Caapi leaves and Viridis being hassled by ants.

[Chiral]

Hi guys, I recently received a fairly decent Caapi plant via postage the other day and when I opened it up from its packaging it seemed to have suffered an ordeal in transit. 4 of its big leaves had been mangled and seemed to have got to permanent wilting point. Rather than trying to nurse those leaves back to health I snipped them off so as not to encourage fungal problems. The plant still has about 10 nice big fat leaves and they seem healthy. Mother Caapi is currently in a nice warm shady spot recovering from her ordeal. My question in regard to the leaves I snipped off is, am I able to do anything with them...like dry them out and keep them for a potential smoke or should they return to the base of Caapi's new home in the garden as mulch.

Dont worry about this I found an old post that uses Caapi leaves as part of the "changa" mix.

The other question is my relatively healthy Viridis plant is being hasled to death by ants and they are winning the war against me..I continually brush the leaves with a soft tooth brush and even kill a couple of ants and leave their remains on the leaves as a warning to the other ants to stay away...not working..! I don't use any pesticides at all and like to combat pests as best I can by heavy close monitoring by hand and being vigilant enough to spot things early on. I had an idea to wipe some sort of sticky goo or jelly..something like Vaseline around the stem and base of the Viridis to stop the ants getting up and farming their little bum spitting aphids. I'm concerned about Vaseline as it contains petroleum and I'm worried it may harm the plant or leach the soil close to plants and cause problems. Anyone have any idea about some sort of inert goo or jelly that might potentially work as a deterrent to these pesky ants..I get the feeling I'm stressing the plant too much by man handling the leaves so often and leaving residue from my potenially oily fingers etc..

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

H.

Edited November 23, 2008 by Hunab Ku

[genki]

i have an ongoing battle with ants on my balcony, they are attempting to farm scale and some other sort of sap sucker on both my P. carthaginensis. luckily they have left everything else alone and are focusing all their attention on the two plants which makes it easy to pick off the pests. it doesn't stop the ants from coming back though. after picking off any pests i get a mixture of mint oils (peppermint, spearmint, penny royal all seem to work well) and wipe them around the outside of the pot, along the base of the plants and on all the major branches. ants cant stand the oils and it deters them for a couple of days but they eventually start coming back if i don't regularly apply.

just had a thought that im going to try out. perhaps some sticky tape wrapped around the plant near the ground with the sticky side facing out. im going to give it a go, ill let you know how it turns out

[Plantsoma]

I have the same problem with my P.cath at the moment. The ants are farming aphids especially on the forming flower buds. My organic solution that works well is i spray them with the trigger hose on shower full blast. My plant is pretty old and the branches are tough, so it doesnt damage the plant. I just hose all the ants away and it seems to be detering them coming back. It's in my hothouse so the ants are at a disadvantage getting back up there once i soak the house with water.

[Garbage]

Try tempting them away with a sugary solution?

[Stonehenge]

Ants are persistent but can be defeated with simple methods. The sticky tape will work, until it looses it's stickiness or until they find another route. Try sprinkling diatomaceous earth over the top of the soil. They don't like walking over that but may find a route. You could put double sided sticky tape around the base of the stem. Just make sure no branches or leaves touch the pot or soil.

Another trick is to place a bucket or pan of water on the ground, put a brick in the pan so that the top of the brick is above the top of the water. Then set your pot on that. It creates a moat around the pot and no ants will cross it. Just add water when it gets low. Your plant may send roots into the water and then it becomes a supplemental source of water in case you are away for an extended period. Plus the plant grows faster.

[planthelper]

i put razor sharp barriers around the stem of the plant and dig a trench filled with ant rid around the bottom of the stem, than i put all pot's in a raised position emerged in soucers of water, which get checked often.

than i spray the plants regularly, but my best weapon is a laser guided minni misile "anti ant" gun, a leftover product of the cold war. aswell, i run rehabillitation courses on a regular basis with the aim to make "the bad communist ant aware of what pain it causes to the viridis plant".

ok, but what i mean is that the simple methodes are often the best.

