Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
andreark

ants in potted roses

andreark
9 years ago

Is there something that I can use that will kill the ants while NOT harming my potted roses?

andreark

Comments (13)

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    The cheapest cinnamon sticks you can find. Jam a couple into the pots and leave them. Ants don't care for cinnamon and will move on. Or, get some Grant's Ant Stakes where they take the bait home to share with the rest of the colony. I've urged them to move out of nursery cans by over watering them until they moved out, but that was in extremely well draining soil. I guess you could also try a very weak solution of ammonia. Ammonia kills ants on contact, but it's also very strong nitrogen. Windex with Ammonia D is strong enough so perhaps a tablespoon or less per gallon? Maybe someone more of a chemist than I might offer suggestions about ammonia and its use, but for counters, etc,, ammonia is great. Kim

  • mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
    9 years ago

    If the pots are small enough to put them on saucers, flooding the pots for a couple of hours works.

    IME, roses have to be flooded for a well over a week before problems start. Years ago, Edmunds growing fields were flooded, and they had the same experiences.

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    Combo! Flood 'em, AND jam 'em full of cinnamon sticks. It will work. I've done it. (I HATE ants.)

  • Holly Kline
    9 years ago

    I flooded mine and all the other ones around, which prevented the little buggers from just migrating to the next pot over. Worked great. I, too, HATE ants.

  • seil zone 6b MI
    9 years ago

    Ants also hate mint of any kind. A mint extract water solution should drive them away. Or just plant a little mint in the pots as a mulch top dressing!

  • vasue VA
    9 years ago

    Since keeping them out is easier than getting them out, needed a new method after ants found their way past the typical clay shards. Began using landscape fabric cut to fit the inside bottom of pots to cover drainholes & haven't found ants taking up residence since. Plants still in the pots they came in get a piece of landscape fabric rubberbanded around their bottoms till repotted or planted. Those arriving in decorative planters get a mat of the fabric beneath them. Not having used landscape rolls for their original purpose, still find them handy for other garden uses.

    Cinnamon sticks - ingenious - thanks for the tip!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ants!

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    I avoid anything inside the pot bottoms as they have eventually clogged in my experience (different soil, water, climate, etc.) and ants will enter from the tops, also, using either the pot sides or bridging from pot to pot as they touch or using plant parts as bridges. I have noticed the more frequently watered a pot is, not drip as that never flushes the soil, the less likely an ant infestation is. Kim

  • bart_2010
    9 years ago

    Love the cinnamon stick idea!!! plan to try it in my garden, outdoors,got an awful lot of ants and want to give up poison completely...

  • socks
    9 years ago

    Just stick the cinnamon sticks in the soil from the top? I've got a potted azalea, and the ants love to congregate under (and probably "in") the pot.

  • andreark
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    JUST GOT BACK INTO TOWN. SORRY I COULDN'T ANSWER SOONER.

    THANK YOU ALL FOR ANSWERING AND I WILL TRY THE CINNAMON STICKS FIRST AND THEN THE ANT STAKES.

    ANDREARK

  • anntn6b
    9 years ago

    Regular ants or fire ants?

  • andreark
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Just regular little black buggers.

    andrea

  • reemcook
    9 years ago

    Oh dear...I saw ants in my potted roses this morning. This is the first time we've had ants prancing about rose plants. I am going to try the cinnamon sticks method. Can I grind up the cinnamon sticks and sprinkle them across various pots? The cinnamon sticks found in Indian stores are potent (since it is used quite often in our cooking).

    Thank you, rose friends, for the great advice!