venturabananas

It's been dry and warm in Southern California for a couple of weeks. Today I checked on my potted (5 gallon pots) bananas that are outside. A couple were completely dry, so I gave them a good soaking. Out of the Kluai Khai pot came streaming thousands of ants with their eggs and larvae. Apparently, the ant colony was very fond of that pot. Should I be concerned that the ants are up to no good in the pot, or not worry about it? The plant seems OK, not really cranking out growth, but hanging in and slowly putting out leaves, which I figured was about all I could expect from this variety during winter in So Cal.

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Dean W.

Mark, I would get rid of them. I had some fire ants in my plants pots and they killed a few of them. I used some organic ant killer from Greenlite on them there are others that can suggest some chemical stuff.

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CookieCows

I agree to get rid of them. I had the same thing happen to me with a meyer lemon I had in a pot. For two years it went into a decline as I battled the ant problem. I finally lost it however it was more than ants that finally did it in.

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Worm_Farmer

Forget the green stuff, I go right for the good stuff. I have been using Talstar to treat the entire yard. Talstar is pet safe, and safe for use inside as well as outside so that's good enough of me.

If you are looking for a cheaper way and greener.
Baking Soda - Dust the infested area around your plants. The anyts will disappear because baking soda is poisonous to them.

Crayola Chalk - Draw a think line around your pots on patio Ants will not cross the chalk line.

White Vinegar - pour White Vinegar directly on the anthill or fill a spray bottle with equal parts vinegar and water. The acetic acid in vinegar kills ants.

Coffee grounds - Mix them into soil or put on top of hill, Coffee grounds seem to make them implode.

Black Pepper - Sprinkle where ever ants are a bother, pepper repels ants.

Cinnamon - Make a thick line of Cinnamon, ants will not cross a Cinnamon barre.

The Hollyberry Lady

Richard

A pyrethrin or pyrethroid product will kill the ants in the pot without killing worms or other beneficials in the soil. The granular product Triazicide that comes in a tall can with a shaker top is great for controlling ants in a pot without side-effects on you or anything else in your yard.

If you want something completely natural, then get powdered Borax -- typically sold in squeeze bottle as powered Boric Acid.

The active ingredient in Talstar is Bifenthrin - a well-behaved Pyrethroid which is made by technical distillation of African Chrysanthemum oil. It is a "green" product and can be sprayed every night on produce in a supermarket (by someone with a license) if desired or necessary.

Although we do use cloves as an herb in cooking, the essential oils are toxic to a number of living things and contraindicated for many people as well. I don't believe its use as a pesticide is environmentally friendly.

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CookieCows

Borax!! I use that to make slime for the grandkids!!

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Richard

Great stuff! I grew up with Boraxo soap bars in the garage and the school gym -- long before the company was bought by Dial soap company.

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Roslyn

My main concern is that the ants are farming aphids. They like to eat the aphid "honeydew" (sugary aphid poo) and will protect the aphids so they can do that. You should look on the undersides of the leaves for aphids and get rid of both the ants and the aphids if they are there.

The Hollyberry Lady

venturabananas

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I had wondered about pyrethroids and whether this family of chemicals would harm worms (apparently no) and beneficial insects (undoubtedly yes). We use borax around the house when the ants make an invasion, and it works well if you can place it in all the places they might come in through (i.e., use it as a barrier). Didn't know about cloves. We use clove oil as an anesthetic when collecting marine fishes for research. It works very well (mixed with an organic solvent, like an alcohol), but everything it gets near smells like pumpkin pie for a long time (which ain't all bad).

Happily, it appears that I was mistaken: the pot was on top of an ant nest, and although there was lots of ants in the pot, the nest was in the ground. After moving the pot and flooding it (just water) a second time, it appears that the ant problem is solved. No aphids either -- despite the hundreds of ants that clambered up the p-stem when their nest was flooded by me watering.

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Richard

Be careful putting more than a few cloves out. The essential oil is an herbicide for some monocots and herbaceous dicots, and some beneficial soil bacteria as well. In terms of equivalent dosages: borax powder and pyrethroids are far more "friendly".

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The Hollyberry Lady

notrecruiting

I've read that a nice "home made" ant bait that supposedly works well is a mix of borax and sugar (equal parts I think) melted with boiling water to make a thick syrup. I believe it's pretty much the same as the brand name tero (which works wonders on the little ghost ants by the way). Not sure how "friendly" borax is though. The areas that I was reading seemed to have heated debate on the subject. I did have a mint plant that was a colony for ghost ants and I put some tero drops along the edge of the pot and a few drops directly in the soil and the ants were gone the next day. Tero is the only stuff I've used with success on ghost ants. Haven't tried the home made version yet.

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If it'll hold soil or grow don't throw it out

Olafhenny

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The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences,
my own and those of others and to learn from them.

Richard

Many a child has had their mouth washed out with Boraxo soap and lived to tell about it -- and typically with cleaner language about adults.

Dosage is key. You'll find the Boric Acid powder sold and labeled for insect control in stores has a low dosage of the active ingredient. It is safer around children and pets than most mint sprays labeled for the same purpose.

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CookieCows

In reading the pros and cons here I don't understand the insecticide problem with Borax. Is it different than your common dish washing soap that also is used to kill insects? Is borax stronger in some way or is dish washing soap just as harmful? Now I'm feeling a little creepy about standing at the counter making and passing out out globs of slime to my little kiddos! But on the other hand... if it's the same as regular soap ....

P.S. I know that Borax isn't used to wash dishes.. I was just throwing a commonly used soap that is used to kill bugs that we all use daily and think of as safe.

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sunfish

CookieCows

Awww.. thank you Tony!!!!

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Richard

The confusion here is between

• Borax, the raw chemical. Sold in boxes and not labeled as soap or insecticide. A hazardous material, sold to consumers in some states but more often requires a license.
• Consumer grade powdered Boric Acid (Borate, really), sold as an insecticide in a squeeze bottle. Considered non-hazardous. It contains a lot of inert material, typically 60%. For example: Victor's Boric Acid Powder MSDS.
• Boraxo, the soap product. Also contains a lot of inert material, and wax if you are buying the bars.

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