1, take the plant out of the pot and inspect the root ball, very often the ants have a nest in there and all you have to do is to remove all parts of it. remeber ant nest gone, problem gone!

2, nurture your plants more!

3, remove scales, using the above discussed methodes. if you used very low concentrations of white oil or neem or whatever, allways flush any residue off with tap or tank water!

[shoemaker]

spray tobacco juice extract....

[Chiral]

Viridis is in the ground. like all my plants I don't use pots. I much prefer the stick em in the ground and let them become tough.It also prevents having to piss around with delicate root balls when re potting. I have come up with a novel idea and that is getting a handful of wetting crystals and soak the shit out of them and then depositing the ball of wet goo/jelly around the base of the Viridis..seems to be working so far..

I'm looking on e-bay for one of those laser guided mini missile ant guns at the moment.... can't wait to get one.

H.

[Stonehenge]

Try sprinkling the DE if you have some handy. Get the pool grade, it's all the same no matter what they tell you. I found it works well until the dew and such makes it clump up. Then they can walk over it again. Adding a little sprinkle every couple days should do it. Double sided carpet tape or equivalent around the base of the stem will stop them. Until they find another route.

[Garbage]

I was reading the white powdery stuff found under the larger barnacle like scale is eggs.

Their whole body turns to eggs?

Scale on Grapes is the worst,they inhabit the natural cracks and fissures of the bark.

Maybe mix an ant killer with a blob of jam so when their prize is returned to the nest it reduces the numbers a bit more?

Edited November 23, 2008 by Garbage

[MrPotato]

Sometimes the plants form a symbiotic relationship with ants. The leaves make a couple of drops of sweet nectar near their base which attracts the ants and the ants patrol the plant and get rid of parasitic insects and such. Caapi does this sometimes and they should be left alone. However, if the ants are farming aphids and causing disease to the plants you can get rid of them permanently and easily. If you get a cup 1/3 full of honey and 2/3 the way full of water and warm it in the microwave for a few seconds and then add a tablespoonful of boric acid to it it will make a very effective ant bait that slowly kill the ants. They tend to carry a drop of it back to the nest to share after they have had their fill so this wipes out their entire colony. It takes about a week. You pour the honey/boric acid into little bottlecaps or just pour a few drops on a coin and set it on the ground. Come back later and the ants will be crowding it and drinking it in a small swarm. They drink and then carry back a drop of it to share with the queen and other members of the colony. A week later and they are all gone. The honey doesn't ever dry out completely and is irresistable to the ants and easy to eat and carry back to the nest.

[Re-Grifter]

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Edited December 11, 2008 by Re-Grifter

[markcond]

Just a thought but maybe try a Neem spray or Pyethrum. These are natural pesticides. Or maybe plant some Pyrethrum Daisies near by. I had success with Pyrethrum Daisies in a vegie garden in the past. Check here about Pyrethrum: http://www.pestech.com.au/uses.htm or here for Neem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem. Hope your plants do OK.

[Re-Grifter]

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Edited December 11, 2008 by Re-Grifter

[Chiral]

I bit the bullet and bought some boric acid off e-bay for 12 bucks...water, honey, sugar and the boric acid boiled together and splashed around where the ant traffic is high. They sure did go for it..they swarmed all over the juice where I slurped it out. They where becoming overwhelming the ants..biting my daughter and generally taking over the garden and patio area..so we'll see how this works.

H.

[Re-Grifter]

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Edited December 11, 2008 by Re-Grifter

[Inyan]

You can see two glands on the back side of each leaf. This is what the ants are after. I haven't grown this vine in a long time, but you can rest assured that even a brown stick with a bit of green under the bark and no leaves will root given enough time. Your plant should be fine if you don't mind the ants.