Watered my Monstera and suddenly an ant colony poured out, it looks like they are carrying eggs up to high ground. Any advice? It doesn’t seem harmful to the plant but obviously don’t really want them in my house.
The ant poison will work over time but you will have to tolerate them for a week or two. Or like another past mentioned, if they are mostly still in the pot you can bring it outside and flood it.
Eradicate the colony from within as well as a plethora of other pests that may be present but hidden
ninetoesfrank
Double oh no
Kujen
They’re trying to move their eggs for safety. If you bother them enough, with watering like that for example, they will just pick up everything and move. I’ve had them move overnight. So you could either put it outside and encourage them to move elsewhere, then bring it back in when they’ve vacated. Or you could use ant bait which kills them all.
XanduLao1943
Diatomaceous earth will do a number on ants for sure. It’s a non toxic alternative which is basically ground seashells. It rips the bugs apart from the inside with shards that are far too small to harm mammals.
Striking_Waltz3654
haha, cute. they move into your pot! 😄
i kept ants as pets. the chances are high that they move out, if you let the soil dry.
or ask a subredit about antkeeping for help. its common, that colonies break out and move into pots. they may have an idea.
trance4ever
eeew, move the pot somewhere else and they should relocate, otherwise as last resort, take the plant out of the pot and soak the root ball in water and dish soap for 30 minutes, then repot in fresh soil and place it in a different spot than before
snowfallsgrey
I’ve had something similar happen and used Advion ant gel and it worked like a charm in a day or two. Just put dollops of it near the ants.
Professional_Pie4511
If they are moving eggs out the queen is in your pot. While the terro will do some, I doubt the queen will come out and it will start over. I’d take it outside and water it for a few days straight. I had this happen in a much smaller pot. We drowned it but it took forever (not really days). Mine was a lucky bamboo in all rock though. Might be harder in dirt.
Qalicja
I’d be making that monstera an outdoor plant and trying to find where the ants are coming from and placing ant traps. Cause why the hell are there so many inside 😭😭 I think I’d have to burn the whole room down lol
Bilateral-drowning
You need to kill the ants. They farm pests for the honeydew and you will struggle to get rid of the pests if the ants are still there… You can get a liquid that they take back to the nest and it kills them. Put a small amount in their path so they pick it up.
MrTwoPumpChump
Put some terro near it if it’s just ants. Kills em quick and no mess
zback636
A hard shower would be wonders to help control it.
plantgirl7
I drown them out, just put the pot in the kitchen sink and spray. Put it outside a few hours and the rest will leave. Repeat as necessary without giving your plant root rot 🤣
IMallwaysgrowing
To avoid buying/sourcing extra materials/products, you can just water the plant with a very weak dish soap solution (approximately 1 teaspoon of dish soap per gallon of water). It’s weak enough to not harm your plant but, the solution thinly coats the ants in soap, which suffocates & kills them. Let the excess water drain away.
It would work best to do this outdoors or in a bathtub/shower.
Mad_Juju
Honestly that Terro will take care of it, just give it a few days.
JulieTheChicagoKid
Ewww I’m all itchy now. Eww 🐜
No_Housing2722
Borex and jam
SpiritAgitated
Add a little Dawn dish soap to a huge jug of water, take everything outside and drown it. This is what we would do in my greenhouse management classes. After that you’ll need to set out some bait or something and get them out of the house.
Take it outside, wash off root ball and repot. There are definitely eggs inside. I had an infestation like this once and totally went away after a cleaning. I would check all other plants in the vicinity though.
I had this happen! I’ll be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to kill the ants. I put the whole plant outside and told it “you’re on your own”. It wound up really thriving (after some initial sunburn) and when I brought it in for winter, the ant colony had moved on.
If you don’t mind doing an ant massacre, you can water the hell out of it and leave it outside temporarily. The ants might clear out.
I had this happen with an orchid once. That orchid promptly went outside and never came back in.
Ants supposedly don’t like cinnamon or cayenne pepper because it messes with their sniffers since it’s such a strong scent. You might be able to flood them out or use diatomaceous earth.
KnotTwoClev3r
Marygoround72474
I just had a tomato plant dying and was going to reuse the pot for a new container tomato plant. I dumped it out and it was full of big ass black ants. I saw more on the ground thru the drainage holes and there was a ton of ant larvae. I wanted to run away and burn the spot down. You’ve got way more than I did.
36 Comments
That terro thing should do plenty
You can probably drown them. Take it outside and submerge the pot in water and leave it for a couple hours.
