How Do you Get Rid Of Ants?

15 years ago

I have a Funambule that is finally growing and blooming like nuts after months of 'resting'. I was watering it nearly daily, and it was always dry. So I gave it a good soaking 3 days ago, and thousands of big ants poured out of my violet! Not tiny 'sugar' ants, not carpenter ants, but mid sized black ones. Next thing I know they are pouring out of the plant carrying their eggs and running all over me as I am running outside with my Funambule!

I don't get it. I have been watering the violet nearly daily, it took off growing, blooming and never saw an ant. Then when I got tired of watering it daily I flooded it and thats when they appeared! How do you get rid of ants and not kill the plant!? I am still getting hundreds coming out of the bottom with eggs in their mouths, MUCH less then the first day, THAT was like a horror show! But I cant get rid of these last ones. I don't know if they are newly hatched or what. But how do you get rid of them. If I soak the plant for a long time to drown them, I will kill the violet,if they don't die, the eggs left over will hatch after the live ones die. So...what can I use to kill these damn ants?! There has to be something I can use,chemical or 'natural'? I just found another nest of these horrible ants today on the top of a door in my house! I freaked out and sprayed a can of Raid on them. It was a scene from a horror movie! What they are doing on top of a door making a nest, I dont know. I have never scene these ants in Fla, ever! We usually get the super tiny 'sugar ants',or fire ants in the yard. But these are new suckers! I cant flood the violet with Raid! So....what do I use...or do? HELP!

Comments (5)

irina_co
15 years ago
Floridabear -

except moving to the Antarctica... There are no ants in Antarctica!

Get your plant out of the house in a shade, drench it with something - I would try house hold Clorax bleach - like 1 part of Clorax- 4 parts of water - pour it into your pot - and let them all run out. They wouldn't like it for sure. Ants live in colonies - so several ants if left do not reinfest anything - they will die from loneliness, poor things.

If you have the nest in your house - that's the one you need to get rid off - otherwise they will fill your house - and sleeping with ants in your bed... they sting. You need to check with your local pest control guys - what they recommend. You can put baits with egg yolk mixed with Borax and make them carry their own poson in their nest - but if you want to eradicate them right now - pest control will be better - who knows what else you have - may be termites are eating your walls...Everything is alive in Florida.

good luck

Irina
shiver
15 years ago
Good heavens! Your ordeal sounds completely awful. I'm sure I would have started shreaking and throwing plants all over the place, and probably had a heart attack on top of it. And what the he*l are the ants doing on top of a door frame---that's crazy!!

On another forum I was just saying how I'd like to move South---after this post I'm considering myself fortunate to live on the frozen tundra. Good luck getting rid of those suckers, and my sympathy to you!
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seattlemarigene
15 years ago
here in Seattle we paid $1,000 for a year of pest control from Orkin.They never got rid of the ants only killed some of them.Then I got a can of Torrex powdered ant killer from the hardware store.I put it around the foundation of the house and presto no more ants anywhere in the house.They get the powder on their feet and carry it back to the nest and kills it the nest.seems like a bit of that in the bottom of the pot would help.And around your house to prevent them coming in...good luck..:0)....marigene
bspofford
15 years ago
If I were in your situation, I would do the clorox drench Irina suggested, maybe over a bucket. When the ants start coming out the bottom and fall into the bucket, periodically spray with Ortho ant spray. When no more come out, take the plant out of the pot and remove all the soil, still over the bucket. Take the plant to the kitchen sink and wash the roots really well to remove any eggs. Repot and keep isolated for a month or so. And remove all the blossoms.

Or, take the leaves, pot down, and toss the rest.

Barbara
fred_hill
15 years ago
HI Florida Bear,
I don't know if it will help but I would try to use a systemic on your Violets. I would spread a thin layer of Marathon on the surface and work it in, then top water it releasing the insecticide into the plant. I use marathon for soil mealies and it does kill them but I don't know if it would work on ants. I know that marathon is expensive but the generic form is imacloprid which I understand is quite a bit cheaper. Google it on your computer and see if you can find a reasonably priced source.
Fred in NJ