Ants on Orchids: How To Get Rid of Them
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- Ants and orchids are never a good combination. One day you’re misting your orchids or watering them, and as soon as the water drenches the potting medium, here they come.
Ants: black, red, small, big, two, millions… No matter what kind of ants your orchid has, it’s not a good sign.
Orchids do not attract ants. They specialize in attracting specific species of bees, moths, butterflies, humming birds...but not ants.
What attracts the ants into your potting medium is that the other pests who produce a sugary sap have probably already infested the pot. The ants are attracted to your orchid to feed on the sap that aphids leave behind.
Ants in themselves won’t harm your orchid, unless your orchid transpires (in excess) honeydew.
This isn’t as rare as you might think, and some genus produce more sap than others. Cymbidiums and Phalaenopsis can sometimes overproduce this liquid substance, and it will ooze out of the leaves, the flower spike, nodes, and even blossoms-more on that topic below.
Ants are fascinated, in the most, part to the sugar. To get to the sugar in your orchid, they’d have to eat the leaves, which they aren’t too fond of. What they’d prefer is to munch on the waste products that little critters like aphids that produce. In a sense, ants will take care of aphids, just to consume their excrements.
What also attracts ants is that the potting medium is a place that is perfect for building a home. It has air circulation, is well protected, and has light and darkness in a perfect proportion.
Once they settle in the potting medium, you have a problem.
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Good advice in how to rid orchids of ants as well as how to keep them away
After cleaning the pot, I boil them for 20 minutes to sterilize them.
Okay, lots of things I learnt today. I really like your way of teaching.
Hi Adrita Kar, Thank you for watching and leaving a comment. I appreciate it!
Your videos are excellent!!! Very informative and clear. Love your videos😍😍😍
I noticed a severely yellow leaf on my Orhid and wondered if I was overwatering, but then I noticed it was dry. As I looked closer I saw a million ants - so I am assuming that the ants are killing my Orchid.
I had the exact same problem! Extremely yellow leaf, thought it was because I forgot to water. Gave it water, put the pot in a different spot in case it wasn't getting enough light.
But instead of getting better another leaf turned yellow.
That's when I saw the ants inside the pot, with eggs and all. Uuuugh.
Will repot. Until then I threw some cloves on it. I can tell the ants don't like it!
I’m in central Florida. I’ve put Orchids in my front tree. It’s canopy gives the plants access to light without direct sunlight. Plus, I love the look of them in the tree. I went to add the 3 plants I got today and noticed the first plant is COVERED in the tiniest ants. Help!
How much Diatomaceous Earth. do you use?
Great information. I'll apply it to a couple of my other plants as well. I have gardenias that are attracting so many ants. Thanks so much. Enjoy your weekend.
Hi Nicole, Thank you for watching and for leaving a comment! I appreciate it. Oh, and thanks for the weekend wish. I actually did enjoy it a lot. :) Have a great week!
Amo Orquídea tengo unas amei sus explicaciones un saludo de España
I get ants on my vanilla orchids here in Hawaii.
I have ants around my orchids because of their happy sap... all my orchids with new growths etc yes... the happy sap! I dont mind my ants, they help me keep the happy sap under control . With the exception of 1 case this year... my phaius ... the ants were working together with the aphids and built themselves a little nursery and buffet as they were harvesting the aphids for their sticky excretions ... other than that, no other orchid is struggling with any infestation 👍🏼 thank goodness... I have my ant, happy sap balance back 👍🏼😀
Hi Ninja Orchids, So good to see you here! :) Wow, the ants and aphids really worked against you. I'm glad you got them under control. Especially being outside, that's hard to do. Congrats!
Unfortunately the ants literally eat my flowers, I was curious why the petals started to curl until I noticed they were chewing on the flower's receptacle (or whatever the stem under the flower is called)
I used a mixture of Red Wine Vinegar (6% Acidity), Mild Soap, and Water. I spray it on the medium and the base of my Sophrolaeliocattleya and I haven’t seen ants ever since. 👍🏼
Hi Jazn Jaimee, (I love your user name, by the way!) Thank you for watching and for leaving a comment. I appreciate it. The red wine vinegar, soap, and water does wonders. How is the smell though? I've used apple cider vinegar and it was very strong. Maybe I didn't dilute it enough. Anyway, thank you for watching!
The smell is temporary. As the vinegar evaporates the smell goes away 👍🏼
What kind of recipe do you use, as in how much vinegar, how much water, how much soap and what kind? I don't mind the ants nesting in the orchids, but there is one that hasn't bloomed in a couple of years so I'm not sure they are not a problem there.
@@maryandersondearing3053 1/3 Red Wine Vinegar (6% Acidity); 1/3 distilled or purified water; 1/3 Dish Soap. Spray the base of the orchid not the whole orchid. Do not spray the flowers. Spray generously once a day until you don’t see the ants anymore. Then give your orchid a rise with just distilled or purified water. Hope that helps!!!👍🏼
Thanks for this video, was struggling to find a solution to the ants in my orchids 👍👍
Hi Ananda, Thank you for watching and for leaving a comment. I appreciate it! :)
Nice tips. Congrats.
