What is the favored way of getting rid of ants in container-grown roses. Ant stakes? Does anyone use another method?

Are they fire ants? If so, then Fertilome "Come and Get It" bait works well. It contains Spinosad, a relatively benign pesticide, and other brands are available. Another method is to make a soil drench using 1.5 oz of Medina Orange Oil with 3 oz of Dawn dish washing liquid in 1 gal of water. Neither method will harm your plants, and are even OMRI approved for organic vegetable gardens—I use both in my raised vegetable beds as well as containers. If you have a large colony of fire ants you may have to repeat.

They are not fire ants, thankfully. Thank you for the suggestions.

Heat citrus rinds (not to a boil) and then when it cools water with it. There's a chemical in citrus rinds that kills ants on contact, they tend to avoid the area after awhile.

Thank you, Protoavis!

In SoCal, I had very good results from sticking cinnamon sticks in the pots.

I bought this ball of nematodes from GreenEarth...it's called antbusters. I put it in my sprayer and spray them where the ants are. I can't go out on my brick area without ants swarming on me. It's supposed to be safe for everything...except ants. The nematodes eat the ant larvae and cause the adults to leave. It's supposed to be target specific....but if anyone knows if this product will hurt bumble bees...which are ground dwelling...I won't use it. I just placed a call to their helpline...hopefully I'll find out more info.

Yes, as Jeri says, I buy cinnamon powder in large containers and sprinkle it around the brick area. I can walk in there for a few days after I apply it.

jerijen said:In SoCal, I had very good results from sticking cinnamon sticks in the pots.

Interesting!

@Canadian_Rose Carol, I just started a thread in the pest forum asking about nematodes before I found your post. Did the nematodes work for you? I am at my wits end with ants and chiggers!

Like, Jeri, I used cinnamon sticks in my containers and never had a problem with ants.

I used to buy them in bulk and when I moved up here, I had ants coming in the sliding doors. I just taped cinnamon sticks to the bottom of the doors and that was the end of my ant problem. I didn't even have to put down more in the following years.

Sue - we've had so much rain that I didn't want to use them yet. We'll probably try them this week or the next. I'll let you know. But feel free to ask me if I forget to mention how it went. My brain isn't what it used to be.

RoseBlush1 said:Like, Jeri, I used cinnamon sticks in my containers and never had a problem with ants.

I used to buy them in bulk and when I moved up here, I had ants coming in the sliding doors. I just taped cinnamon sticks to the bottom of the doors and that was the end of my ant problem. I didn't even have to put down more in the following years.

Wow, I like this idea. Every spring we are invaded by little black ants coming into the kitchen. I'll try this next time.

I use svendust on all my garden plants and it doesn't harm the plants at all. It works wonders against all kinds of pests

Seven is, however, toxic to bees (and I'd expect for other beneficial insects) -- thus, it should never be used on flowering plants. Our wonderful pollinators are already highly endangered. That sure doesn't help. As mentioned above, the use of CINNAMON will drive away ants, without killing anything.

"Toxic to Bees and Wasps
Carbaryl, the active ingredient in Sevin dust, is considered moderately to very toxic to animals and humans, so you should always wear gloves and a respirator when using it. It kills a large variety of insects, including bees and wasps, both on contact and by ingestion."

https://foodtruthfreedom.wordp...

@jerijen
Good information! I always limited toxic pesticides especially when my children were small. We always had lots of roses and their biggest pest was aphids. Lady beetles took care of them. I've been dealing with ants everywhere here. They don't seem to be in the pots, but are crawling over both small patios and in flowerbeds. And every time I pulled a weed from the lawn, I'd see them there too.

My pest control company has been taking care of the hills as they develop. After these last two intense storms, I now have hills in my lawn too! I knew it!! I knew those little buggers were in the ground there too! They say the treatment is organic, but I understand it's really only organic in terms of humans.

Cinnamon hasn't helped now, even though it has in the past. I'd have to bring in a truckload for it to be effective and they would still be nearby somewhere. I posted in another post to see if anyone had experience with beneficial nematodes. I think that may be my only hope.

I wish I had a chicken...or an anteater. Actually I understand chickens are anteaters too. So...I wish I had a chicken

Sue -- I don't know what sort of ants you have (I guess TX has some fearsome ants!) . Out here, we mostly used to see big red ants. But nowadays we mostly have those tiny black Argentinian ants. And they form colonies that stretch for miles and miles! See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Decades ago, I lived in a 2nd story apartment in Pasadena, CA. One winter, I baked a huge batch of sweet bread, to use as Christmas gifts. I finished up a batch late one evening and left it to cool on the sinkboard. When I got up in the morning, it was all covered with a thick shroud of those ants! They had come up through the walls and out the electrical outlet by the sink! It was AWFUL.

So, I HATE those ants!

That wikipedia article has some control suggestions.

jerijen,
Oh that does sound awful!! They always say to seal holes, but you cant's seal them all. And bugs and ants are so small they can come in anywhere anyway.

In California we had what I called "normal" black ants. I had only ever seen those except when we were in the forest we'd see the 'red' ants. They weren't fire ants just red ants.

Here, there are so many species in my yard, that I have absolutely no idea. The pest control guy said one of the nests he treated last time were acrobat ants. I didn't know which nest he was referring to since there were several. He treats the nests but I always have more. I know they are underground in my yard in addition to the 3 large nests and the 4 new smaller nests currently in the yard. (And probably more after last night's rain.)

I have itty-bitty-almost-microscopic ones. I also have the "normal" ones, and I have big ones, and I have the biting ones. (Owww-they hurt) Now it seems I also have either fire ants or pyramid ants. (Yet to be identified).

The micro and normal ones are on both patios, around my pots, but not IN the pots. Those don't seem to have a trail and I don't know where they are coming from. The micro and normal ones are also underground in two flowerbeds. Once when I first disturbed them, they went into panic mode and were moving eggs. I caught that on video. A couple of days later I saw a new nest and destroyed it with boiling water, but there are always more. The one thing I'm grateful is that they have not come inside.

Pest control is coming on Monday. I don't want to spray everything because I do see butterflies and an occasional bee.

The ants we have in CA are bad enough . . . I am not sure I could handle TX ants!

Yes, I think it is a 'test'.

The funniest thing I ever had happen in California regarding ants was:
One day we came home from an outing and there was a trail of ants trailing up our sidewalk and going under our front door. My initial feeling was immediate depression thinking I was going to have to deal with them somehow in the kitchen. But as we went further into the house, we discovered that the trail went down the hall, across the living room, into the family room and out the back patio door. They were using our house as a shortcut!!

It didn't take much to keep them out, just some spray at both doors and killed and cleaned up the ones inside. We always had ants in our backyard there too. But their nest was somewhere on an adjoining property or maybe even farther, so I could never really get rid of them in spite of the usual over-the-counter remedies. But those ants didn't bite!!!