All the dirt in the saucer has appeared in two days!

How can I get rid of this ant infestation?

The pot lives in my conservatory.

On 4/25/2017 9:54 AM, miljee wrote:
All the dirt in the saucer has appeared in two days!

How can I get rid of this ant infestation?

The pot lives in my conservatory.


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I have used two methods successfully. One is to make a dilute drench of
malathion in water and use it to water the plant. The other is to use
an "ant stake"; I use Grants for Ants.

While successful, neither method is necessarily permanent. The
malathion is very quick, but does not last unless the ants actually have
their home nest in the pot. The "ant stake" method might require a week
or more to yield success, but it works even if the home nest is remote.

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com

Consider:
* Most state mandate that drivers have liability insurance.
* Employers are mandated to have worker's compensation insurance.
* If you live in a flood zone, flood insurance is mandatory.
* If your home has a mortgage, fire insurance is mandatory.

Why then is mandatory health insurance so bad??

On 25/04/17 17:54, miljee wrote:
All the dirt in the saucer has appeared in two days!

How can I get rid of this ant infestation?

The pot lives in my conservatory.


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|Filename: ants 1.JPG |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=16512|
|Filename: ants 2.JPG |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=16513|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

We had a similar problem and almost gave up. We would have just thrown
it out, but it was of great sentimental value. The plant was about 120
cm high and across, and in a 45 cm square tub. It was all very heavy!

Soaking the soil with water containing washing up liquid didn't work.
Using an insecticide didn't work. Both methods killed lots of ants, but
some remained, and there were probably eggs hatching as well.

In the end, the only solution was to remove the plant from the tub and
wash off all the earth with a high-pressure stream of water. At this
time of year, the plant will not be harmed. After all the earth was
removed, the roots were allowed to dry and an insecticidal powder was
puffed all over them. After leaving for a few days, the plant was
repotted in a dry mix, and left for a fortnight before it was watered
again. NB the tub drainage holes were covered with weed-proof membrane
to stop ants entering through them, and removing soil through them.

That was last year, and this year the plant has been growing well, and
indeed flowered as usual in winter.

--

Jeff

On 25/04/17 21:45, David E. Ross wrote:
On 4/25/2017 9:54 AM, miljee wrote:
All the dirt in the saucer has appeared in two days!

How can I get rid of this ant infestation?

I have used two methods successfully. One is to make a dilute drench of
malathion in water and use it to water the plant. The other is to use
an "ant stake"; I use Grants for Ants.

While successful, neither method is necessarily permanent. The
malathion is very quick, but does not last unless the ants actually have
their home nest in the pot. The "ant stake" method might require a week
or more to yield success, but it works even if the home nest is remote.

Neither active ingredient is approved in the UK unfortunately (the post
was via gardenbanter, a UK-based forum which redirects questions at
random to uk.rec.gardening or rec.gardens).

There are no equivalent products for malathion, but there are for
hydramethylnon (in the ant stake).

--

Jeff

On Tue, 25 Apr 2017 22:34:19 +0100, Jeff Layman
wrote:

On 25/04/17 17:54, miljee wrote:
All the dirt in the saucer has appeared in two days!

How can I get rid of this ant infestation?

The pot lives in my conservatory.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: ants 1.JPG |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=16512|
|Filename: ants 2.JPG |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=16513|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

We had a similar problem and almost gave up. We would have just thrown
it out, but it was of great sentimental value. The plant was about 120
cm high and across, and in a 45 cm square tub. It was all very heavy!

Soaking the soil with water containing washing up liquid didn't work.
Using an insecticide didn't work. Both methods killed lots of ants, but
some remained, and there were probably eggs hatching as well.

In the end, the only solution was to remove the plant from the tub and
wash off all the earth with a high-pressure stream of water. At this
time of year, the plant will not be harmed. After all the earth was
removed, the roots were allowed to dry and an insecticidal powder was
puffed all over them. After leaving for a few days, the plant was
repotted in a dry mix, and left for a fortnight before it was watered
again. NB the tub drainage holes were covered with weed-proof membrane
to stop ants entering through them, and removing soil through them.

That was last year, and this year the plant has been growing well, and
indeed flowered as usual in winter.


I have used the un-potting-wash-down-to-the-roots method for some
hefty plants and some smaller ones over the years. Never added
insecticides to the task, but have had success wioth just the
hose-down..

