Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum. I have been having problems with red ants, masses of them. I've dug over my garden, putting in some new soil too. They get into my planters, well, seems they are everywhere this year. I'm a little distraught because I planted a tree for my late father, it was thriving until recently, the leaves are hanging down, its kinda looking all sad.
I would hate to dig it back up, been in the garden 2 months now.
I would appreciate any advice on how to get rid of the little critters..

Thanks.

Molly.

If they're everywhere, you're not going to get rid of them, but I doubt that they're anything to do with the trees problems. I don't know where in the country you are, but here we've had a very dry few weeks, with soil beginning to crack, and any newly planted tree which hadn't been heavily watered would be hanging its leaves.

On 17/06/2013 19:56, Molly1966 wrote:
Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum. I have been having problems with
red ants, masses of them. I've dug over my garden, putting in some new
soil too. They get into my planters, well, seems they are everywhere
this year. I'm a little distraught because I planted a tree for my late
father, it was thriving until recently, the leaves are hanging down, its
kinda looking all sad.
I would hate to dig it back up, been in the garden 2 months now.
I would appreciate any advice on how to get rid of the little
critters..

Thanks.

Molly.

Know thine enemy
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/...e.aspx?pid=503

Biological control is available from several firms, google it

On 17/06/2013 19:56, Molly1966 wrote:
Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum. I have been having problems with
red ants, masses of them. I've dug over my garden, putting in some new
soil too. They get into my planters, well, seems they are everywhere
this year. I'm a little distraught because I planted a tree for my late
father, it was thriving until recently, the leaves are hanging down, its
kinda looking all sad.
I would hate to dig it back up, been in the garden 2 months now.
I would appreciate any advice on how to get rid of the little
critters..

The main problem with ants occurs when they excavate soil from pots to
create their nests. In my experience, they always do this through the
drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. To stop this, always place a
piece of weedproof membrane over the hole (or cut a disk the same size
as the pot bottom, and place it so that it covers all the holes. But
take care to cover those side holes in some pots!) and then fill it with
compost/soil.

--

Jeff

On Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:56:58 +0200, Molly1966 wrote:

Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum. I have been having problems with
red ants, masses of them. I've dug over my garden, putting in some new
soil too. They get into my planters, well, seems they are everywhere
this year. I'm a little distraught because I planted a tree for my late
father, it was thriving until recently, the leaves are hanging down, its
kinda looking all sad.
I would hate to dig it back up, been in the garden 2 months now.
I would appreciate any advice on how to get rid of the little critters..

Hi Molly, and welcome to urg.

It's unlikely that the ants are causing your tree to wilt, unless they've
completely dug out the feeder roots. Regular watering should see the
roots well enough. The ants may be farming aphids on the new shoots,
which will hinder and distort new growth. If you find them, and you can
get a hose to the tree, you should wash them off.

You don't say what kind of tree, but wilting leaves is potentially a bad
sign this time of year, unless it's been buffeted by hail or something.
New trees need water every week unless there has been a significant
quantity of rain.

Good luck, and let us know how it comes out.

-E

--
Gardening in Lower Normandy