Getting rid of ants!

[tradceci]

Hello! I have a problem with ants making colonies inside my orchid pots! What can I use to control them or eliminate them? The ants are black and very bothersome. I'll try to take a photo of them to show you.

[catasetum-ian]

from gentle approach like immersing the entire pot in water OR sometimes like what i did was spraying with malathion,,,,diluted version of the one recommended in the bottle,,,,,somehow the smell of the chemical drives them away.
i had also tried some ant bait, works for me.
would also like to hear what other forum members got to say about this topic. good luck

[leafmite]

I've gotten rid of colonies in other plants by submerging the pots in water for a few hours. Good luck!
Leafmite
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[kiwiorchids]

I find the ants actually help protect the plants from nasties, except mealy bug, scale an aphids. They harvest their honeydew. But anything that chews on the plant is quickly forced away by these creatures. I always keep them, it just means more work for other pest control-the insecticide i use is biological, the fungus only attacks certain insects, and the ants harvest that instead lol!

But if you did want to get rid of them, just put a few bait stations around the place, or just shake some ant sand through the bark.

[orcoholic]

The plastic ant traps sold in the home improvement stores work for me. Put one near the plant. An ant will carry some of the poison from the trap back to the colony where it kills the queen.

[Jose R. Nieves]

If you have ants you may have other pests like Kiwiorchids suggests! Look around, not only in that plant but in the others around it.
Jose

[kiwiorchids]

If you have ants you may have other pests like Kiwiorchids suggests! Look around, not only in that plant but in the others around it.
Jose

The other extreme is that the medium has a fungus growing in it!

[tradceci]

These are "weird" ants, not the typical reddish ants I have always seen in Puerto Rico. The ones I have are bigger, very black, and move like crazy all around when I move the pot. They seem "dumber" than the regular ants. I don't see a trail like I use to see with the regular ants. Maybe it's another type of pest. I've checked my plants and don't see signs of other problems. The medium is in good shape, no fungus there. I tried malathion and it worked. Thanks for all the replies. Kiwiorchids, what insecticide do you use?

[tradceci]

Forgot to comment that for other plants in my garden I have used the leftover coffee grounds after brewing my coffee and it works very well. Can I put some in the orchids?

[catasetum-ian]

Forgot to comment that for other plants in my garden I have used the leftover coffee grounds after brewing my coffee and it works very well. Can I put some in the orchids?

i had not used coffee grounds before but i had tried immersing the orchid roots in coffee to get rid of those nasty snails.