Can I use red ant hill soil?

B

Betagreen

Member
Can I use red ant hill soil? I have no other soil but lots its these little ant dirt hills. Wondering if I can put some Of that dirt in a pot and chuck some seeds in?
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
Just curious, why u want to use that soil? Ive never heard of anyone every saying/using it.
 
Buzz Buzzilla

Buzz Buzzilla

Well-Known Member
Yekke said:
Get rid of the ants, they bring aphids.
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This is normally true...they actually carry them up there and set them up like a dairy farm! But I have watched fire ants for years and they don't do this! Read my post last week about them!
Buzz Buzzilla said:
Lol I had a huge aquaponic dwc raft setup outdoors, (35,000 gal to be exact) and every now and again I would get fire ants building nests in 2" net cups...they would build trails from one whole to another on top of 2ft of water until 12 or more were connected. At first I was alarmed and thought just as you, "this can not be good", but after years of being used to seeing this I quickly noticed a huge difference In the health and vigorous growth from these plants that were chosen by the ants! So I'd watch and observe before dousing your plant with. Neem.

On the technical side I still to this day am not sure what they were doing, but at the very least puting holes near the roots allowing for more oxygen. Also ants carry bacteria that they make and cultivate in their burrows, so maybe the plant is being protected by the bacteria, much like worm casting bacteria?
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qwizoking

qwizoking

Well-Known Member
No it will not be good.. the surrounding soil, which there is lots of will be good however.
Are you trolling and im too simple to notice?
 
G

Gary Bradger

New Member
Betagreen said:
Can I use red ant hill soil? I have no other soil but lots its these little ant dirt hills. Wondering if I can put some Of that dirt in a pot and chuck some seeds in?
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I actually have had the same notion over some years. That's why I just googled it. I believe they will leave a bucket of dirt if you pour hot water unto it and let them escape. I also believe the best way to get rid of them is to catch them and displace them. Place a sheet with a substance on the surface that will attract them. When the sheet is full place it into a sealable container until you are finally ready to displace them somewhere else. They'll never know what just happened. You could repeat this process and literally watchi the numbers drop by not seeing so many ant hills. Try sugary substances like syrup or just plain sugar.
 
Beeswings

Beeswings

Well-Known Member
Gary Bradger said:
I actually have had the same notion over some years. That's why I just googled it. I believe they will leave a bucket of dirt if you pour hot water unto it and let them escape. I also believe the best way to get rid of them is to catch them and displace them. Place a sheet with a substance on the surface that will attract them. When the sheet is full place it into a sealable container until you are finally ready to displace them somewhere else. They'll never know what just happened. You could repeat this process and literally watchi the numbers drop by not seeing so many ant hills. Try sugary substances like syrup or just plain sugar.
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You're feeding the ants? When I eradicate ants for customers, I use a bait, that they bring back to the nest underground and in a few days every ant in there and the queen are in ant heaven.
 
Beeswings

Beeswings

Well-Known Member
Beeswings said:
You're feeding the ants? When I eradicate ants for customers, I use a bait, that they bring back to the nest underground and in a few days every ant in there and the queen are in ant heaven.
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There are more harsh chemicals that when an ant walks through it, it sticks to them, they go back to the colony and get cleaned by other ants and this starts the collapse.
 
C

conor c

Well-Known Member
I wouldnt use it myself same reason i wouldnt use soil from a molehill it is gonna have less life in it besides idk if red ants farm aphids but id not wanna gamble to find out
 
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