Hi Jose Joseph, Thank you for watching and for leaving a comment. I appreciate it.
Good morning. I live in Florida and the weather has changed of course it's Florida the weather changes all the time. But my question is it's 56 cold to us my orchards need to be watered they are out side should I water them or wait until it gets warmer
Hi Jill, The colder weather will slow down evaporation time, so it will take longer for the water to evaporate. The water sits in the pot for a longer period of time. This can lead to root rot and other problems. You have to still watwe because they need that independent of the temperatures (unless your orchid is dormant). If you water the orchid less and increase the intervals between each watering, you should be fine. Be careful also to not get water in the crown or let it sit too long on top the leaf. If you live in an area with extremely high airflow, then this shouldn't be a problem. I think that 56 is a bit too cold though. You might consider bringing them inside. Just a thought.
Also getting mint oil and gently wiping the outside of your pots with it works and ants hate the scent of mint so do roaches and most insects
Hi Joey, Thank you for adding this comment. I didn't know mint worked. I'll try it.
Awesome tips. I have 1 orchid that every time i mist it, ants come up from the base, tried soapy water as it worked before, but not this time so im going to try the cloves.
Thank you
I have red ants coming for the leaves of my dendrobiums, not the media
@@jollymakers9995 i sprinkled cloves on mine..mayb that will work for those red ants?
Hi Peacemaker, Thank you for commenting. I wonder why this time the soapy water soak didn't work. I'll look into why that might be.
Very few ants will actually eat the leaves. Usually it's a symbiotic relationship where both benefit. The orchid provides shelter, housing and feeds the ants with happy sap, and the ants keep the aphids and other pests away. Every once in a while, you get those horrible ants that harm the orchid. I'm so sorry that this is your case. Use everything at hand to wipe them out asap. I was wondering, are your orchids outside? Whatever method you chose, please act quickly. Leaves take a long time to grow...so the orchid is at a disadvantage. *fingers crossed.
@@Orchideria ok..thank you so much. I just got off work n going out to look at them. Yes, they were in a screened in tent but i brought them into the pool area, its cooler as the tent was just too hot for them. (FLORIDA) we dont get many pests where they are at now. I just need to irradicate then it should be fine. Little tiny things. The tiniest ants i ever seen
Sprinklng coffee grounds worked great here in the Caribbean
Hi Celia! Coffee is a great repellent. I just wouldn't put the grounds inside the orchid pot, and in this article orchideria.com/orchids-and-coffee-grounds/ I explain why I think that. I know that isn't what you were implying, but it's always a good reminder. :) Thanks for watching my videos. I appreciate it.
I miss your videos do you have any new ones coming out soon
Hi Jill, Oh, Thank you for that comment.. I'm finally better and getting back to work, but it's been a slow process. I'm editing a video right now, so I hope to get it done and published by Saturday!
I live in Florida and my orchids out side and full of ants what is the best way to kill them
Hi Jill, Hahaha... My anti-spam blocked this comment and I had to go back and see what was the deal... I guess they think this comment is violent --who knows?? LOL I answered the other comment, but please keep me updated on what works for you to kill the ants.
I love watching your videos. I watched someone else video and it said to spray peroxide 3% and it put more brown spots all over my orchid so I unsubscribe to that other person another reason I am subscribe just because she never she never responds to any questions that you have to ask her and you answer all my questions you have the answer for everything and I love watching all your videos I want to thank you so much God bless you and thank you for all your help
Hi Jill Smith, Thank you for your comment. I'm humbled, and honestly don't know what to say. 😊 I wish I did know everything, but I'm still learning, too. There is so much in orchid care to learn. I'm glad the videos are helping.
@@Orchideria thank you 🙏
I have a lot of like sugar ants alot off them
Hi Jill, Ants really won't harm the orchids, unless they are those leaf cutter type. Mainly they are just looking to eat the happy sap. My favorite method is just to rinse them off with soapy water. I hope one of the methods here helps.
Thanks so much for helping me
God bless 🙏😇💖
I'll watch but I'll bet but I'll still like the Orchid bee better.
Yep Orchid bee is definitely better but I don't want them around my orchids either as a pollinated flower is a dead flower.
Hi Victor, You mean the metallic green, shinny Euglossine bee? I don't like either, really. LOL. When I lived in Brazil, I didn't know that they were the pollinizers of most orchids there. I came to find that out after I moved tot he US. And they were a huge pest... They can fly still in mid air, without going forward or back, just looking at you in the eye, testing our patience. LOL. In a certain way, they are pretty though.
Yep- agreed! Since I can't grow orchids from seed, to me a pollinated flower is pretty much useless. I know a few people who can, and I admire them a lot. I just can't...
@@Orchideria I got a phalaenopsis seed pod ones. It was a self-pollination, not that the flower pollinated itself but I pollinated one flower with another flower from the same plant. It was proof of concept so to speak. Now I'm trying to add a color to the plants rainbow, though there is probably a reason this color does not already exist or is rare if it does. Sadly the biggest challenges is my two plants don't want to bloom close enough to the same time. I think I'm going to add more plants just to get more opportunities.
Yeah you was right about the bee but I still don't need its help it's a very specific project and I don't need a bee pollinating every plant in the house LOL.