How did ants get in my indoor potted plant soil, and how to get rid

[evident]

I've had this indoor potted money tree plant for about 5 years now. it's never been outside. i come back from a vacation and see that there are tons of ants living in the dirt now. I have no choice but to take it outside so they don't end up infesting hte rest of my house. Is this plant doomed? Can I repot it without killing the root system? How did they get there in the first place? can ants lay dormant for years before surfacing??

 

[DigDog]

do ants harm potted plants? afaik they coexist without problems.
also, they got in because a queen ant flew in; or do you not have any bugs in yoru house, due to HEPA filters or such?

 

[MustISO]

We had this happen years ago. Wife had herbs planted inside and ants made their way in and took it over as their home. We just tossed it.

Last year I had ants take up residence in our mailbox. I've never seen so many, they moved their entire nest into a space between the post and the mailbox.

 

[evident]

do ants harm potted plants? afaik they coexist without problems.
also, they got in because a queen ant flew in; or do you not have any bugs in yoru house, due to HEPA filters or such?

no ants afaik, we have a filter in the furnace, but we have occasional spiders, or a centipede, nothing that really bothers me. ants are the worst. growing up, we had carpenter ants all over the house. these werent the carpenter ants but something bigger than the typical sugar ant. rest in pieces poor money tree. gusty winds this morning blew all the leaves off of it in the back porch unfortunately

 

[Fake Wood Floor]

Consider this good timing.
Your plant will probably benefit greatly by being repotted anyway since you've had it for 5 years now.

I would take it out of the pot, turn on the hose and wash off all the dirt if possible. This will get rid of the ants and you can now re-pot it with fresh potting soil. Your plant will thank you and you'll solve the ant problem.

 

[KK]

spray termidor around the plant and then re-assess the situation.

 

[mindless1]

Just forget it's a plant and get some of those liquid ant baits which are essentially boric acid in corn syrup. Set it next to, not in the plant pot. It'll wipe them all out.

 

[Miramonti]

You could try putting coffee grounds in the pot, which ants don't like, and they should leave (apparently they only drink tea.)

 

[Fake Wood Floor]

You could try putting coffee grounds in the pot, which ants don't like, and they should leave (apparently they only drink tea.)

that's interesting, didn't know about that about coffee grounds.
It would be important to use 'used' coffee grounds because the caffeine in fresh coffee grounds is toxic to plants (or to many plants at least).

 

[evident]

What's funny was I did have coffee grounds from years ago in there. Guess it must have worn off.

 

[mindless1]

^ Like any brown organic matter, so long as coffee grounds stay damp they will be broken down by bacteria, but with coffee grounds such small particles already, in a matter of months.