I have a couple plants (banana & citrus) in pots which I don’t observe ants on above the soil. But when I move the pots, the ants in the soil are disturbed and swarm out until a few minutes time they’ve retreated back down. Is this something to worry about or some kind of indicator about the roots?
do you see any ants farming aphids on any of your plants?
You can discourage them by sprinkling borax powder (sold for garden pests) under the pots and lightly on the soil surface.
No, no pests or pest-damage observable on the plant above the soil line.
Sounds good. I don’t mind them living in there though so long as they’re not damaging the plant. I could even see them doing some helpful aeration of the media. Are you thinking they would be doing damage?
@spurious
You don’t see them when you are outside in the daytime, but they are very active outside the pots at other times.
The fact that they are in the pots says that your watering frequency might be too infrequent – esp. in the bananas.
Allowing them to stay with the Citrus is inviting them to farm sucking insects on those plants.
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Hot Shot flying insect spray will kill ants on contact (permethrin). Disturb your pots and spray when surfaced ant count has peaked.
That won’t kill the colony, only the ones who come up. Plus it’s not entirely safe to use on or near food items i suspect.
Best would be to leave a mound of borax out for them. Or corn meal, that does the trick too.
There is gonna be more than likely an ant mound underneath the pot in the soil. Whenever I get ants in my pots, I move them and throw down ant killer stuff.
The best way to keep ants out is to keep your pots off open dirt. Either sit them on a patio or a plank of wood or anything that will keep it from direct soil contact.
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The citrus tree i bought sat on a table before i got it and it still had ants. I thought it was something else but the sugar and dug into one of my mini oranges… i think i accidentally am killing the tree by overkill with a systemic when i tried to treat my ant issues… In the past, i did borax/cornmeal but i didn’t do it this time and i think i have a dying kishu now 
Yes, these pots are on solid concrete/aggregate. At least a few feet from seems in the slabs. There’s no mound directly underneath. I think I will try a combination of fully soaking the media (since it sounds like dry media is what they want) and then the borax. The other thing that I wonder about is if I keep aggravating them and moving the pot, would that eventually cause the population to decline or a fool’s errand… Will see if the former works first. Thanks everyone.
I had ants in my pots when I was living on the third floor. They set home in the pots on the 3 terrasses, north one, south one, west one. Then they invaded the pots inside. They were really tiny. Nothing wrong happened to my plants, although I had some earth around the pots at times in summer.
One year hornets made a nest in the insulated foam around the window. They weren’t a nuisance because they were european hornets, hence not flying at night (asian hornets fly at night hence come around the lights). After the hornets died in winter, a colony of huge ants settled in their empty nest. They never came in, but walked down the 3 stores along the outside wall to the ground. Walking in the car park, you could see the long black line of ants on the wall.
Then I sold the place, and the buyer asked me to offer him the “beautiful pots and great plants”, which I gladly did, ants included.
So ants will find a way.
Ants in my pots always leads to sucking insects which they farm. I’ve done nothing to combat it other than kill the sucking insects and try to keep the soil wetter. Slowly it’s working to discourage them from colonizing the pots
It’s mostly in my lime and lemon, I let them get too dry. They will likely get planted in spring, sick of keeping citrus in pots. Moving most of them into the ground, it’s easier to provide a bit of warmth to them for 2 months than keep them happy in pots for 12 months.
A mix of half borax half powdered sugar… and they will get wiped out quickly.
A mix of half baking soda and half powdered sugar works well too but may take two weeks.
Some ants are very attracted to sugar and some are not… they are much more interested in protein/fat… a mix of half crushed pork rhinds and borax or baking soda works well on those.
Baking soda works by changing the ph in their digetive system… they can no longer digest food and die. It takes a little longer but works well.
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I use these Terro bait stations which are basically the same thing as this. Amazon.com : TERRO T300B Liquid Ant Killer, 12 Bait Stations : Home Pest Lures : Patio, Lawn & Garden
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And they work outdoors? I have used them indoors but as they just open to air I figure they would dry out or spill too easily outside.
It works but you’re correct they it dries out quickly. Pretty much done overnight for me if there’s any left.