I've got a big problem with ants!

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

In April, while my husband was out of town, I went behind his back and put down 2 yards of mulch and plunged all my plumeria down into a thick bed of it. lol He hates mulch because of what he feels will become a bug haven. He was right!

A few days ago, I moved one of the pots and found a huge nest of ants. He said that's why he hates mulch. So he got a can of spray and sprayed them. Didn't do any complaining. So that evening I watered really deep... pots and mulch, hoping that would discourage them.

Now, today I moved several more pots and there were nests under every pot! What will I do? What can I use? Should I use a systemic for the pots and the mulch? Is there a granular for regular ole ants like they have for fire ants? Will those granulars for fire ants work for regular ole ants? And the mulched area reaches over to my vegetable garden. What can I use to not worry about the run-off?

I haven't told my husband yet. First, I want to make sure to have a plan of attack. This is so disheartening! To go behind his back and now have such a problem like this! I wanted the mulch to help keep my pots steady in the wind, plus to keep down weeds so that I don't have to move them all the time and weedeat. Now, my pots are full of weeds as well as ants! Argh!

Many people say that ants aren't a problem, overmuch, but I disagree! They love to farm aphids and they nest in pots, ruining the soil. You just wouldn't have believed the amount of ants that I saw today. Wish I had gotten a photo!

Help!

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Comments (4)

Kimo
11 years ago
M,
Diazinon crystals/bait use to work the best for me. If you sprinkled a little around the nest areas, or areas the ants traveled past they would take the bait back to the next and bam, no more ants. If you baited 1x a season, after 2 or 3 seasons I would not see ants anymore, this was for my apartments. @ my house I have a professional service monthly come out, but even with them treating the outdoor areas I still see ants. Diazinon in LA is banned since the mid 2000's. I tried Grants Ants bait that worked ok, but not as well as the Diazinon. Grants was bought out by Amdro. If you can't get Diazinon, get some grants ants bait, or go to your nursery and ask them for the best ant bait.

Good Luck
saplumeria
11 years ago
Moonie. I wouldn't worry about the ants. I have mulch in half of my back yard. We just put down 3 yards this spring to reinforce what we already had down, and I've never seen a ant mound in mulch in the two years we have lived here. I think the ants are just trying to get out of the rain and using your pots as cover. I have the same thing here. By any chance are you in Texas? If so once this rain goes away the ants will go away.
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jedobaTX9b
11 years ago
Watering ants just spreads them. They don't drown.
moonie_57 (8 NC)
Original Author
11 years ago
Hi James. Last night, after reading your post, I thought about using some Amdro granulars because we have some at the garden shop where I work. Now, I've changed my mind. Maybe I'll use some Bayer systemic. This morning, hubs and I moved a few more pots and I was so shocked to see nesting ants all over the place! (NOT lol) He didn't say anthing about them, other than to go get the spray, and he doesn't realize it's not only in that same area. But I realize they are nesting all through the entire area of mulch. I feel like if I use a granular, I will have to move the mulch and all my pots and get it down to the bottom. You can't see hardly any ants along the top of the mulch.
saplumeria - Sorry, I only now realized that my zone and location was no longer attached to my username. I just fixed that. I'm not in Texas and we have had no rain in almost 3 weeks. Yes, ants can cause problems when they become an infestation. In the past I have had ants nest in my pots and affect the soil so that water simply runs through, not getting to the root system.
jedoba - Yep! lol