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You usually won't notice ants on your orchid until it's watering time
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Then when you pour water on, tons and tons of ants. Where do they come from
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Well, in this video I'm going to go over where they come from, why they got there, and how to get rid of them
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Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orchidary, where I share my tips of how to grow orchids indoors since my climate ain't so great outside
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Right from the beginning, I'm going to give you a secret. Orchids do not attract ants
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They are specialized in attracting moths, hunting birds, bees, butterflies, but not ants
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Because ants really don't help them pollinize, but ants find their way to the orchid anyway
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What attracts the ant to the orchid is that you probably have another pest that you should be more worried about
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which are usually aphids. Another thing that attracts the ants is the happy sap or the oozing stuff that come sometimes out of them
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which you can watch a whole video up here about. But usually phalanopsis and symbidiums are the worst about that
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So what happens is the ants are attracted to the escriments that the aphids leave behind
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They aren't really interested in the orchid leaf that much, but they do even
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the aphids that are on your orchid. Now once and finds your orchid and finds that ventilated
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potting media that has water, has fertilizer, has nutrients, and is the perfect place to be protected
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from bigger predators, then you have a problem because they will infest your potting medium
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And usually you won't see them until you dunk your orchid or you water your orchid. And then
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here they come flying. Now just to be fair, I did say that orchids do not attract and
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but there are two that do The frog orchid and the cham orchis alpine they do And I doubt you actually see these orchids for sale because the Cham Orchus Alpine grows in Russia
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in the sub-Arctic plains of Russia, Scandinavian, the Alps. So unless your indoor temperatures are near zero
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I don't think you'll see this. Now, the frog orchid or the Dactyloriza Vidi-Gis is
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found in United States in South Carolina also travels all the way up to Alaska and can be grown
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locally. So that one you might find. Unlike the fungus gnats, which you can watch a video of
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up here, you can use several different traps that will attract the adult ant and you don't have to
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worry about the eggs and the larva and all that other stuff. If your ant problem is severe enough
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you can use a product called diatomaceous earth that looks like this and just be very careful with that
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because that does create a finely cut rock and it's so finely cut that those points are like razor blades
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well the ants for some reason find this extremely tasty and they will eat this and inside their
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digestive system it will rip them apart from the inside so it's disgusting yes it works
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absolutely but it will also work on your lungs since it is a fine dust that you will be
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sprinkling on the top of your orchid always wear a mask do not do this close to pets
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because they will also breathe it in if you have finer smaller ants the diatomaceous
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earth also works on them because they will walk on top of these razor blades and it will
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slit them open and they will dehydrate so it works from the inside from the outside from all
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sides that you actually look at it. Before I go on to the next tip, if this video is providing any
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useful information, please give it a thumbs up that really helps me know what videos to do more
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of or what videos to stay away from If you also if you have comments or questions please put them down below because these are methods that I tried they for messages that I researched
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but you could have a method that works better and I just haven't thought of it
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Please mention it down below. The second method is great if you do not have that many ants
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which would be washing your orchid with a mild soap. And you will get the orchid
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You can do this several ways. You can put it in a soapy solution and let it
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soak or you can just wipe off the leaves with this mild soap detergent. Now what you're really doing
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is not getting rid of the ants. What you're doing is getting rid of the excrements from the
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aphids, which is what attracted the ants in the first place. This can also be done with a very
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soft toothbrush. Don't get a toothbrush that is hard bristled because you can actually do more
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harm, but some of these sticky stuff that the aphids leave behind is really hard to get off
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If you have a really bad infestation of ants, I suggest complete repot and scrub the pot
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on the inside once you get rid of that potting medium. Don't just take out the old pot of
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medium and add new. You have to really scrub the inside of that because that is what is
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attracting the ants in the first place. I suggest not using the same pot because those
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Those eggs are so tiny and they're so hard to get rid of. Even after you're scrubbing, I would just get rid of the pot and get a new pot and use new
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potting media. Then you're absolutely sure there are no eggs inside of there
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The third method which unlike the fungus gnats, this one actually works with ants, is to
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buy a carnivorous plant like a Venus fly trap. Now it doesn't work for the fungus gnats because the fungus gnats are so tiny that, yeah
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It will close and they will attract to it, but they prefer bigger insects
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So ants are the perfect meal for these little plants. Here are a few of the most common carnivorous plants and the cutest one I think is called the butterwork But there are others like the pitcher plant Darlingtonia Nepenthes and you know just whatever fits your taste
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But I like the butterworth because it's so cute. Now those were the methods of getting rid of ants
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but how do you keep them away? One way to do this is actually to cut an orange
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and leave the orange peel, not the orange itself, the orange peel
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The peel will repel the ants, whereas the fruit will attract them
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So make sure it's only the peel and just change out these citrus rinds every once in a while
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The next idea to keep these ants away is actually the citronella plant
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And this citronella smells like you walked into a wet sauna because the smell is just so overpowering
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The plant itself is extremely strong. And this also does repel mosquitoes
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It repels spiders. It's the perfect one to plant around. your house just not near a window. The next method to keep these ants away is to actually use
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humidity trays because they will not cross the water and you might want to add a little a few drops of
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soap or dish detergent inside that to make sure that they keep away. The next idea is to use
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cloves. Now cloves are not as powerful but they really get the job done because their smell will
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repel the ant. Coffee grounds work, but not as much. They were the least effective of all the methods
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I've even seen someone who suggested mixing all these up, making like a herb spice garden inside
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which was the cloves, mint leaves, the coffee grounds, the citrus rines, and just lay those
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around. Not only are they aromatic, but they also keep the ants away. Once you see these beautiful
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orchids just bloom, it's amazing. You want to keep them in bloom forever. So keep up your orchid care, keep researching information
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And I suggest this video up here about fungus gnats and this video down here about mealybugs
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And all, thanks for watching and happy cultivating
