I've had an ant nest in a potted olive for about as long as I've had it. Probably 20+ years. They do make a mess of the soil in the pot, but the olive and ants seem to cohabit well. The olive has clouds of blossom atm and I usually get a few olives. For years I used ant powder - that had no effect, so I'm using the - if it aint broke, don't try to fix it approach. Any day the flying ants will be climbing up the trunk again and launching themselves, which is fun to watch
PS as a side-bonus, the amount of soil that comes out of the pot means that I can mulch the tree every year as the soil level drops a bit
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
@Meomye I’ve found that several deep waterings a week - 12L at a time - has kept ants away from roses in the ground but that just hasn’t worked with the pots.
When dormant I can ‘bare root’ the potted ones and repot but can’t do that when in full growth and bloom in summer. Haven’t done the full plunge yet because OH is currently using my big trug!
I’m sceptical about any essential oils tbh. Mine have been doggedly resistant to all citrus and other deterrents to date.
The problem with ants nests is they they tunnel and create air gaps. That causes the exposed fine feeder roots to die off because it stops the rose taking up water and nutrients. Perhaps trees such as olives are rather tougher in that respect @Pete.8!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I imagine that olives in their natural habitat have to put up with blazing sun and heat and very little rain for months on end and they seem to thrive on that, so ants are probably the least of their concerns
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Update.. well I immersed the whole pot in water with a bit of WUL for a good hour. I think I managed to drown/suffocate some as numbers were significantly reduced afterwards. So not 100% success and probably didn’t despatch any eggs. I then sluiced out the pot again, topped up with compost and put the pot in shade. I couldn’t manage to do that with the bigger pot so am trying some ant killer in there.
Hopefully those measures, along with regular soaking, will keep the rose going until I can bare root and repot in winter. Finger’s crossed!
No nematodes available here, otherwise I would try them.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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They do make a mess of the soil in the pot, but the olive and ants seem to cohabit well.
The olive has clouds of blossom atm and I usually get a few olives.
For years I used ant powder - that had no effect, so I'm using the - if it aint broke, don't try to fix it approach.
Any day the flying ants will be climbing up the trunk again and launching themselves, which is fun to watch
PS as a side-bonus, the amount of soil that comes out of the pot means that I can mulch the tree every year as the soil level drops a bit
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
The problem with ants nests is they they tunnel and create air gaps. That causes the exposed fine feeder roots to die off because it stops the rose taking up water and nutrients. Perhaps trees such as olives are rather tougher in that respect @Pete.8!
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Hopefully those measures, along with regular soaking, will keep the rose going until I can bare root and repot in winter. Finger’s crossed!
No nematodes available here, otherwise I would try them.