Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Hi everyone

I know its nothing about neps but i can't find anywhere which i can post this thread sooo my as well just post it here.

Well as the title says "Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" hahahah.So was just asking well i know that the normal garden black ants does nothing to my plants.Normally its justt the normal tiny red ants which also don't harm anyone and just stays outside in the balcony/garden.Recently,a mob or army of black ants just came in and they are almost everywhere swarming my pitchers and stuff like that.When they go for the pitchers i suspect they go for the nectar which is fine but they go by maybe 30-40 at a time really scary....And sometimes they go into the house(a number of them) which my parents reeeaaally dont like it at all.Oh yeah one more thing when the ants swarm the pitchers they stick on the peristrome most of them and some also stick at the middle sections of the pitcher and they are kinda dead i don't know what causes this things to happen but the main thing here is how to get rid of them without hurting my plants.Need help URGENT

Ken

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

When I repotted my plants into a bigger pot, I poured my miranda pitchers. Inside it was mushy disgusting remains of black ants. Enough to completely fill your hand.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Hi Aaron

Well i know that the black ants do get eaten or traped by my neps but the problem is not all of them are getting trap some just stay on the walls or at the lid and die....some are feeding the nectar of my pitchers and there are a LOT of them.All this came in a sudden wasn't ready for all this ants to just budge in like that.Well does sheltox kill plants LOL

Ken

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Pour water on those irritating insects making them slip inside the pitcher.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Yeah im kinda doing that now but there are really hundreds of them so not all of them will be eliminated.They seem to die very easily under water.I'm trying to find a source from where they come from still no luck.Anyways thanks for the advice

Ken

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Wah I live in between two small jungles and not many ants. You live in KL and so many ants.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Hi aaron

Yeah dunnoe why also normally nothing suddenly all decided to come in.Well i already got a rack for all my neps and other CPs and will be assembling it on monday or tomorow will show some pics after its done.Anyway when thats done i'll jus move the plants away and let my dad spray.So is sheltox really very very bad for CPs????Anybody knows???

Ken

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Well today again a lot of ants.....so my dad decided to spray the floor on my balcony luckily not direct on my plants but definitly my CPs won't like it at all

Ken

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

I hate ants. They love to bite me. (Just like how bees are attracted to me, ****roaches crawl up me, mosquitoes bite me and beetles jump on my head) I hate insects.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

This thread can also be called attack of the ants by 13 years olds.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Well,dont worry about the ants.Neps love ants.The nep will slowly kill the ant's whole colony.Hope u dont have few neps only.Get more nep to fight the ants.

My house is in front of a jungle and they are many types of ants.Now i barely seen any ants in my garden.The neps wiped all those ants which stayed in my garden.

If the ants go into ur house that means ur house not so clean.Dont leave food here and there.Any dropping of food must be picked and cleaned.The garbage's lid must be closed at all time.Once ur house clean ants wont come into ur house cause they dont need to.Usually they will be few scout ants searching for food.Once they find food they will call the working ant(thousands if not millions of ants) to collect the food.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

try pouring some water then drain it out slowly. DO NOT USE SHEILTOX! My friend lost his VFT last year tryin to stop an irritating ant from escaping. Keeping your house clean is vital but you can get more neps if you want to combat ants. sarracenia works best on them. Oh, yeah watch out of aphids cuz ants like to breed them for their nectar. aphids can suck your CPs dry (although it is very rare for neps to get attacked by these pest). goood luuuuuuuck!!!!!

Cheers

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

My S. purpurea got lots of mealy bug but instead of causing harm, 95 % all of them drown in the pitcher. The ones that don't drown will drown too when I pour water on it.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Hi Aaron

No prob with the attack of the ants by 13 years olds lol...jk.....Same here also i don't hate them since well we intrude their habitat and destroying it you can't really blame them much for it..all they want is the sweet sweet nectar of the pitchers.

Hi Alienfx

Yeah the ants are slowly but gradually decreasing....even though just a little.My house not much ants just like you said some scouters looking for some food around...today i killed 2 "scouters" or should i say "pervert scouters"...they were around the bathroom when i was bathing lol both when down in flames...urrgmmm...io mean the opposite of fire/water...

Hi Edward

I didn't spray the CPs just the floor maybe it might have some temporary effects on the neps but i don't think there will be some long term effects.

Ken

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

It is not a good idea to flush water on the ants unless you are careful enough not to pour water into the pitcher. I am guessing the dead ants are around the peristome area. If you pour water into the pitcher the digestive fluid in the pitcher will be diluted. This would upset the chemical balance in the digestive fluids.

It is also normal for a lot of ants to be attracted to your pitchers. It is a symbiosis between Nepenthes and ants. The traps of the pither plant is such that not all ant that visits it's pitchers get caught. This is logical because if the first ant that found the nectar is caught, it will not be able to go back to its nest and bring a whole army to harvest the nectar.

So it's kind off a give-and-take situation between plant and ant. The pitcher plants offer food (nectar) to the ants. In return the ants sacrifice some of their worker ants for food to the pitcher plant.

Sometimes when the pitcher produces alot of nectar around the peristom ants do get caught in the sticky nectar. When the sticky nectar covers the ants body it suffocates the ants. Pitcher plant nectar is also known to have a slight effects similar to alchohol on insects. Perhaps the ants were drunk on pitcher nectar and fall on the nectar instead of inside the pitcher. But no worries as this does not have any ill effects on your neps.

If you want to use a mosquito/cocroach spray/arosol to kill the ants and you want to spray on the plant itself, use waterbase arrosol. Normal sprays is about 80-90% percent petroleum base. Not good for your Neps.

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Hi David

I know if i spray water in the pitchers it might dilute the fluid but well they look ugly anyway the ants like i said is starting to decrease because hundreds of them are already inside pitchers maybe it could even reach thousands.

The ants get trap mostlly in the fluid but some are caught in the inner wallls of the pitcher and some on the peristrone.They mostly go for my N miranda and N truncata.

I only sprayed the floor once now i don't do it anymore and i do use waterbase aerosol

Ken

Re: Attack of the ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Good for you then, Ken.