Help with ants please!

[gingerneil]

My wife bought me two lovely little olive trees a few years ago. They are in pretty good nick and growing well. However.... whenever I water one of them, ants come pouring out! I suspect there is a nest in the bottom of the pot. We have now moved house and these would be nice either side of the front door - but not with an ants nest included! Whats the best way to clear this ? Chuck in a load of ant powder and water it through ? or will this dilute the powder too much ? Repot the tree and do lots of stamping ?? Any help much appreciated!

[vicky]

I've found putting the pot on a saucer (or similar depending on the size) and really soaking the pot for several days drowns them. You can use ant powder too it doesn't harm plants. Also take the plant out the pot and see if you can knock any of the ants out - do this before giving them a good soak!

[rustylady]

Or you could stand the pot in a bucket of water and drown the little b*****s. Again, depending on the size of the pot. The ants should abandon ship pretty quickly if they are submerged.

[Glutton4...]

I read recently that ants can survive under water for up to FOUR DAYS!!!!!

[rogesse]

Lol Rustylady - I did that with a red ant infested mint and had the best afternoons entertainment!

A lot of the ants escaped (with eggs) and were regrouping when they were ambushed by black ants from a nearby nest. A mighty battle ensued which the reds lost because of inferior numbers, the black ants taking the eggs and storing them under a nearby brick. It gave me a bit of a god complex looking down at it from on high!

Icing sugar laced semolina has been quite effective for me. The worker ants feed it to the queen who then bursts so no more ant generations.

They are a pain under a favourite plant. I'm not usually cruel, honest!

[Caro]

I must try icing laced semolina. Ants are the bane of my life at the moment. They must have a huge network of nests on my driveway, and keep digging up all the sand/soil between the paviers, thus letting weed seeds get in

Also, they keep nesting in my greenhouse in the border I don't have anything planted in at the moment. It won't work for the olive tree, but I find several kettles of boiling water cheers me up.

Destructive little s*ds

[oldie]

Polenta or maize meal with the icing sugar also works. This is the best way of dealing with ants(IMHO).

[Two_Sheds]

I haven't found the ants to be too troublesome this year (yet). Apart from the nests under my row of Osprey spuds (80% of the crop destroyed).

I have them in the compost bins, which reminds me to water them. They move on...