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Ant attack!

fupalooter

fupalooter

So I walked out today to check on my seedlings and found an army of ants all around and in the solo cups that the seedlings call home. I then decide to bottom water them all in hopes of flushing out the pests. While the table was clear of seedlings I then cleaned it with Lysol wipes hoping to destroy their trails thus preventing any new ants showing up. Also put down a barrier of viniger water hoping it would act as a wall to the ants. About an hour later I walk out to find even more ants have made their way to where the cups are. I have thirty two solo cups with seedlings I must protect..... Any suggestions?
 
Make a ring of diatomaceous earth around your plants. The ants wont cross it. Unfortunately it loses effectiveness when it gets damp or wet so it needs to be reapplied after rains or fairly often if you live in a very humid climate.
 
I had good luck keeping ants off of my okra plants last year by building a big berm of the stuff around the base of the plant.
 
Are you sure its more ants and not just the ones in the cups swarming out? Peroxide worked for me in driving them out.... then spraying around the area for ants worked, temporarily.... I didnt get much rain on my balcony in Okinawa so it worked pretty well until a big storm came through or I flushed the pots to correct over-epsom salting the plants.... but the peroxide probably killed stuff in the soil in the process of driving out the ants....

Still not entirely sure how I got ants on a balcony 8 floors up....
 
I think a lot of them are ones that were in the cups already. As for rain, they are in the garage so it isn't an issue. Any ideas on how to get them out of the cups?
 
If you want to risk killing beneficial stuff in soil, h2o2 along the sides of the cups might work.... it worked for me, not sure if it was the peroxide in general or the bubbling action and everything that drove them out.... I only had ants in one pot at a time so it wasnt a complete loss if it did more harm than good so I used it straight.... a dilution woukd probabky be better if you do decide to go with that.... no promises it won't have ill effects, I didnt notice any myself when I did it the few times....
 
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