We have a large ants nest in the rose plant pot does this affect the health of the rose??
Ants in our planter
- Thread starter Thame Gardener
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That would annoy me !! Someone else might be able to say if it's okay to just leave them but I couldn't. I'd have to pull the rose out, wash all the ants and soil off, wash the pot off ( do both things far away from where my rose was) and repot the whole thing. Then I'd put the pot in the shade for a few days to help avoid transplant shock.
Hi Annie, its in a really large planter with loads of soil unfortunately so not easy to empty and re-pot and its currently flowering - just hope they are not affecting the health of the rose too much 
I guarantee this will take care of the ants overnight.
Many thanks will certainly try this
I put the solution in Gatorade caps. I did it last week for my okra plants (all but 1 as a test) and they disappeared off all the plants except that one.Many thanks will certainly try this
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Ants really really don't like mint. You could try mixing up a bit of essential mint oil + water + vodka ---- spritz the top soil with that and see if it doesn't move these ants on down the road.Hi Annie, its in a really large planter with loads of soil unfortunately so not easy to empty and re-pot and its currently flowering - just hope they are not affecting the health of the rose too much
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I discovered ants in several pots and fruit trees. My opinion is you need to get rid of them. I discovered them in some pots with green bell peppers & basil and everything died. I was able to control them with my Thai Chile Peppers and it is a constant fight with my Meyer Lemon Trees. You will need to decide to either use some sort of chemical produced ant killers or let the plants died clean the soil out of pots assuming they are in pots and sterile the pots and dump the soil. The queen is somewhere in the soil and the two ways I described are the only way, in my opinion, to get of them.
Tea Tree Oil & Eucaluptus Oil are two things that chase ants away.
One or 2 very small drops in a container placed on the dirt is all that I've ever needed. A little divot of tin foil or a bottle cap is very much large enough. A sewing thimble shoved open end up in the dirt, filled with cotton works great.
I like the "chase them away" method because it doesn't kill the little guys. They have a purpose, too. (To get us to spend money on things to control them?)
If you have pets or crawl-around kids, the oils have to be out of reach. I doubt they'd eat them (unless your pet is a koala), but they can make most mammals ill.
Paul
One or 2 very small drops in a container placed on the dirt is all that I've ever needed. A little divot of tin foil or a bottle cap is very much large enough. A sewing thimble shoved open end up in the dirt, filled with cotton works great.
I like the "chase them away" method because it doesn't kill the little guys. They have a purpose, too. (To get us to spend money on things to control them?)
If you have pets or crawl-around kids, the oils have to be out of reach. I doubt they'd eat them (unless your pet is a koala), but they can make most mammals ill.
Paul
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I put the borax mix between two pieces of slate held apart by match sticks, that is a big enough gap for ants, but not other, more beneficial things,