Why Are There Ants In Your Plants?

Female Velvet Ant photo by Christopher Kimsey

I know! I just had to play on some words...Hopefully they're not in your pants. If they are in your plants however, it is easy enough to find out why.

The Velvet Ant in this photo might fool you. She is not even a real ant! She is actually a wasp without wings. It is the male Velvet Ant who has the wings. She is completely harmless to your plants and is only seeking nectar for food. She has a sharp sting, so just enjoy her beauty and don't touch.

Ants Are Farmers

The most important thing to know about ants is that they are all about farming. 

Ants are not interested in eating your plants. A person might be inclined to think so when they are leaf cutting ants. But even they are not actually eating your plants, they are farming as well. 

As a matter of fact, the leaf cutter ants are master farmers and composters too. They use the leaf parts, seeds and flowers they harvest to carry back to their own family farm to grow fungus on top. The fungus is the actual food source of this ant.

Fire Ant Mound photo by Pamela Kimsey

Fire Ants can be maddening! This colony thought they would try to charm me by forming their mound into a heart shape. Totally didn't work for me or for them either.

The Fire Ant, like nearly all other ants are big ag farmers. Their favorite food source is honeydew secretions put out by other insects that can invade just about any type of plant.. 

When you find ants climbing up and down your plant stalks it is namely because you have another invading insect that are actually making your plants sick and possibly killing them.. 

Harmful insects that may be in your plants are aphids, scale, whitefly or mealy bugs. All of which can excrete honeydew, the favorite food source of ants.

The ants are farming the insects. "What," you say? Yes, in the case of the aphid, the ants actually nurture and grow them to help make more aphids so they will have more honeydew. It's a wacky world in the ant farming business!

At any rate, once you get rid of the invading insects the ants will leave your plants. Hence healthy plants again.

One thing to know, especially in the case of the fire ant....no matter how much poison we could possibly contaminate the ground with, we can never totally get rid of them. We can only attempt to control them and that can be done organically.

I do have a few tricks for helping get ants out of your plants and garden.. Just read my previous post "No Love Loss With Fire Ants."

Happy Gardening!

Pammy

No Love Loss With Fire Ants

 

Dear Fire Ants, I really don't care what shape you make your mounds, I shall never love you!!  ~ Signed, Pammy!

It is looking like the Fire Ants are trying to play me for my soft side. The plain truth is Fire Ants are mean and horrible pests in the southern garden and the lawn.

It is also a fact that they are never going to vanish completely no matter what you do. If your lucky enough to have controlled them, you also know they are lurking at your neighbors and shall return to visit you.

Don't be fooled when they begin to form mounds in heart shapes. But don't brake out the chemicals either. Chemicals will never get rid of them completely. All they do is contaminates the soil and run off into the water supplies. 

The chemicals are not just temporally cutting down on the ants, but they are killing the beneficial insects and microbes as well. Who really wants that poison in their drinking water or ponds and lakes? It could very well be that your only sprinkling a little bit here and there, but the plain truth is so are millions of other people.

They wouldn't have so many chemicals in the lawn and garden department if millions were not buying the stuff.. .We will never be able to kill them all, so let's try controlling them organically. Here are a few organic tricks for keeping them at bay.

Just be careful, because even organic substances, if not used properly it can be harmful for the environment and the garden.

1. Let them kill each other

That's right, you can start an ant war and they will kill each other. Find a mound in another area of your yard. Dig a patch of them up in a bucket and take them to another mound and dump them on. Fire Ants are Territorial so you want to make sure that one mound might be out in the front lawn to carry back to the back lawn. Let the war begin!

2. Diatomacious Earth 

It Really does help. You have to be persistent with its use however. Remembering that I shall never be able to kill them all, I know for a fact that it makes them move.

This is my favorite method for use in the garden. I sprinkle some on the top of the mound, and then I stir the ants up with my shovel. Next I water the mound a bit and sprinkle a little more on.

They hate being disturbed and it makes me feel good when I make them mad. Monitor the mound and do it again in a few days if need be. They will move out of your garden bed.

This is also a good method when you have them crawling up and down your vegetable plants when they are busy harvesting those dreadful aphids. Just sprinkle a little down around the base of the plant. They will leave and the ladybugs will take care of the aphids.

 This is also a great method for using in the greenhouse and under pots.

3. Borax

This is another proven method, but to be used on sidewalks and patios only!! It is hard to say what quantity to use before it poses an environmental hazard. For one, it is toxic to aquatic life.

For another, I'm not sure, but common sense tells me if it is killing the Fire Ants, it is most likely killing your beneficials like earthworms and beneficial microbes.

For the sidewalk or patio, be careful and only sprinkle a small amount where ants are found and wash it down. Poof, they are dead or they have moved on.

 Borax is also another great substance you use when cleaning your home. I use it on window sills, the floors and just as a general cleaner when diluted with water. It helps kill roaches and fleas as well as those troublesome ants. 

4. Rich Organic Matter

This is another full proof method to help keep them under control. They hate manure and rich compost and organic matter in general. By dusting you lawn with rich organic matter your adding nutrients to help build healthier soil and fertilizing at the same time.

 I've heard that the beneficial nematodes in your soil can help consume the ant problems, but I'm not sure about that. All I know is it helps in all forms and fashion. Poor soil is always the root to many evils.

These are the only methods that I use that I've found to be the most effective.

 I do know that Molasses has many benefits for your soil and compost pile for increasing the Microbes in your soil and it has said to help reduce Fire Ants. I have not seen evidence of it so far and the Molasses can be quite costly as well. I do think that enriching your soil is part of the bottom line solution.

 Although I have tried a few other methods and there are many other organic methods and advice available, some myths as well, my methods are cost effective, safe and beneficial to the environment. That's important to me because we garden for the love of future generations.

Happy Gardening!

Pammy