Ant infestation of Gardenia - how to get rid of them

 All,

Just found this group - what a stroke of luck.

Have a nice sized gardenia in a pot - last week or so most all leaves yellowed
and started
falling off.

This after a light application of sulphur and fertilizer.

When collecting the fallen leaves for disposal - observed the soil was heavily
infested
with ants.

Called in to the local garden talk show and was advised to use Spinosad - had
heard of
this before however never used the product.

In researching the net - find this is an ingredient, rather than a named product
one can
purchase.

Recommended application method for ants is a drench - so need a water soluble
form.

Has anyone used a Spinosad product on gardenias with success?

Any recommendations for a brand name product are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Doug

 On Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:05:10 -0500, "Douglas R. Hortvet, Jr."



Do you have issues with personal pronouns and paragraphs?


I have used Monterey Garden Insect Spray with success against <spit!>
thrips and tomato hornworms. It's a concentrate that is made to be
diluted in water.
http://www.montereylawngarden.com/pdf/monterey_garden_insect_spray_omri_04_bilingual.pdf

However, why do you think the ants are causing the problem with your
gardenia? Unless they're herding aphids, I don't see how the ants
would hurt the plant. Are the ants fire ants, is that why you want to
get rid of them? Is there damage on the leaves that looks like insect
damage?

And what kind of fertilizer did you use? If the leaf yellowing
happened right after you fertilized, have you considered that the
fertilizer is the issue?   Have you checked your soil pH? How much
water has the gardenia been getting?



Penelope




--  
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."

 Thanks for the reply.

Issues with 'personal pronouns and paragraphs' - what does that mean?

'Issues' is such an overused and non-specifc term to be essentially meaningless,
 IMO.

When I called the local gardening guru's radio program - he acknowledge that
ants can
devastate a plants root system.  Figure he knows more than I about such things.

There is another gardenia in a pot not 5' away and has no problem at all - both
are
watered the same, and received the same fertilizer and sulphur treatment.

The one with the problem had evidence of a blackness on the leaves - black sooty
mold -
that was removed with strong water spray.

Is it your experience that ants cannot damage a plants root system?

Want to do what is necessary to ensure the plant does not die - the blooms have
been large
and very pleasantly fragrant.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Doug

 On Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:16:32 -0500, "Douglas R. Hortvet, Jr."


It means you get an 'F' in English. We all make mistakes, I'm the
Queen of the Run On sentence; but you make no effort to communicate
pleasantly and effectively. Your writing makes you sound like a
petulant 2 year old.


meaningless,  IMO.

And if you claim that's true, you can avoid any and all of your
issues. Got it. It would appear you approach problem solving in your
garden the same way.



ants can

He acknowledged, as in, it wasn't his idea? As in, you had already
decided that the ants were the problem, and pushed that idea?  What
else did he suggest might be the problem?



are

Were you planning on telling us what fertilizer you used or what form
of sulphur?


sooty mold -

And it never occurred to you that the mold was the key to what was
wrong with your gardenia? Stop focusing on ants destroying the roots
and consider the ant/aphid connection I suggested in my last post. If
you have ants and sooty mold, you most likely have aphids. If there
are no aphids, there is some kind of insect that produces honeydew
feeding on your gardenia. I lean towards aphids being the problem,
though, because I so often see ants herding and protecting aphids on
plants around here.



It is my experience that ants do not damage roots.  And lord knows
I've had tons of ants through here. When I moved into this house fire
ants were a terrible problem. Now there is a mega colony of Argentine
ants in this area, so I've had to learn to live with ants. I try and
be positive. The positive thing is that they wipe out fire ants and
take out a lot of termites. See?



been large

A simple soap spray will kill aphids, or you can try Neem. Neem should
also make the ants very unhappy, although it probably would not kill
the whole mound.


Penelope


--  
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."

 On Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:18:11 -0400, against all advice, something


Ants, the Boarder Collie of the insect world.





--

Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will
have to ram it down their throats.
  - Howard Aiken