FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all, I came home today and notice a lot of ants in my pot of red piranha. Traps were ALL closed. I'm worried if they keep coming back. Will they damage my vft. Also if they build their nest in my soil. It could damage the roots. These normal black and small house ants won't eat the vft. But still ....

Anyway, i search this forum and found 2 ways people suggest.

1 put some uncook rice in the soil. If they eat it. It will expand and they will die.

2 put pepper near by. It keeps the ant away.

My question, can i just put some uncook rice and pour a little coocking pepper in the soil? Will it keep the ants away, and is it harmful to my plant?

Please help.

Thanks

Traps are closed due to ants infestation, i crack some rice and sprinkle in the soil. As I think rice could be harmless to VFT. It was a panic decision. Need advise.

I'm thinking that I've heard the use for black pepper before, back when I was a kid, to keep ants away. I believe that it was a tip for keeping them away from your food if you're having a picnic or something similar. You wouldn't need to sprinkle it directly into the pots, just around the pots or around the legs of the table (if you have them up on a table, for instance). I remember it because, (being a curious little kid) after I read that, I went outside and sprinkled some pepper on an ant trail to see what would happen. All the ants went running in every direction away from it, HaHa!

As for the rice? I doubt it'd be all that effective. Sure some ants might eat it and die, but wherever there are ants, there are a lot more that you don't see. So it wouldn't really put a significant dent in their total population, much less keep them out of your CP's (which is the main objective here). Plus, once you water your plants, that dried rice will absorb water and swell up, defeating the whole purpose of using it in the 1st place.

I had ants living in my pots last year when I shifted them from outdoor to indoor growth. They lived there up until winter and seemed to have a symbiotic relationship. They would eat the nectar off my traps and the smaller traps would eat the ants. Since the VFTs were providing food, they didn't roam around my house. They didn't do any harm to the roots and may have even helped keep the soil aerated. Not sure about pepper or rice though!

Just keep the ants> I have about 3 different nests in my outdoor plants. As said above, they keep the soil areated, kept other pests out of the plants, and as a plus, the are feeding my sarrs. Those things are really effective ant killers. I have a few newly open leucophylla leafs that are already falling over from the weight of so many ants.

Wow,

Thanks for all the advise guys! As much as I like to keep them in the soil now. I can't because the pots are in a guest room window sill. I have to keep the ants away else they'll be ugly sight in the room. I'll try pepper around the pots and spray insecticide around the room this weekend. The soil and the ants together. Maybe when I have my own outdoor area

Use a flea coller. That is what i used when a nest of ants decided to set up a nest in my S. alata 'night' pot, which i brought inside so it could flower.

against ants? Hmm will it work?

That is what i did, i put the collare in around the pot

Thanks Goodkoalie, I'll look up for one soon. They'll be a good addition

I doubt there is a need to chase those ants away. The ants are a very good source of food! Just let the ants infest the pot and allow nature to take its course. If you are really worried, just submerge the pot in water (not the plant) and then repot it. Maybe t there is something decomposing in the red piranha soil.

The red piranha is a grave yard. There are spiders, ants, flies in the traps before the ants came. So I wonders...

Anyway after I sprinkle pepper all over the window. The ants left for now

The ants went to the cupped trap after I took the red piranha pot away to check. but now they're gone don't worry.

Fingered from my Galaxy Nexus

Thats great!

tish wrote: Anyway after I sprinkle pepper all over the window. The ants left for now

Outside I hope?

xr280xr wrote:

tish wrote: Anyway after I sprinkle pepper all over the window. The ants left for now

Outside I hope?

Yes! Outside the pot! Haha

Fingered from my Galaxy Nexus