Good.....Lady bug beetle larva

The pot that had the lady bug larvae yesterday now has a bunch (8-10) ants in it and no larvae to be seen. What to do? Have a much harder time squishing the ants than aphids. Don't want to spray for fear of hurting the larvae if there are any left. Do they prey on each other and if yes which one eats which? The ants are larger than the aphids. Also, how do ants get onto a 3rd floor balcony??!!! Last year I had a pot with a nest of them. It was horrible.

Does insecticidal soap work on ants?

Ants do not pose any problem to your plants.......if aphids are present, then that would explain why there are ants...ants like the sweet secretion from the aphids......the lady beetle larva loves to eat the aphids......
Ants are not your enemy....I would leave them alone and let them live.....

Ian

Alynne, ants have no problem climbing up to your balcony and setting up housekeeping in your containers.

If I had so many of them that 'it was horrible ', there is no question that I would get rid of them. There are some excellent boric acid bait trays available that do a stunning job of baiting and killing ants.

Terro makes the product that I have used in the past. You can purchase it in ready to use trays. I would probably place one tray just outside the pot and don't move it. The ants will find it while foraging and communicate its presence to all of the other ants who will swarm the bait, taking it back to the nest to feed it to larvae and to the queens.

Once that happens, the colony has no way of surviving.

I had a sudden ant problem i my bathroom one year and my husband brought home the Terro bait trays for us to try. We put one on the floor behind the toilet. I checked on it in an hour or so and screeched for my husband! It was literally swarming with ants...I wanted that thing GONE! But Robert made me leave it as the directions suggest. In a few hours, there wasn't a single ant and we've never seen them again.

Ants in the garden are normal, ants inside the home are not normal and their presence can be an indication of a serious problem. Rather then simply placing a poison bait to get rid of them an in depth look at the reasons they are there needs to be done.
Because of the presence of ants in the kitchen or bathroom many people have found pipe leaks that were damaging structural parts of the house.

Rhizo,

Thanks for the input. I know ants aren't inherently bad, but 2 years ago I had a horrible aphid issue, closed the door and gave everything up for lost. The next spring I was cleaning the pots, elbow deep and unearthed an ant nest. Almost threw myself off the balcony and itched for days.

This year I started fresh with new pots, new soil new everything except for a Fig tree and a large pot of Lavender (which no bug ever seems to bother with). Got the aphids under control early with soap and squishing. Haven't seen one in weeks. I was very excited to learn the new bugs were ladybug larvae then the next day the ants appeared. I've squished (much ewwier than the aphids) and sprayed the ones outside the soil and pot. See a few larvae today and no ants. Hopefully all will be well. If I see more I will try your Terro solution. I do think a swarm would put me over the edge.

It may be a childhood issue - My mother put out poison often for big black ants. When I was a toddler she worried I would eat a poison ant and grabbed me screaming "drop it!" whenever I was near one. I think I was scarred.

Anyway, thanks all for the input, I will let you know how it goes. BTW, Pics of the balcony and plants are on the Hot Pepper forum.

Alison