View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Old 06-04-2007, 12:18 AM posted to aus.gardens
Jonno[_8_] Jonno[_8_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2007
Posts: 9
Default Can ants kill plants?

odonata28 (Linda) wrote:
I just recently bought a beautiful deep burgundy Cordyline, left it for the
weekend with my daughter and when I came home it was wilted. :-(
On closer inspection it was riddled with red ants!
I removed it from the pot rinsed its roots and repotted it (that was 4 days
ago) it's still droopy.
I'll be so disppointed if I lose it!
I've cut back 50% of the leaves that were dying.
BTW: Happy Easter Everyone!
Linda



Ants are a sign that the pot is too dry. Ants would never nest there
otherwise.
Suggest an easy way to recover droopy plants is to mix some soluble
aqausol or simular into a bucket, fill it halfway, drop in the
affected plant and leave it for an hour or so.
The plant will be seen to smile, perk up and all will be well again.
The same result as cutting back the foliage, exept no damage to the
leaves. When you remove leaves, its because the plant roots are not
able to get enough moisture into the leaves to expand them so they
will work. The bucket method pushes the water and nutrient into the
roots and recovery is very quick.
Let us know how you get on...