Cover the dirt with cloth or something if you don’t want to lose some.
https://preview.redd.it/wvk3rf66cx9f1.jpeg?width=316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1aa86a92901518228534b548f95c687048015d5
The ant poison will work over time but you will have to tolerate them for a week or two. Or like another past mentioned, if they are mostly still in the pot you can bring it outside and flood it.
https://www.arbico-organics.com/category/beneficial-nematodes
Eradicate the colony from within as well as a plethora of other pests that may be present but hidden
Double oh no
They’re trying to move their eggs for safety. If you bother them enough, with watering like that for example, they will just pick up everything and move. I’ve had them move overnight. So you could either put it outside and encourage them to move elsewhere, then bring it back in when they’ve vacated. Or you could use ant bait which kills them all.
Diatomaceous earth will do a number on ants for sure. It’s a non toxic alternative which is basically ground seashells. It rips the bugs apart from the inside with shards that are far too small to harm mammals.
haha, cute. they move into your pot! 😄
i kept ants as pets. the chances are high that they move out, if you let the soil dry.
or ask a subredit about antkeeping for help. its common, that colonies break out and move into pots. they may have an idea.
eeew, move the pot somewhere else and they should relocate, otherwise as last resort, take the plant out of the pot and soak the root ball in water and dish soap for 30 minutes, then repot in fresh soil and place it in a different spot than before
I’ve had something similar happen and used Advion ant gel and it worked like a charm in a day or two. Just put dollops of it near the ants.
If they are moving eggs out the queen is in your pot. While the terro will do some, I doubt the queen will come out and it will start over. I’d take it outside and water it for a few days straight. I had this happen in a much smaller pot. We drowned it but it took forever (not really days). Mine was a lucky bamboo in all rock though. Might be harder in dirt.
I’d be making that monstera an outdoor plant and trying to find where the ants are coming from and placing ant traps. Cause why the hell are there so many inside 😭😭 I think I’d have to burn the whole room down lol
You need to kill the ants. They farm pests for the honeydew and you will struggle to get rid of the pests if the ants are still there… You can get a liquid that they take back to the nest and it kills them. Put a small amount in their path so they pick it up.
Put some terro near it if it’s just ants. Kills em quick and no mess
A hard shower would be wonders to help control it.
I drown them out, just put the pot in the kitchen sink and spray. Put it outside a few hours and the rest will leave. Repeat as necessary without giving your plant root rot 🤣
To avoid buying/sourcing extra materials/products, you can just water the plant with a very weak dish soap solution (approximately 1 teaspoon of dish soap per gallon of water). It’s weak enough to not harm your plant but, the solution thinly coats the ants in soap, which suffocates & kills them. Let the excess water drain away.
It would work best to do this outdoors or in a bathtub/shower.
Honestly that Terro will take care of it, just give it a few days.
Ewww I’m all itchy now. Eww 🐜
Borex and jam
Add a little Dawn dish soap to a huge jug of water, take everything outside and drown it. This is what we would do in my greenhouse management classes. After that you’ll need to set out some bait or something and get them out of the house.
Sook the entire pot in the tub full of water.
https://preview.redd.it/ypt3ryouby9f1.jpeg?width=735&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30ed68021d7b8cd1d9345c6c2c425d150a5871d1
Take it outside, wash off root ball and repot. There are definitely eggs inside. I had an infestation like this once and totally went away after a cleaning. I would check all other plants in the vicinity though.
https://preview.redd.it/7w7wjsl9py9f1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=b385b33bec0dbb7b04cfad2175fc122b616b1dca
This gave me anxiety 😭
I had this happen! I’ll be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to kill the ants. I put the whole plant outside and told it “you’re on your own”. It wound up really thriving (after some initial sunburn) and when I brought it in for winter, the ant colony had moved on.
If you don’t mind doing an ant massacre, you can water the hell out of it and leave it outside temporarily. The ants might clear out.
https://preview.redd.it/m1dr3ipq2z9f1.jpeg?width=459&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad3ed5c3cfa1b5ad5c2b1f8323256d989bda2b21
I had this happen with an orchid once. That orchid promptly went outside and never came back in.
Ants supposedly don’t like cinnamon or cayenne pepper because it messes with their sniffers since it’s such a strong scent. You might be able to flood them out or use diatomaceous earth.
I just had a tomato plant dying and was going to reuse the pot for a new container tomato plant. I dumped it out and it was full of big ass black ants. I saw more on the ground thru the drainage holes and there was a ton of ant larvae. I wanted to run away and burn the spot down. You’ve got way more than I did.