I 100% agree with Rick.

100% agree with Rick and Jedoba.

Marie

I would take the plant out of the pot, clean and trim the roots and repot with new soil. Good luck!

Thank you everyone for your responses.. I was hoping to avoid the repotting process but will follow your advice.. Agarrta, may I ask why you suggest trimming the roots?. As long as the roots are healthy, what does the trimming do for the plant?

It can encourage new fine feeder roots to sprout from the cut area, as branch /tip pruning can do above soil level. However, make sure if you do prune them, you let them dry for a day or so, don't just cut and pot. You may also find some get slight damage from the unpotting and cleaning process, so best to check for any snapped, damaged, brown, soft or dead roots while you're at it.

Gill

Yes, as Gill said, the trimming of the roots will encourage new healthy grow to boost the plant and also to clean any possible root rot from the ants infestation. It is a good time for inspecting the roots at repotting time. Usually, any bug infestation at root level, will leave some kind of root damage. If you do trim the roots, let the plant out of the pot to dry and heal the trimmed roots before you pot it in new soil. Good luck with it :)

Hi, just wondering how long do you let the trimmed roots dry before you repot? 2-3 days, 7 days?

Thank you again for your wonderful advice.. What would the newbies in this forum do without you!!!. I have started 76 seedlings (August vintage) & already benefited from the advice offered here.. Keep up the good work.. Aloha to all from Maui, Hawaii.

Maui, Beautiful. My favorite place and enjoy our time there so much. We went to a Garden on Maui (just before Lahaina) called Maui Mist Gardens. The couple used to have it as a Botanical Garden for public, but they do not anymore. He used to grow Adeniums and still had some huge ones there. Beautiful Garden.

Rick

Yes I've been to the the Garden's property when it was open to the public to display and sell the wife's paintings during the annual Maui Artist Open Studio event.. I bought an Adenium Obesum (white with shocking pink edging) from the husband.. It is this plant which rewarded me with a seed pod this past Spring.. Because of much travelling this year, I only found time in August to plant the seeds.. The plant must have great genetics because every single seed germinated.. And now I am a slave to 76 seedlings; hauling them back and forth across my patio to give them filtered sunlight to avoid cooking them in our tropical heat.. Fortunately for me, my hubby is handy with tools and built 2 carts to wheel the pots around.. Can't wait for the day when the plants can take full sun.. I don't need this kind of stress in my life, LOL.. Thanks again for everyone taking time to comment..

The reward is worth the stress :-)

Find 2 or more anthills, different kind of ants, color, size. Take a shovel full from each and swap them. They will move the queen, the attacker being out numbered will be killed but the main thing is the queen is gone and the ant hill is dead.

I have also taken a bit of borax and sprinkle just a little bit of icing sugar on it and then put it near the ant hill. The workers will take the chunks of borax covered with icing sugar in to feed the queen. One she's dead the anthill also dies. All the other ants just move on. Not as effective as the first method though. Good luck.