AusBonsai

Doing a little repotting and lifting on a plant or two over the weekend and noticed a large amount of ants. Mostly in the soil but some traveling up branches and so on. I have just moved houses and set up a few new benches. Are they considered a pest?? I can imagine they may help with airating the soil???

Thanks for your help.

A pest that should be removed. They often farm Aphids or Scale on the tree for the sweet honey dew secretion.

Have noticed a few more mites than usual, what's the best form of eradication?? Put down some ant sand around the benches but with rain and watering don't know how successful that was.

I usually use the AntRid, in a bottle lid, and it doesnt take long. Otherwise drown them by leaving the root ball under water for a day, then repeat in a few days. You may need to also hose the ants off the foilage at the same time.

cheers will give it a go

I've had ant infestations in nearly all my pits the last few weeks. I noticed it about 3 weeks ago so I sprinckled amt sand around but they only seemed to multiply with more and more holes being built in the pots. So yesterday I went out filled all the buckets and trays I could find and filled them with water then dunked all my trees over the day and last night. For some of my larger ones which were choca block full of them I had to fill the wheelburrow to dunk the trees in. Most are now ant free for the moment.

Hugh

Jarrod wrote:...Otherwise drown them by leaving the root ball under water for a day, then repeat in a few days. You may need to also hose the ants off the foilage at the same time.

Gday Alex & Co!

I find that a drop or two of dishwashing liquid to a tub of water will break the surface tension and flush out (and drown) the ants more quickly. If you're worried about bad karma from drowning hundreds of ants at a time, you can leave out the detergent and give the ants a 'stick bridge', so that they may escape to the side of the tub (where they'll go from there is anybody's guess ).

Jarrod wrote:A pest that should be removed. They often farm Aphids or Scale on the tree for the sweet honey dew secretion.

Jarrod is correct here: ants - especially in the branches - are often a sign that there are other pests at work. Look for aphids, scale, mealybugs and lerps within your trees, and eradicate them by hand.

alexgee wrote:Are they considered a pest?? I can imagine they may help with airating the soil???

To the contrary, I have found that ants nesting in (Bonsai) soil will make the soil water-repellent: perhaps they line their tunnels with a waxy substance. If the soil is not drawing in water, it is also not drawing in air. Best to be rid of them.

Thanks, and good luck!

Fly.

Have been doing periodic dunks on a few of the worse trees and seems to be going well. Although I was away for a week and a half with a mate watering and they seemed to have returned, so the dunking has continued.

Hey guys,

Sorry to bring up an ancient thread, but didn't want to make a new one.

I have a problem with ants... the buggers are everywhere. Yesterday we even discovered some in our hanging baskets, feeding on some strawberries.... and I honeslty have no idea how they got there... or how they knew that there was a single strawberry in that basket for them! I think they've now set up a nest in the bottom of the basket

I have the same problem with most of my bonsai's/plants. They seem to love them, and will make a massive trek just to go up the drainage holes of each of my pots! Any that I have on the ground will be guaranteed to have a nants nest underneath... and not just a small one either!

Is there any deterents for them? Preferrably natural, as we have puppies that like to stick their noses in everything and anything

I didn't think they were a problem, just an annoyance, but I'd love to be rid of them all the same

As above Antrid works well, would probably need to keep the pets away but if you found an ant trail in an area away from the pets... A few drops and problem usually solved

I have also had issues with ants this season. Although they have not been nesting in my pots, there are many nests in the ground. Earlier in the season I tried quite a few drops of antrid in the nest openings in the ground and I did this regularly.
The ants seemed to pop up somewhere else in a couple of weeks even though I treated all the nests I could find in my courtyard.
I am about to try "Beat a Bug Spray" pouring a bit in the nest and then following up with some milk. Apparently the milk curdles when mixed with the spray, so I hope this works.
I also tried boiling water which kills them and if done repeatedly it is supposed to deter them from coming back to that nest (but they seem to just move to another location nearby).
Cheers, Dario.

They are driving me insane! I'll have to try some Antrid, but they are all around our house in large numbers, so I'm not expecting much. Still, if I can keep them away from my pots, they can live anywhere for all I care I might just fence an area off to keep the puppies away from it

I have found that ants are very afraid of ghosts... So if you can get a few ghosts to watch your plants that worked for me.

But seriously I have the same problem luckily I have a pest exterminating mate who is bringing me a syringe tomorrow of some kind of special stuff... I will ask him what the name is and if it is available commercially.

I had a similar problem several weeks back, the ants just appeared from no where

Ant sand didn't work as it was washed away at the first watering, so I used ant rid, just a couple of drops on the bench underneath the pots that the ants were hanging around, this way it is targeting the pots that have the issues, us in is semi protected from washing away when you water, it will last several days so it has a chance to be affective, it only took two applications over a 7 day period to eliminate the issue, hope it helps

Just received my syringe of "special stuff"

The product is called Imidacloprid

Going to apply it tonight, the packaging says it is for cockroaches but he assures me this is what they use professionally for ants.