Fire ants !!
 

How do I remove fire ants from my banana pot?? Thanks

Re: Fire ants !!
 

have you seen my thread!??:

http://www.bananas.org/f8/hints-tips...rden-9458.html





ANTS


Pros and cons. Gardeners usually consider ants to be pests. Ants can loosen soil around young plants, causing them to die. Some species shelter and protect aphids, whose honeydew they feed on. on the positive side, ants can improve air circulation in heavy soils, and there burrows improve water drainage.


To get rid of a coloney, cover the ant hill with a large flower pot whose drainage holes have ben plugged with a cork or tightley wadded plastic wrap. Heat a bucket of water to boiling and flood the surrounding soil, reserve a few galons of the water. Wait a minute or two for most of the ants to find shelter in the pot, then turn it upright and pour in the remaning water.


A mash of hot chilies and water will keep ants away. Another mix of homade repelent is a mix of orange peels and water pure'ed in your blender and poured directley into an anthill earley in the morning.


Instant grits work too. Grits expand in ants' bodies and finish them off. Leave the grits in piles near the insects pathways.


Inside the house, safely repel ants by sprinkeling pennyroyal, camphor, clove oil, tansy, spearment, or broken eggshels on a dish in closets and on shelvs.


Boric acid mixed with sugar is an effective ant poisn~but onley in gardens with no children and pets. Spred it on a piece of wood or stone near the nest, then cover for protection from rain. The foragaging ants will love it ;)


Wrap bands of paper coated with nondrying glue around the base of fruit trees to prevent ants from reaching the fruit. The easy way is to simpley fold in half a sheet of adhesive paper~the kind used on shelving~ with the sticky side out.


Ants hate aromatic plants like ment, lavender, chives, and garlic. Install these along borders or spot them randomely in clumps and pots around the garden.


Creat an ant barrior around plants, on front steps, and between garden rows with sprinkeling of agricultural lime, bone meal, or powerded charcoal.


Fire ants, better known in the south as red ants, are tenacious little creatures with a vicious sting. They are especally partial to sun and sandy soil. If your yard is prone to infestation, provide shade with vine-coverd trellises in a part of the garden where sun loving plants wont be affected. And if you keep compost, store it in closed bins so that fire ants cant build there hills.

Re: Fire ants !!
 

I had some ants living in a houseplant one time. I just submerged the soil completely in water for a few minutes and they all ran out and down the side of the pot trying to carry off as many eggs/larvae as they could. LOL. That was the last I ever saw of them in there.

Re: Fire ants !!
 

What??? You have something against my hometown's claim to fame??? Came into Mobile on banana boats, of all things!!!

Ortho Max (liquid) works well. Kill those MF's.

R

Re: Fire ants !!
 

Thanks guys! does anyone know if banana's can survive having the soil sprayed with seven ant killer? Scared to use it on the soil or it getting on the plant. My dad uses it and it never kills the grass or trees he sprays it around. But it did kill real small prickly pear pads on one of my plants. Didn't harm the rest of the plant though. But the ants could have been the cause as they pretty much buried the pads with dirt. Thanks

Re: Fire ants !!
 

I use 7 dust. Haven't had any problems with plants yet.

Re: Fire ants !!
 

I had ants in my Cali Cold pot & was told to pour a cheap beer in there...THANKS JACK!! :D
http://www.bananas.org/f310/bananas-...arth-9110.html
It changes the Ph levels & ants HATE THAT!!

Worked for me! :) ~Cheryl

Re: Fire ants !!
 

this is what i use an we have some of the most vicious ants in North America called the vinagaroon when they sting you you get the taste of vinegar in mouth and the sting swells horribly we also have fire ants that are over a 1/4 and inch long they are mean too the DE works well for me you can mix it with water and spray on any plants leafs it kills all insects including Spider mites and its organic LOL

i would like to point out that ants do some important things for us they are like a full time sanitation crew working to keep are Gardens free of litter so if you don't have to kill them id leave them be

Re: Fire ants !!
 

Thanks guys! Well thing is that I have been told fire ants kill trees and plants and I remember my dad telling me that. He is killing them non stop since they live out in the country. I poured some seven into the soil of the banana pot. Just got home now at 7:00pm. Dug around alittle and no ants so far. I dumped the poison on the pot late lastnight. So I hope they are gone!! Beer thats pretty neat.

Re: Fire ants !!
 

LOL...Beer is ALWAYS neat! :nanadrink: It's good at killing fire ants, killing slugs and killing brain cells! WOOO!

Re: Fire ants !!
 

Ladies and Gentlemen: Someone a long time ago, told me this cheap ant/fire ant killer. Buy Dish soap containing glycerine in it. The kind that it is used to wash birds, sea-living animals when coming in contact with oil spills. The name evades my mind. Anyway, mix the soap dish with water and spray your yard, trees, flowers away. It will kill the ants almost immediately. Why you are not told more about this? Well, it will put all the economic poisons out of business.

Do not forget, use the dish soap with the glycerine in it. the glycerine sticks to the ants body and suffocates them to death.

I use it all the time. I live in Coastal Carolina zone 8a and I have no problems with the fire ants in my yard. I spray about 5 6 times a season.

lots of luck all.

Re: Fire ants !!
 

I see the insecticide, Sevin is mentioned. Some years ago, when I was bringing a bunch of plants (including Gros Michel nanners) back from St. Lucia, it was noted on the phyto-sanitary certificate, that the plants had been dipped in a Sevin solution.

Re: Fire ants !!
 

I've been told by several people that the only kind of ant killer you can get at Home Depot or wherever that works the best is called Once And Done.

I haven't used it, I just use grits or just dig them up and dump them on another ant pile.

Re: Fire ants !!
 

Hey Shopgirl - thanks for that information as I cannot get the specialised ant killers here - but dish soap containing glycerine is something I can look for - we suffer from fire ants and every other sort of biting ant so this is good news! thanks!!