Ant's and My Greenhouse

Over the last 3 years I have been in a constant battle with Pharoh Ants making nests in pots and in cracks and crevices inside the greenhouse and outside. The best I have been able to do is a search and destroy method and the ant's would either find someplace else to nest or a new colony would move in.

This year I have put everything I have learned to work and so far, my greenhouse has been essentially ant free for 1 week now which is astonishing! I have learned that ants hate lavender oil and it will kill them (the cheap stuff you find at the family dollar store works fine) and that ant bait products with fipronil work best at destroying the colony.

I finally cleaned the outside of the greenhouse last weekend, spraying a hard stream of water into all the cracks and crevices on the outside clearing out all the nests. I then took a cotton swab and swabbed lavender oil in all the cracks and crevices on the outside and inside where I always see ant activity. I also made up a lavender water solution, half a tsp to one of those spray bottles and sprayed the wood surfaces of my potting bench. I then took Combat Ant Gel in a syringe and squirted a little bit in all the drain holes in the pots inside the greenhouse and little bits of it here and there on top of the pots, also near any ant trails. I also plan to treat some potting mix with the lavender water and see if seeds and plants will grow in potting mix treated with it.

This approach seems to be working and I plan to keep swabbing the cracks and crevices with lavender oil, inside and out every week and use the ant bait gel on demand. It's a bit too soon to declare success but I can hope.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

X

Glad its lavendar oil that works! Smells nice & isn't poisonous to humans (or our furry friends).
Can you plant lavendar around your GH to keep them at bay next year?

Tam

The lavender oil seems to be working beautifully. The ants avoid it like the plague. I'm tempted to try to add some to potting mix.

X

Ants! I hate ants! To me they are one of the worst insects in the world. I'm fighting a losing battle with them in my pots, in my vege patch, in the lawn....... I've found one barrier spray that works which is Terro Ant Killer. My DH sprayed the foundations of the house in the crawl space to stop them coming in the house and it has worked wonderfully. I've tried the outdoor bait but there are just too many nests. My older son has a great time whenever we have the hose out trying to drown them in their nests. LOL

Great gift to us from Africa, eh.

I don't know of any biological controls out there. Has anyone tried Maxforce FG?

The best product I've found for ants is one that has fipronil in it. Combat products have this. I have come to the conclusion that you can never get rid of all the ants, but you can certainly keep the populations down. I use in the greenhouse, along with the lavender oil, combat ant baits and spray Pyola into the holes in the pots. Pyola is a canola oil based insecticide and its the only thing I can use in the greenhouse that doesn't react badly with the poly carbonate walls and won't kill the resident anoles.

X

I didn't know what the ants were,I have the problem too.They even get in my hanging pots,I will try this for sure.
Thanks for the tip.Becki