Ants driving me mad

[5th element]

I have 2 trees in pots that seem to be holding large numbers of tiny black ants. I don't see them until I water the plant, when the dirt gets soaked on surface all the ants see to come to surface of sail and swarm everywhere. I have read other post saying it an underlying issue and the ants are farming aphids. I have been spraying trees with neem oil solution every 7 days. But ants remain.

 

[evmibo]

try completely submerging the pot in water for 5-10 minutes. you could follow it up with something like this to prevent further infestation.

 

[october]

Ants are not good around bonsai because they carry other problems, like scale eggs. If you notice that you start to get scale infestations, the ants might be one of the reasons.

Rob

 

[jkd2572]

Have you tried any pesticides that kill ants or ant traps? Seems like an easy solution.

 

[monza]

Have you tried any pesticides that kill ants or ant traps? Seems like an easy solution.

X2 generally quick and easy, I use a product called Antout to spray ant hills/nests not in bonsai pots and a poison food bait/traps (cant recall brand) on benches, ants disappear quickly.

 

[Beng]

First sign of ants and I bait the yard with traps. Ants bring a load of other problems with them. Kill them before they start harvesting aphids and scale onto your plants.

 

[Zaelthus]

Raid makes a good Borax based liquid solution that works pretty well in combination with bait traps.

 

[edprocoat]

Its been raining here too much to get any benefit from sprays such as ant killers. All the pests are enjoying it though....


ed

 

[GrimLore]

Its been raining here too much to get any benefit from sprays such as ant killers. All the pests are enjoying it though....

I have been spraying the stands, outer pots, and posts with an occasional dose of Malathion as well as the gravel or concrete slabs. The pests with our weather has been a tough year but that is doing the trick without being to invasive to the land.