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How To Deal WIth Ants on Your Orchids
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Aug 23, 2021
Do Orchids Attract Ants? 8 Unique Methods to Eliminate Ants 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. ants on an orchid 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.
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You usually won't notice ants on your orchid until it's watering time. Then when you pour water on
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tons and tons of ants. Where do they come from? Well in this video I'm going to go over where
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they come from, why they got there, and how to get rid of them. Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orchidairy where I share my tips of
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how to grow orchids indoors since my climate ain't so great outside. Right from the beginning
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I'm going to give you a secret. Orchids do not attract ants. They are specialized in attracting
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moths, hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, but not ants because ants really don't help them
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pollinize, but ants find their way to the orchid anyway. What attracts the ant to the orchid is
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that you probably have another pest that you should be more worried about, which are usually
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aphids. Another thing that attracts the ants is the happy sap or the oozing stuff that comes
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sometimes out of them, which you can watch a whole video up here about. But usually Phalaenopsis and
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Cymbidiums are the worst about that. So what happens is the ants are attracted to the excrements
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that the aphids leave them behind. They aren't really interested in the orchid leaf that much
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but they do eat the aphids that are on your orchid. Now once an ant finds your orchid and
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finds that ventilated potting media that has water, has fertilizer, has nutrients, and is the perfect
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place to be protected from bigger predators, then you have a problem because they will infest your
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potting medium and usually you won't see them until you dunk your orchid or you water your orchid and then here they come flying
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Now just to be fair I did say that orchids do not attract ants but there are two that do The frog orchid and the chamorkis alpine they do And I doubt you actually see these orchids for sale because the Chamorchus alpine grows in Russia
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in the subarctic plains of Russia, Scandinavia and 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 Dactylarisa virigis
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is found in the United States in South Carolina, also travels all the way up to Alaska and can be
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grown 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
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that because that does create a finely cut rock and it's so finely cut that those points are like
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razor blades. Well the ants for some reason find this extremely tasty and they will eat this and
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inside their digestive system it will rip them apart from the inside. So it's disgusting. Yes
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it works 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 because they
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will also breathe it in. If you have finer smaller ants the diatomaceous earth also works on them
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because they will walk on top of these razor blades and it will slit them open and they will
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dehydrate. So it works from the inside, from the outside, from all sides that you actually look at
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it. Before I go on to the next tip, if this video is providing any useful information, please give
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it a thumbs up That really helps me know what videos to do more 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 methods that I researched but you could
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have a method that works better and I just haven't thought of it. Please mention it down below. The
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second method is great if you do not have that many ants which would be washing your orchid with
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a mild soap and you will get the orchid. You can do this several ways. You can put it in a soapy
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solution and let it soak or you can just wipe off the leaves with this mild soap detergent. Now what
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you're really doing is not getting rid of the ants. What you're doing is getting rid of the
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excrements from the aphids which is what attracted the ants in the first place. This can also be done
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with a very soft toothbrush. Don't get a toothbrush that is hard bristled because you can actually do
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more 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 on the
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inside. Once you get rid of that potting medium, don't just take out the old potting medium and add
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new. You have to really scrub the inside of that because that is what is attracting the ants in the
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first place. I suggest not using the same pot because those eggs are so tiny and they're so
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hard to get rid of. Even after you're scrubbing, I would just get rid of the pot and get a new pot
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and use new 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
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is to buy a carnivorous plant like a Venus flytrap. Now it doesn't work for the fungus gnats
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because the fungus gnats are so tiny that yeah it will close and they will attract to it but they
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prefer bigger insects so ants are the perfect meal for these little plants. Here are a few of the most
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common carnivorous plants and the cutest one I think is called the butterwort 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 butterwort 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
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The next method to keep these ants away is to actually use humidity trays because they will
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not cross the water. And you might want to add a little, a few drops of soap or dish detergent
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inside that to make sure that they keep away. The next idea is to use cloves. Now, cloves are
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not as powerful but they really get the job done because their smell will repel the ant. Coffee
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grounds work but not as much. They were the least effective of all the methods. I've even seen
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someone who suggested mixing all these up making like a herb spice garden inside which was the
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cloves, mint leaves, the coffee grounds, the citrus rinds and just lay those around. Not only are they
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aromatic but they also keep the ants away. Once you see these beautiful orchids just bloom it's
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amazing you want to keep them in bloom forever. So keep up your orchid care keep researching
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information and I suggest this video up here about fungus gnats and this video down here about
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mealybugs. In all thanks for watching and happy cultivating