Ants in the greenhouse

[burnie]

Now I know ants "farm" aphids, but do they actually do any harm? I don't want to kill them, but I could make life pretty miserable for them if need be, just not too sure.

[Bren In Pots]

I've got ants in my GH as well and I'd hate them to come into the house with my Toms that I bring in the house every evening.

[Thelma Sanders]

Depends if they nest under plant roots or in pots or trays.
I had big trouble with them last year as they kept trying to nest in pots and in seed trays underneath seedling modules. I had to keep washing them out of the trays and in the end kept some water in the trays all the time, they stopped trying then.
Then some took up residence in the cucumber pots, so in the end I gave up and bought some Nippon ant bait stations, which did the trick.

Outside I just leave them alone, just to be clear

[Snowwhyte]

I prefer to leave insects to do their thing but on a few occasions our patio ants have found a way to migrate into the house. I don't like using chemical ant killer so I use an organic method that works well. I mix dry yeast with golden syrup and spread it on bits of cardboard which are placed near the main ant routes. The ants take the yeast back to the queen and when she eats it it kills the whole nest.

[Jane0o0]

omg I've been bringing my plants in each night not even thinking there could be ants in the pots. Hope I've not brought any indoors.

[muck lover]

I’ve had ant nests in the polytunnel. It was in a raised bed at a dry corner. I turned the hose on it. Pandemonium followed with panicking ants rushing about carrying eggs and grubs in their jaws.
Yes I felt guilty.
No I didn’t stop.
It was a couple of years ago and I still feel bad about it.

[unclefudgly]

Ants being ants tend to kill good predators like ladybirds etc and allow nasties like spider mites and greenfly to get out of control.

I won't tolerate them inside now.

[Thelma Sanders]

I had a scented leaf pelargonium on my kitchen window-ledge and was overrun with ants the other day!

They appeared to be coming in through a crack around the window, but when I lifted the pot to move it, the saucer was black with ants O M G it was awful! I put the pot in the sink poured water through several times to clear them out of the compost and then left the plant stood in water for a couple of hours. Ants running everywhere, I'm still itchy!

Now the hole has been silicone up, I hope that's the end of them, and that the plant survives.
There seem to be a lot of them this year.

[Twynyrodyn]

I leave little piles of semollina in the greenhouse. The ants carry it back to the nest and it swells up inside them and kills them.

[bikermike]

Oddly, they seem to nest outside the greenhouse and not come in. I tend to use boiling water on the red ones and leave the black ones alone if they aren't causing too much bother.

[carly]

Ahhh, having this issue too. Lifted up pots on the potting station to find loads underneath. I can also see then going into the soil near the roots of my sunflower which is outside and my riacene plant.

[burnie]

Mine seem to have taken up residence in a window box with Mara Des Bois strawberries in it, even some hefty watering doesn't seem to bother them. I don't think they are doing any harm so I will leave them alone.

[carly]

Oh dear, I found 2 nests in greenhouse today..... lots with little cream sacks attached to them. I feel bad but I moved every around it out and flooded the whole area with boiling water. I think it got up into the 3 sisters large pot.
Will this method have killed them? About 6 kettles of boiling water and removal of all debris gotten rid of.
Thinking i need to put something down in there but would rather not use an ant killer. Have been reading about vinegar. Anyone ever tried that?

[nickdub]

Ants tend to be a seasonal issue as they build their number when the warm weather starts. If I was in your shoes I'd just keep an extra good eye on things where you had the problem for a week or so, and then if it looks clear when you lift the containers, I think you can assume you are passed the problem for this year.

[Jungle Jane]

I was planting out some onions I grew from seed the other day,next to my overwintered garlic & there was a red ants nest in the soil,the garlics growing fine & I planted the onion amongst them & watered it I must’ve really annoyed them sorry ants last year they were next to my beans,they never harm any plants,if you keep pots watered they won’t want to live in them.