ants nesting around young plants

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gavilan
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ants nesting around young plants

Postby gavilan » Thu May 17, 2018 4:26 pm

anyone know if ants nesting around young plants is a problem or not?

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Enrique
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Re: ants nesting around young plants

Postby Enrique » Thu May 17, 2018 6:33 pm

Hi gavilan,
Not a good sign............ZZ Polvo will sort it out within 10 mins........... :idea:

https://www.zelnovazeltia.com/productos ... secticida/
All my best learning experiences start with a problem I need to solve.

gavilan
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Re: ants nesting around young plants

Postby gavilan » Thu May 17, 2018 6:52 pm

thanks Enrique ... most helpful ...

El Cid
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Re: ants nesting around young plants

Postby El Cid » Thu May 17, 2018 7:16 pm

Ants don't normally eat plants. What they do though is to farm Aphids which eat the plants and secrete a sweet substance which the ants need. If you see ants on a plant you can almost guarantee that there will bugs on it, typically blackfly or greenfly.

You need to be very careful with powder insecticides if you have animals. I always use a strong solution of Chas48 (Chlorpirifos) and inject it into the nest. It works every time and is not likely to affect your pets.

I find it particularly effective on house ants as they usually have a very small hole through which they enter the house. A syringe and needle straight into the hole will finish them off (until they find another access!)

I have been at war with the local ants for 15 years and I am winning! When I started, I had to use a 5 litre pressure sprayer - now I am down to a 5ml syringe.

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Re: ants nesting around young plants

Postby Gasman » Thu May 17, 2018 10:33 pm

Agree with all El Cid says, and also would suggest that ants nests under and around the roots of your plants will disturb the roots and may prevent the plants absorbing water from the soil - too much drainage and loose soil can be a killer.

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Flexo
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Re: ants nesting around young plants

Postby Flexo » Fri May 18, 2018 1:37 pm

Regular ants are not a problem, it is the big fire ants that can become a problem if there is nothing else to eat available for them. Otw they will just farm aphids which you can prevent somewhat easily by putting sticky traps on the stems.


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