Boron Elgar wrote:
....
I have used the un-potting-wash-down-to-the-roots method for some
hefty plants and some smaller ones over the years. Never added
insecticides to the task, but have had success wioth just the
hose-down..

a major mess and disturbance for a large
plant.

a general purpose insecticide may not work
you have to actually get enough poison to the
queen who is laying the eggs and if the poison
is too strong it will kill the workers before
they feed it to the queen.

there are ant poisons and baits which work
well. just use one of those. they are not
expensive and what is good about them is that
they are only picked up by and affect the ants
in question and not everything else. often it
can be done without using too much poison, but
you must keep the bait station filled up as
long as the ants keep taking it. may be a week
or two before you stop seeing the ants.


songbird

Thanks. I wasn't certain if the ant killer (powders, sprays and stations) I was seeing in Asda (was just there) was to kill the odd stray ant on a kitchen counter, or is 'man enough' to kill a nest. Presumably, the key is to kill the queen, then no more nest?

On Thu, 27 Apr 2017 07:53:18 -0400, songbird
wrote:

Boron Elgar wrote:
...
I have used the un-potting-wash-down-to-the-roots method for some
hefty plants and some smaller ones over the years. Never added
insecticides to the task, but have had success wioth just the
hose-down..

a major mess and disturbance for a large
plant.

a general purpose insecticide may not work
you have to actually get enough poison to the
queen who is laying the eggs and if the poison
is too strong it will kill the workers before
they feed it to the queen.

there are ant poisons and baits which work
well. just use one of those. they are not
expensive and what is good about them is that
they are only picked up by and affect the ants
in question and not everything else. often it
can be done without using too much poison, but
you must keep the bait station filled up as
long as the ants keep taking it. may be a week
or two before you stop seeing the ants.


songbird


There was no reason to use any insecticide. These are large,
warm-weather trees (various citrus, fig, bougainvillea) that I bring
inside for my NE winters. It isn't hard to roll the tub on its side,
pull the plant out, and hose off the dirt and examine the roots
before re-potting.

I am not against using chems when needed - not at all - but this
works well for me when it happens.

Hi,

I have a similar problem with ants. Could you ellaborate a little more on what the 'ant steak' method is? I'm looking to try anything.

Thanks in advnace.

Hi,

I have a similar problem with ants. Could you ellaborate a little more on what the 'ant steak' method is? I'm looking to try anything.

Thanks in advance.

On 5/16/2017 11:30 PM, compo77 wrote:
'David E. Ross[_2_ Wrote:
;1024748']On 4/25/2017 9:54 AM, miljee wrote:-
All the dirt in the saucer has appeared in two days!

How can I get rid of this ant infestation?

The pot lives in my conservatory.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: ants 1.JPG |
|Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=16512|
|Filename: ants 2.JPG |
|Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=16513|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+-

I have used two methods successfully. One is to make a dilute drench
of
malathion in water and use it to water the plant. The other is to use
an "ant stake"; I use Grants for Ants.

While successful, neither method is necessarily permanent. The
malathion is very quick, but does not last unless the ants actually
have
their home nest in the pot. The "ant stake" method might require a
week
or more to yield success, but it works even if the home nest is remote.

--
David E. Ross
'David Ross, one of the last living liberals' (http://www.rossde.com)

Consider:
* Most state mandate that drivers have liability insurance.
* Employers are mandated to have worker's compensation insurance.
* If you live in a flood zone, flood insurance is mandatory.
* If your home has a mortgage, fire insurance is mandatory.

Why then is mandatory health insurance so bad??

Hi,

I have a similar problem with ants. Could you ellaborate a little more
on what the 'ant steak' method is? I'm looking to try anything.

Thanks in advnace.

It is a stake, not a steak (not meat).

Grant's for Ants comes in boxes of 10. Each ant stake consists of a
flatended oval plastic can about 1/2 inch thick and 1-1/4 x 2 inches
across. The can is mounted on edge on a plastic stake about 4-/12
incnes long and 1-1/4 inch wide. The is a 1/4 hole in the center of the
exposed face of the can. Inside the can is a jelled bait that is 1%
hydramethelnon.

To use, I hold the stake horizontally and put 1-2 drops of water on the
hole. Using a finishing nail, I stir the water into the jell, using the
nail to smear a little of the jell on the outside of the can. Then, I
push the stake's pointed end into the ground where I see the ants.

The stake does not kill the adult worker ants. Instead, they carry the
bait back to the nest, feeding it to the larvae and queen. The bait
kills the larvae and causes the queen to stop laying fertile eggs.

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com

Consider:
* Most state mandate that drivers have liability insurance.
* Employers are mandated to have worker's compensation insurance.
* If you live in a flood zone, flood insurance is mandatory.
* If your home has a mortgage, fire insurance is mandatory.

Why then is mandatory health insurance so bad??