Author Topic: Ants disrupting pineapple roots  (Read 984 times)

Tjpeterson96

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Ants disrupting pineapple roots
« on: September 07, 2019, 03:56:37 PM »
I have been having a bit of an ant problem this past year. Ants have been colonizing the lower leaves of the plants, as well as directly under the stalk, to the point where they are disturbing the root integrity and causing the plants to fall over. These make the 3rd and 4th plants this has happened to so far this year it every time i end up having to remove multiple rows of leaves and replant. Bi-weekly neem oil applications hasn't seemed to have helped. Anyone else experience this before and can give some advice?




« Last Edit: September 07, 2019, 04:13:30 PM by Tjpeterson96 »

Evildeadguy

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Re: Ants disrupting pineapple roots
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2019, 04:32:50 PM »
from the photo looks like you don't have the plants deep enough that could be why they keep tipping over... if your going to grow pineapple plants in pots you should stake them up with some bamboo..... and only time ants are a problem with pineapple plants is if the plant has  mealybugs and from the photos i didn't see any mealybugs..... to help get rid of the ants try putting some diatomaceous earth on the top of the soil.... it has to be dry for it to work to kill the ants.... and i meant to say ant's wont hurt the plants its mealybugs you need to worry about that's mostly why ants would be on or living in a pineapple plant or soil
« Last Edit: September 07, 2019, 04:35:24 PM by Evildeadguy »
Pineapples i Grow: Natal Queen

Tjpeterson96

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Re: Ants disrupting pineapple roots
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2019, 07:53:39 PM »
It is very possible they aren't deep enough anymore. They've had quite a bit of soil erosion and they were super small white jade clones I got in the mail when planted. The second pic is from after I took off a few leaves so they'll definitely be deeper after the repotting, but what you can't see is the hundreds of ants still crawling around. I don't have any signs if mealybugs so idk why they keep deciding to make their nest right in the middle of the root bundle. >:(

deac777

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Re: Ants disrupting pineapple roots
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2020, 08:04:39 AM »
I had a similar problem. I eliminated the ants by flooding my pots with water. When the ants came out of the soil with their eggs, I sprayed them with a pyrithian based insecticide.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2020, 09:13:40 PM by deac777 »