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Re: HELP! I have ants in my plants!!
In article <MOD$971002.28129@rec.gardens.ecosystems>, allenje@nima.mil (Jim
Allen) wrote:
> I have a couple large palms and some other tropicals that spend the summer
> outside. Last winter, after I brought them in, I had a terrible problem
> with tiny ants that swarmed all over my kitchen. I ended up almost
> killing one of the palms with the chemicals it took to finally get rid of
> them. How can I get rid of them before I bring in the house? Is there
> an organic alternative? I don't care if I kill the ants but the plants
> (and my family) I am rather fond of!
>
I think that in the future, the idea posted by Jack might be the best: keep
the pots in drainage dishes with a little water in each one to form a moat,
preventing the ants from getting in. Some people use tanglefoot, but that's
a bit messy on houseplant pots....
As for this year:
First, you may not yet know whether the pots are infested. Maybe they are,
maybe they aren't. If they are not (and you will find this out soon after
moving them in, I am sure), then you have no problem.
If you do wind up with ants, the best solution is a poisoned bait which the
ants will take back to the nest and spread around, killing the colony. The
good aspects of this are 1) it doesn't take much (vs the amount of
chemicals you probably used last year), 2) the usual poison is either borax
or boric acid, both relatively harmless to humans, and non-toxic to the
plant 3) it is cheap.
The main problem is the formulation: you must get the borax/boric acid into
something the ants will eat. For many species, a sugar-water solution works
well (Terro is a commercial product with this make-up). If your ants have a
sweet mandible, this should do the trick. If not, people have used peanut
butter, scrambled eggs and the like for oil and protein-loving ants.
So your first task is really to identify your ants, or at least learn
something about their behavior and foraging preferences....
But since this *is* r.g.ecosystems, I feel it only fair to put in a kind
word for ants, which tend to be unfairly maligned in the garden groups. It
is true that some species are pests, but many are beneficial, and trying to
rid your entire yard of all ants (as some people actually want to do) is
assuredly *not* a good idea. The aphid-farming and household pest ants get
all the attention (all of it negative), while other species are not
recognized for their importance as predators, soil aerators and so on.
Even some of the pest ants have a dual role: some of the aphid tenders do
make that their main occupation, but other aphid tenders make that a
sideline and are mainly predators. In any situation, you should assess the
harm (if any) being done, weigh it against the good being done, and then
decide if you need to do anything at all. (In your case, you seem to have
done that already.)
Don't assume all ants do the same thing: they don't. You need to understand
the situation before you engage in *any* kind of control scheme.
Regards,
Bill
--
Bill Morgan
wtmorgan@pilot.msu.edu
Center for Room Temperature Confusion
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