Just got new pots stands, pulled the pots and noted a thousand ants running about. I had a couple ants on my face when I was sleeping last year and went on a Rambo mission. Spent hundreds on chemicals. I spray inside religiously… Unless my plants are having pizza and lollipop parties when I’m not watching, what the hell are the ants doing in my tent?
First it was knats, then mushrooms and now ants.
I put a mix of Borax with a tiny bit of sugar in a bowl in the grow area. The sugar attracts them and the Borax kills them. They will carry the Borax back the the colony and it will kill off the colony.
These are sure signs of overwatering. Be sure to let your soil dry out between waterings.
I did that colony thing and it never worked. Did the traps and a couple home made solutions. I know what does work, a dusting of Diatomaceous earth. Fossilized plankton cuts those exoskeletons wide open and bu-bye most bugs. Food grade to boot as well, even though I havent partook. I did a dusting outside the tent when I saw these bastards. But why are they in there for?!?
Water
With Borax?
Yes first the traps, then my own mix, thought I wasnt using enough borax… then I saw million ants hitting the bowl up. And it continued like that for a week or so. Then Diatomaceous earth and all was good in world…
I would manage your watering more tightly and remove anything that has standing water in it.
I’ve had ants crawling all over my tent on the bottom for almost a year I’ve never seen one inside my tent.
Mind sharing a pic of the inside of the tent?
When I moved the pots out, I did use a bunch of damp paper towels and wiped the base. Couple dirt crumbs, but no oreo crumbs.
I’m going to take a wild guess here - are you using molasses or any sugar-type products when you water or feed? That might be attracting the ants.
Great question, sorry I didnt already state this, no sugars at all. Tap water with Cal-mag and epson salts.
They may have come in the soil.
That’s odd for ants. Obviously they are going in for a food source in those numbers. I would put down a bunch of traps around the floor perimeter.
This is something separate from the ants, small thing I noticed in your pics. It looks like your drippers are watering quite close to the plants, this might be leaving you with a big dry area around the outer portion of each pot. If you can, widen the diameter on your dripper. This helps promote roots to grow throughout the entire medium, and not stay small in the wet inner section.
If you can’t adjust the drippers, or it’s just too much of a hassle, the occasional hand water to soak the entire pot will help.
Or I’m wrong and you already have this covered, and it’s just the top of the soil in the pics!
Your right, when I water edges, seems to go out side of pot quicker than I can put it in.
Oh story above about ants in bowl was different, not my tent. my house had a huge tree grown into it and I guess my house was just the dinner bell. Tent maybe 20 ants?
This was going to be my next ? lol
Home Defense… never fails.
Ants love damp wood in a house treat from low to high, ie fountation up inside then outside just something we deal every yr come spring with warm and wet.wether frickin ants.
The ants are the residents and I’m just a hindrance. In the summer the front lawn with have like 4 inch piles of dirt all over. I spray outside, spray windows and baseboards in house every month. I surrounded tent with diatomaceous earth and haven’t seen any ants.
I fought ants in my porch light switch, guess they didnt like light on. Installed new switch and before I could even walk away I heard electric shocking noise and took of cover and there were like 10 ants on switch. Sprayed wiring for a couple days, put in new switch and same thing! I guess the liquid barrier finally kicked in, 3rd light switch working like a champ for years.
Poured thousands of gallons of boiling water down lawn holes as big as my thumb. They are moved in, but the fight just begun.
