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Yellow ants

IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
in Problem solving
i found out why my tomato plant wasn’t doing so well, lots of little yellow ants nesting in the roots. What can I do about them? How do I keep them away and will the plants recover?

Posts

  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Do a little forum search about ants in pots.. lots of different advice.

    i would just give it a real deep soaking a few times a week.. like soaking for half an hour in a bucket of water.  Ants don't enjoy the damp.. hopefully they will move elsewhere.  
    Utah, USA.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I agree ... ants move from the soil into pots during wet weather as they are dryer than the soil ... they stay there if the pot remains congenially dry and comfortable  ... keep the pots well watered and the ants will find another home. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    Thanks, I thought these were biting ones but they seem fairly harmless. I’ve removed the toms from pots as they’ve built quite a nest in there and put the plants straight into the ground so will see if they can recover. The yellow ants have dug up quite a lot of soil around some other flowers, bit of a mound, but I’ll try to water and mulch so it doesn’t look too bad. Guess we have to share the garden. I’m more annoyed that something has eaten all my gooseberries!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    In this garden Blackbirds = Gooseberry thieves 🙄 😆 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    It probably is the culprit, I’ve seen them hop up from the ground for the nearby raspberries too. It’s like a buffet for them in my garden. But very thorny gooseberry bush with no gooseberry to show for it, I am tempted to get rid of it.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    My OH has to play Beat the Blackbirds every morning for his breakfast blueberries.  He’s started picking the ripe ones when he feeds the hedgehogs in the evening in order to ‘catch the blackbirds napping’ 😆 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    Sounds like he’s got a working plan there. I’ve worked on a gooseberry picking farm before, fields and fields of fat gooseberries seem untouched and the birds go for my one lonely little bush instead. Funny how they aren’t bothered by black currants though. I might grow more of them, no thorns is a plus.
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