| |  | | Ants in Rosemary
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: En Burk
Posted on: January 11, 2004
I have a 10 year old rosemary plant which is very big and beautiful. I bring her inside, in a south window, each winter and she has always prospered. This year I notice a colony of ants came in with her, and they’ve burrowed into the soil. There are huge numbers of them - each day I sweep them up from around the pot. So far the rosemary looks unhurt by their presence, although I notice she’s starting to flower profusely, more than ever before. How can I remove the ants from the soil without hurting the rosemary? I don’t think she’d survive a repotting.
Aside from chemical controls which I assume you do not want to use, you could try diatomaceous earth. Our "Fossil Flower" product contains diatomaceous earth. You dust it liberally over the soil surface and around the pot. The dust punctures the exoskeleton of the ants causing death by dehydration. It is harmless to pets and humans; it only affects insects. Watering eventually washes the dust away, so you need to reapply the dust every once in a while.
"Fossil Flower" is very effective against other crawling household pests such as cockroaches and earwigs.
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