, their young in tow.