What Do You Do When Ants Invade Your Plants?

I noticed in the past week or so that one of my plants is not doing too well. The leaves are yellowing and there are some white spots on them. I have had this hoya plant for over 5 years, and I want it to live. So I did some research, and I found out that it needs to be root bound so I decided I would transplant it. As I am lifting the plant, which is pretty big by now, out of the pot I realize something is moving in the dirt. So I pull it out and see that there is a huge ant colony living inside the roots of my plants.

All along I am thinking maybe I have root rot, and low and behold there are thousands of ants just crawling all over my plants roots. Now, normally I would say, "Okay, ants, you got to live too, right?", but now they are killing my favorite plant. So I leave the plant laying sideways on my table on my porch, and I try to figure out what to do. I see a bunch of white eggs that are going to more ants, and all of a sudden I see the mother ant, which is also known as the queen ant. She is at least 10 times bigger than the other ants, and she is ducking in and out of the soil.

So, I decide to be friendly and not buy pesticide. I don't want to kill all these ants, but they need to find a new home. I know that ants will follow the queen so I scoop her up in a cup and place her in the dirt next to my table. I move the plant down to the ground so all the little ants can follow, and I wait. As I am sitting inside I remember that cinnamon helps with this; so I grab my cinnamon and sprinkle it all over the dirt. Cinnamon will not harm your plants, but it will get rid of the ants.

After about an hour I go back out, and the ants are gone. I rinse the roots of my plant, and I repot it. The plants are safe and so are the ants, and everyone lives happily ever after.

You can use pesticides for this problem, but they might harm the plant, and they will definitely harm the ants. You can also use a hydrogen peroxide and water mix to remove ants, but I find cinnamon and a good rinse to be the best way to solve this problem. Remember no matter what you do you have to the queen or the ants will keep coming back.

If you have experienced this problem, I know it can be intimidating, but this method will help you and the ants. Good luck, and happy gardening!