Help please! Fire ants photos

[Tecumseh]

I never thought that fire ants would be a problem but, look at this bullshit!

These bastards seem to have a taste for sweet leaf. I seriously need some advice here. This is my biggest plant. It's outside in an 18 gal. pot. It's about 5 feet tall. Please help me save it from the evil bastards. What can I use to drive them away or kill them without harming the plant?

Help me save this plant!

 

[Captain Kronic]

Re: Help please!! Fire ants photos

Hope this helps brother... I would also be on the lookout for aphids!

10 Ways To Kill Ants… Organically

1. Baking soda is poisonous to ants, spinkle it around your plants to ensure ants will stay away.

2. Flour & Baby Powder will keep ants from reaching your plants, ants will not cross the powder – so circle your plants with it.

3. You can use coffee grounds, chili powder, cinnamon, peppermint or black pepper. All deter ants and if you pour coffee grounds directly on an anthill, they will eat the coffee grounds and implode.

4. Grits, instant rice & cream of wheat can be sprinkled around plants. The ant will eat a piece of whichever you sprinkle, drink water and the grain expands and kills the ant.

5. Fill a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar and 1 part water and spray on plants. The acid in vinegar will kills ants.

6. Mix together one-third cup of molasses, six tablespoons of sugar, and six tablespoons of active dry yeast into a smooth paste. Use the mixture to coat strips of cardboard. Keep out of reach of pets and small children. You can leave mixture on a saucer outside anthill and they’ll eat it and die!

7. Fold contact paper in half, with the sticky side out and make a circle around base of plant. The ants get stuck on the paper – problem solved.

8. Cut off the bottom of a paper cup and cut a slit up the side of the cup and coat outside with vaseline and place around base of plant. You can also use packing tape.

9. Mix one cup of borax, two-thirds a cup sugar and one cup water. Dip cotton balls in the solution and place in areas near your anthill Ants will leave the plants alone and ingest the sweet mixture. The borax kills the ants.

10. Diatomaceous Earth is a commonly sold organic pesticide that will destroy the insects outer skeletons, causing the pests to die from dehydration.

 

[Tecumseh]

Re: Help please!! Fire ants photos

After posting this I had a head-slap moment. I have 4 pounds of diatomaceous earth that I bought a few months ago to try to keep roaches out of a storage shed that I built. So, yeah, I just put several handfuls around the base of the plant and on the trunk-branch junctions where I noticed them chewing away. I'll just have to keep an eye on the plant. It has rained a lot lately and I'll have to reapply I'm sure. Good thing I've got a shit-load of this stuff.

And THANX for the quick response Cap'n.

 

[Droopy Dog]

Re: Help please!! Fire ants photos

AMDRO if the DE doesn't work. Sometimes it does and sometimes ........... Depends on the ants.

At Lowes or HD, there are also generic types of Amdro for cheaper. Just read the labels carefully.

DD

 

[KatharsisAmok]

Re: Help please!! Fire ants photos

I never thought that fire ants would be a problem but, look at this bullshit!

Your poor baby. D: That looks harsh. I hope she recovers from this.