Ants in My Plants

debodun

debodun

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Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I have a cactus dish garden that had some plants set in it in small plastic pots. I wanted to plant those directly in the terracotta clay container. However, when I knocked them out of the plastic pots, there were hundred of little black ants in the bottom of each pot, and believe me, they were not happy at being disturbed. I ushered the garden outside, but the ants are still in the soil. I looked for advice on how to get rid of ants in a potted plant. Most say to fill a tub with water, then soak the plant's roots until the ants come out an float to the water's surface. I don't think soaking would be advised for cacti. Also, container is wide and shallow and probably wouldn't fit in a pail. Any suggestions?

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My wife had potted plants up on the kitchen cabinets, took me months to figure where the ants where coming from on the counter tops!!!
 
I went baited for bear and decided to re-pot the cactus. I got a large plastic bowl I had been using for a water catcher under a pot to dump the dirt out of the dish. I carefully removed the cacti with gloves and set them in a separate container. I dumped the dirt in the bowl and there was nary an ant to be seen - just a few earwigs. Maybe leaving it outside a few days, they took off for "greener" pastures. I'm still leaving the dirt out for a while to make sure and also hope the earwigs get the hint, too.
 
debodun said:
Is that like Borax?
Click to expand...

No. It's the stuff you get at the pharmacy that we used to put on cuts in the old days. Boracic acid I think it's called.

The bugs, including cockroaches pick it up and feed it to the larvae. Borax is different. It is a mining product.


You might have heard of boric acid being used as a natural pest control as well. It’s true. People have been fighting cockroaches with BA for nearly a century. It’s one of the most effective cockroach control agents ever developed, and it can be used as an alternative pest control for roaches and other unwanted invaders. The awesome thing is it’s less toxic to humans and pets than other harsh chemical pesticides, some of which have been linked to ADHD and other conditions, and it also has several beneficial uses beyond getting rid of pests.

https://draxe.com/boric-acid/
 
Repotting looks just great. A new start for those plants will give you a nice result in about 6 months with cacti. So nice that those plants don't need much watering. I'm going to start one myself.dief2.jpgdief1.jpg

On the right the parent plant. On the left a recent cutting from the parent plant. These are diefennbachia. An easy plant to take care of.
 
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This has been the worst year for ants in the house and garden. I've always used boric acid and have had pretty good results with it, but this year I was so overwhelmed with ants I was so desperate I even tried some HOT SHOT ant baits I found at Walmart. Guess what! They work! Even better than boric acid. Here's an ad I found for them at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Shot-Max...pID=61HY3dqimZL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
 
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Thanks for the tip & link, Larry! ....we have to outwit these little buggers.
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My sister had told me about Ortho Home Defense when we got some very aggressive little black ants in the kitchen. We used to get ants but not like them. They were all over the place, even crawling up to my kitchen cabinets. I put the Ortho Home Defense (liquid) down in the floor opening they were coming from in the kitchen, sections of the living room and patio door and in the kitchen cabinets. It took a few days but I haven't seen one of those ants since and it's been two and a half years. Even tho OHD advertises working for an entire year, I put more down every couple of months. We got 2 gallons for a good price at Costco. My sister says she got hers from Home Depot.
 
There are various products you can use that don't contain chemicals and won't hurt children or pets. Sprinkle cornmeal or a commercial oat like Cream of Wheat where you have seen ants congregating in your home or around the border of your garden. There are many natural pest repellants available as well that can help you get those ants out of your plants. If after using these products still you can't get rid of them, then you can also take help of some professional exterminator like Pest Control Brookfield CT to get better and effective results.
 

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