fire ants in the soil

[Tlaloc]

Hey guys, so a colony of fire ants have taken up residence in a pot of some unidentified aloe of mine. should i be worried? i mean they eat mostly meat and young plants so i don't think they'll be able to crack the aloe's skin. this happen before to anyone?

[iann]

If nothing else they'll disturb the roots, although probably most Aloes won't be too bothered by it. I'd try to get rid of them.

[daiv]

Some ants carry in other pests. Not sure if Fire Ants do this.

[Joel143]

Tlaloc I'm down the road from you in Louisiana and like you we have bad fire ant problems. I've had them move into flower pots and kill the plant. Like Daiv mentioned they do carry in other pests; like aphids and scale. The best thing you could do is get rid of them. I've used spectricide fire ant poison, the kind after you sprinkle you add water and it kills them instantly. It hasn't harmed any of my plants when I've done this. Main thing is to get rid of them.

[Tlaloc]

sigh. i was afraid of that. iann, they'll disturb the roots? i was really hoping they'd just areate them. the aloe's been growing very well since they moved in like 2 or 3 months ago. i love my fire ants though, they protect my plants. people think that they attack everything and destroy plants, but since i let do there own thing 4 or 5 years ago i haven't seen ONE hole in a leaf on any of my plants. i've got several little personal armies protecting my yard and plants. i can see how they would inadvertently bring in pests to my aloe. i will keep a sharp eye on them though and if i see ANYTHING on my aloe ill just repot it and they can keep it's current pot. and move all the other pots FAR away from that aloe of course. thanks for the info everone. and joel, how have your cacti held up during these strangely long and cold winter?

[Peterthecactusguy]

in a pot where they are trapped can you drown them by soaking the pot? Or soaking it with something that kills ants?

[promethean_spark]

Ants can also dig all the soil out of a pot through the drainage holes, and if you pick it up and start carrying it somewhere they'll all swarm out and attack, which would be bad with fire ants. I'd water it with imidicloprid.

[Peterthecactusguy]

exactly. that is what I was thinking, I would do if It was my plant. BTW I am not sure about aphids and stuff with fire ants, but I do know that they will mess with plants. Mainly like someone mentioned the roots, and I have also heard about the ants swarming from the pots.

[Tlaloc]

hhhmmmm, i might just let them have the pot then since root damage is hard to see until it's extensive. and yeah you could drown the whole colony if you soak the pot, the ladies do get upset if you move the pot though so be ready for that. i'll just repot the aloe if it stops growing at the fast and steady it's going and deal with any bites. it's a small price to pay for a completely bug-that'll-eat-holes-in-my-plants and pesticide free yard every spring and summer.

[Joel143]

[quote=" and joel, how have your cacti held up during these strangely long and cold winter?[/quote]

Tlaloc my cacti have done quite well with no loss for the past 4 years all being outside year round. Now I have a greenhouse with the hardier remaining on my front porch. If it gets too cold like a very hard freeze I just place a towel or plastic over the entire group. I do plan on doing a raised bed this summer placing my larger and hardier ones in it. I just need to find the time.

[Tlaloc]

i kept most of mine indoors in a sunny room all winter with the exception of a blue glow agave and 2 unidentified aloes and another agave. i'll probably have to do that next year, i'm running out of room for all my cacti. what'd you do about rains? wouldn't the rains rot them while they were dormant?

[Joel143]

i kept most of mine indoors in a sunny room all winter with the exception of a blue glow agave and 2 unidentified aloes and another agave. i'll probably have to do that next year, i'm running out of room for all my cacti. what'd you do about rains? wouldn't the rains rot them while they were dormant?

Right now they are in my greenhouse and on my front porch so they are protected from heavy rains that we get. Once the raised bed goes in, it will be a fast draining soil that will be put in that I use for my potted cacti.

[DaveW]

I had an ants nest under an Echinocereus in the greenhouse central bed where they kept piling soil on top of it and burying it. The plant seemed to stand still until I dug it up, potted it up and killed off the nest. Therefore whether they kept nipping off the fine feeding roots I do not know, as Ian says they do disturb the roots.

If I was you I would tip the plant out of the pot on a deserted part of the yard and stand back, then turn the hose on it to wash off all the soil and ants and just leave it dry root for a day or so until any ants have quit and then re-pot.

[*Barracuda_52*]

I gota agree get rid of the ants, if you enjoy them do it where there not in your plant pots.

[promethean_spark]

Will fire ants eat terro? That stuff is just sugar and borax (~soap). It works well, but only on ants that have a taste for it.