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Ant invasion inside


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A couple months ago I made up a 200L batch of no-till type organic soil and put it in a big sub-irrigation planter (Vegepod).  The garden is in a tent and the tent is in a under-house storage space.  I've checked it a few times for moisture, but mostly left it alone to cook the soil until I am ready to plant seeds.  Yesterday, I checked it again because I just started sprouting some seeds.  In the last 2wks ants have invaded the tent.  1000's of tiny dark ants, enjoying my warm soil and water source.  Same little bastards that find a single dirty dish in my kitchen.  I know they won't eat my plants, but having a big nest in my indoor garden doesn't sound like a good thing.  And they're farkin' annoying!

 

I'm a little hesitant to use the various ant killers that can be found at Bunnings etc.  Ants eat the poison, ants die in my garden, poison ends up in my soil and then eventually in my medicine.  I'm not organic-lifestyle kinda person, but insect poison doesn't sound like something I want to vape.  Any suggestions?  I'm going to start with neem, but there is a lot of the wee devils...

 

Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor tent
Growing Medium: Organic soil
Growing Style: ?
Watering/Feeding Frequency: Sub-irrigation planter
Nutrient Strength (PPM/EC): n/a
PH Levels: unknown
Temperature/Humidity Levels: 20C, 60%
Air Flow/Fans etc.: Plenty
Lighting Type (CFL/HPS/MH etc.): LED
Total Wattage: 550W
Growth Stage: Pre-planting
Plants Age: n/a
Cannabis Strain: Orange Hill Special

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did you fill the reservoir in the sip with water or just used the sip as a storage container without filling the water res ?

 

ants generally like it dry , i've had them set themselves up in a compost bin outdoor because the bin had been neglected 

& had mostly dried out / stopped composting , they turned the bin into a nest , pour water in & watch them run to higher ground

with little white eggs on there backs  

 

when using an earthbox ( sip ) the container comes with a cover , a plastic shower cap if you like , the purpose of the cover is to stop

rain from over watering the plants outdoors & to trap evaporation , keeping the top soil from drying out , keeping all the soil moist

& usually gives the mycelium a chance to thrive on the moist soil surface 

 

you've checked for moisture but is the top / sides drying out ? 

ants won't hurt your plant but will take care of aphid if you get them to harvest the honey dew the aphid produce   

 

Ants Turn Into Dairy Farmers

Some ants are so hungry for the aphid honeydew, that they will "milk" the aphids to make them excrete the sugary substance.

The ants stroke the aphids with their antennae, stimulating them to release the honeydew.

 

so you don't really want them round if you can avoid them 

Edited by itchybromusic
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The vegepod is basically a big earthbox. I do have water in the res and the soil feels a good moisture level for growing. Not soggy, not dry. Plenty of white fuzzy fungus growth in the mulch. I've made a moat of ant killer dust around the SIP and in the room corner where they seem to be coming from. The brick wall has plenty of small cracks, so I've squirted the cracks with ant spray. I was going to avoid this kind of action, but when I poked around in the SIP I could see the ants are even better established than previously thought. Little jerks are crawling in on the power cords. I'm thinking I might coat a section of each power cord and duct with spray. In war, ya blow the bridges!
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yeah definitely attack the entry point 

 

you could try some plastic over the top tied down around the edge of the vegepod  ( like an earthbox ) to increase the moisture 

see if that has an effect on the ants , along with entry point attacks & the moat 

 

what are they eating in the pot do you think ? 

Edited by itchybromusic
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hi veritas and itchy

 

hope you are both going well ...

 

not sure if this helps veritas, but the only way i managed to stop ants from coming into a unit that i rented which had fairly established ant nests, was to sprinkle Diatomaceous earth around their entry pints - not sure if this is what you mean by ant killer dust.

 

i think the Diatomaceous earth is very sharp. I found that the ants didn't cross it. if you need to stop them on different surfaces, you get get some yellow sticky traps (or maybe even just some good tape) and sprinkle it on it.

 

main thing i found is don't squash the ants ... i got more of them by doing that in frustration.

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Good news, my use of the everything everywhere technique has started off promising. There is a drastic reduction at first glance.  The super highways are just a few now.  I'm going to leave the Ant Killer Dust on the floor and replenish when it gets scuffled away by my shoes.  Bonus: less ants in my kitchen too!  I think the main nest was probably in the tent/storage are all along and functioned as a base camp for the ants inside the house.  

 

I think the dust I'm using is Pyrethrine.  I've used diatomaceous earth (DE) before for various bugs, but it loses effectiveness when wet and that is a bit limiting.  If the ant population stays low after a few weeks of poison, I will gradually transition to a floor sprinkled with DE.  Prefer to save actual poison for emergencies and use the non-toxic stuff as the regular maintenance IPM.  

 

I'm not sure what they are eating in the SIP.  The soil is pretty typical stuff: peat, compost, aeration, and a bunch of OGS amendments.  But they are also in a house plant that has nothing more than Bunnings potting soil.  I'm in TAS and the mice try to sneak into warm houses during winter.  Might be the same thing here...

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nice one mate :)

 

hopefully the mice will stay away too.

 

another way i found to get rid of bugs in a local area, was to get some silicone and fill in some cracks - this helped a bit with cockroaches, as well ... except those big flying fuckers.

 

basically, just trying to convince the ground based ones, that it was easier to go somewhere else.:)

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