Ants in plant

[CrazyChamLady13]

I'm having issues with ants in the apartment. Since the landlord is the scum bag that he is, they wont call an exterminator. So this has resulted to ants loving my plants. I've reported my ficus twice now and it is still ant infested. Can anyone help?

 

[deerharvester]

Plastic plants are the only thing they won't like.

 

[Video Master]

You need to start putting ant traps down on your floors all over. If you do not eliminate the source they will just keep coming back. I suggest Terro products. Just don't let other pets get to them if you have them.

 

[CrazyChamLady13]

Yes.. I have traps upstairs and down stairs. Used the home remedy to kill the ants. They're in the apartment, down stairs in the garage, everywhere. I told the landlord that they'll need to call the exterminator but they shrug their shoulders and look the other way. I mad another post a couple days ago about Water Concerns because they hadn't paid the water bill so the water was shut off. I mean seriously they bring in 3 monthly incomes and then our rent and they still cant get the exterminator out here or the water bill paid?


Anyways... I'm getting ready to build a planter box, is there a way to get rid of the ants before I transplant?

 

[Video Master]

You can get rid of them by washing the plants down to the roots, but unless you can stop the ants from coming in they will just re-infest. In all honesty with what you just described about the landlords, I would look at moving out or contacting the city about the conditions and how the landlord is not taking care of things.

 

[camimom]

After you spray your house to kill where they come in, you need to get fresh soil, and then get a hose, rinse ALL the dirt off the roots of your plants, rinse the plants with a mild diluted dish soap/ water combo, then repot.

You have to really wash it well, all dirt has to go, and you need to rinse the leaves where they meet the stem, ants like to hide there,

If you are repotting with soil you had sitting around, then the soil is probably infested too, so you will have to replace that.

I've also found if you get on of those plant dishes and rest the pots in the dish, and fill the dish with water, that the ants won't cross the barrier.

 

[CrazyChamLady13]

Ok thank you

They aren't interested in any of my other plants. Just that ficus and a zz plant I have. And yes I know that ZZ plants are toxic to chameleons, I will never let my boy climb on them. Its out of sight and out of mind and out of reach up.

So rinse to bare roots all soil gone. Yea I don't have any more soil laying around, thinking about doing a 50/50 mix of top soil and play sand. Would that work?

 

[matt2310]

stick it to the man

your landlord is supposed to take care of your home if any problems occur so if i were you i would def. report that...

 

[chnk]

I have this problem with my feeder bin i keep outside, my solution was water ants cant cross water so the bin sat in a slight larger bin that had some water in it. my crickets are protected by a mote

 

[camimom]

I have this problem with my feeder bin i keep outside, my solution was water ants cant cross water so the bin sat in a slight larger bin that had some water in it. my crickets are protected by a mote

I do the same thing for my roaches.

 

[Psychobunny]

After you spray your house to kill where they come in, you need to get fresh soil, and then get a hose, rinse ALL the dirt off the roots of your plants, rinse the plants with a mild diluted dish soap/ water combo, then repot.

You have to really wash it well, all dirt has to go, and you need to rinse the leaves where they meet the stem, ants like to hide there,

If you are repotting with soil you had sitting around, then the soil is probably infested too, so you will have to replace that.

I've also found if you get on of those plant dishes and rest the pots in the dish, and fill the dish with water, that the ants won't cross the barrier.

Ha! just wait till the ants learn to build boats!!
Have u ever seen ants float on a piece of leaf to cross water?

 

[rcdrivertim]

You can get rid of them by washing the plants down to the roots, but unless you can stop the ants from coming in they will just re-infest. In all honesty with what you just described about the landlords, I would look at moving out or contacting the city about the conditions and how the landlord is not taking care of things.

Check with your local CODE ENFORCEMENT. They love to get scumbag landlords but, the laws are different in every state.

 

[Juancito]

I thought I was the only one with ant problems. What if their in your feeder bins?

 

[VigilantSpearIII]

Ants in feeder bins need to be removed very carefully! Do not use any poisons and you will need to get your hands dirty. I had an ant infestation pillage one of my feeder colonies. I had to literally pick out and rinse handfuls of crickets, in between the rinsing and the ant bites, 80% of my colony got wasted. I let them lay eggs and restarted with that particular colony.

With ants in my plants, hehe, I just rinse out the roots and re-pot.

With ants sneaking into my home, I use Ortho. This stuff is pretty cheap and they sell it at Costco on a pretty regular basis. You can use any type of poison, they all work decently, but Ortho keeps them away for a while.

Finally, if we have some worry-some warts here, there is a way to keep ants at bay without poisons. I will give out one of my green-thumb secrets here. Grind up some dry corn kernels. Homemade corn meal out of a blender works pretty good at warding off ants, much better than store bought. Try putting a few granules over pots and plants, it wards off mold and some insects. This is an old Mexican secret, distribute this knowledge my friends...I seldom give out my guarded secrets, hehe.

Good luck OP. I still use Ortho on the outside of my house, its pretty dang effective...Im breathing in the chemicals...

 

[camimom]

I had ants invade my roach colony.

It wasn't too horrendous an invasion, but it still sucked.

I had to remove the roaches one by one, and throw out all the egg cartons.