Little Black Ants

I just found and registered with this site while searching for a way to lessen the hordes of these ants that have taken over my containers. Indeed, they're living in the oak and cedar tree as well. Fortunately, they've not ventured into the house. As another member stated, their numbers are literally in the thousands. I have lived in Georgia all my life and have never seen anything like this. I moved here last March from only 9 miles away (where this oddity is absent) and spent most of last year battling these ants. Curiously, I will add that this is the first place I've lived in 30+ years without fire ants.

They can be a pain. I have had luck in the house with the various ant traps that use a sugar base. The ants take this back to the colony and basically poison the rest of the ants. Borax mixed with sugar will work to, but the traps are easier. The only way to clean out your container plants quickly is to repot them. Mix up some soapy water in a bucket, slide the plant out and place root first in the bucket. The soap helps break the surface tension of the water so the ants drown. Use a stick to swirl the water and sink the swimmers. You will have to wash all of the potting soil off of the plant roots to make sure the ants are gone.

After you repot the plants, sit the plant and it's saucer in a pan of soapy water larger than the plant saucer. This will keep the ants from reinf... read moreesting your plant. Once you clear your house of the ants you can get rid of the pans of water. Good luck, they can be hard to get rid of.

I've only lived here a year and a half so I am not used to all the critters and monsterous bugs that go along with the territory. I have never seen so many ants in my life. Just the little black ants, they really don't do much harm, but they are in every single one of my container plants and I mean by the thousands. I've tried it all and they don't leave for nothing!