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Ants and cloves

B3B3 Posts: 27,505
in The potting shed
An update on my clove experiment. I sprinkled clove oil on the porch doormat a few weeks ago. Much more than intended as I forgot the bottle didn't have a dropper.
The porch smells lovely. You can smell the cloves coming up the path on a warm day.
No sign of an ant and no farmers on the artichoke so perhaps the whole nest has decamped.

In London. Keen but lazy.

Posts

  • Desi_in_LondonDesi_in_London Posts: 731
    Oh that's something worth trying ! :)
    Kindness is always the right choice.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I'd continue to use it even if it didn't work. A lovely warm, fresh smell.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    edited June 2023
    I like the smell of clove oil, so that sounds like a win-win! I might try the clove oil, but would worry that doing that might displace the ants to somewhere more concerning!! Funnily enough I have ants running about and they seem to have taken a shine to a sorbus tree. I find them in the flowers which have now gone over. I have not seen aphids though.
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Instead of just dropping clove oil here and there, dliute a small bottle of the essential oil of cloves in 5 litres of water and pour it over affected plants or in their pots.   I daresay it would work on paths and steps too.

    It's safe for other critters and even the ants.  They just don't like the smell and move on.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    I remember you suggesting that method to me some years ago @Obelixx when the pot in which I'd buried my parrot was infested with ants.  It worked well.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Yes @philippasmith2.  I've been doing it for years after finding ants' nests in pots and also in rhubarb roots.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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