Ants!

im starting to find little ant mounds in my small pots. im just wondering whats the deal with these little guys??? should i leave them be or should i take care of them. and if so, how can i go about doing this?

mauichron

don't use molasses lol

umm but fir real you can get products that are specifically designed to get rid of the ants ie: Ant Rid

now are these organic approaches and are ants necesarilly bad for the plants?

ants hate cinnamon. also sugar and borax makes a deadly treat for then to much.

has anyone answered my question about if ants are going to do anything to my plants?

The ants will not harm your plant. They will however keep the parasites down. You may get some soil displacement and air in the roots but every time you water, it will correct any problems.

Like anything, as long as they don't go out of control, it's no worries.

I had this issue recently. What I did was get the 6 month ant killing product and sprayed the entire pot in it. Then when the ants are forced to go out and get food they come into contact with the solution and eventually the entire nest should starve to death.

If most ants harmed plants.... there wouldn't be any plants.

CrackerJax said:

If most ants harmed plants.... there wouldn't be any plants.

Click to expand...

i thought ants and other harmful bugs worked in contact with each other so where theres ants theres these harmful bugs? ive only heard this through conversation i dont know for a fact.

No, not at all. Now there are specific ants which raise Aphids, but the chances of that happening to your plant is incredibly small.

An ant will keep your plant very clean. Consider them to be your plant janitor.

Even though everyone out there may not have a colony basing next to their plants, all of everyone's plants are constantly being covered in ants anyway. They are everywhere.....

wait sorry to jack the thread but how do ants keep the bugs away?

Ants eat them.... No thrip can survive an ant encounter. Spiders are another ally. I always keep my plants loaded with spiders, even if I have to place them there myself.

wow really? ive never heard anyone doing that before. I would of figured get them out of there. wait wouldn't an ant eat the leaves of the plant?

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We've all been invaded by ants at a picnic, but what is it about human food that attracts them? What do ants eat?

First of all, it's hard to generalize about an ant's diet, because there are around 12,000 species of ants worldwide. Ants live on nearly every continent, with the exception of Antarctica. They are social insects, living in highly organized colonies.

Sweets

Most species of ants are attracted to sweet things, so it's the jam on your sandwich and the sugar in your lemonade that are drawing them to your picnic.



When they aren't eating the sweet stuff we humans leave laying around, they eat the honeydew that other insects leave behind. Honeydew is a sweet substance secreted by aphids as they ingest the juices of plants. Some ant species even 'farm' aphids. The ants will take the aphids back to their ant colony, tend to them and milk them for the honeydew.




Fungus

Leaf-cutter ants live in tropical and semi-tropical rainforests in South and Central America. They cut leaves and carry them to their underground nests, where they chew the leaves into pulp. The pulp is stored with ant feces. A fungus grows on the decaying plant matter; this is the leaf-cutter ant's diet.

Other Food Sources

Many species of ants will eat the bodies of dead insects that are much larger than they, including caterpillars and grasshoppers. Harvester ants collect, store and eat seeds. The Argentine ant, which is native to Argentina and Brazil but can also be found in the United States, will eat meat, eggs, oil and just about anything else humans leave around.

What do ants eat? They love sweets, but they'll also eat whatever they can find, even if it means 'milking' other insects or growing their own fungus. If you'd like to find out what ants eat on your own, grow your own ant farm and watch the little creatures grow and live right inside a glass box, instead of at your picnic.

ok so im assuming they won't eat my leaves of my girls cause I don't live in south or central america lol

Bingo!!

I have never had a problem with ants. ppl tend to freak out a bit but an outdoor grow is just that... outdoors. Your plant is very familiar with it's environment and is designed to cope.

Ants are the least of the worries. Termites.... lawdy, there's a problem.

I do the same thing with spiders... haha. I use lady bugs and praying mantises too.

Read this thread about my encounter with helpful ants!!!

https://www.rollitup.org/bugs/238115-ants-helped-flies.html

CrackerJax said:

Ants eat them.... No thrip can survive an ant encounter. Spiders are another ally. I always keep my plants loaded with spiders, even if I have to place them there myself.

Click to expand...

but what if your an indoor grow lol

all the ants i have had seem to do nothing but farm massive amounts of aphids. my plants would die if i did not take any measures to stop them.