African Violets

African Violets - African Violets aparently became an ants colony's home
@deebomb (15304)
United States
July 31, 2008 6:15pm CST
I was given 3 African violet plants this last spring. They did pretty good for a long time. I'm not good at remembering to water house plants. Well they got really dry but were still pretty green. I took them to the kitchen to give them a good soaking. After a while I went to check on them and my counter was covered with ants. I'm not sure if they were coming or going but they liked like they had eggs in their mouths. Well Out they went because I don't want ant in the house. I don't know how the ants got into the violets because They set in the living room and I haven't seen any evidence of ants there.
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2 responses
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
31 Jul 08
I have been battleing ants this summer. I have had ant traps out and still have them. I finally got some combat, they do seem to be getting less and less. I told a friend of mine to look at it this way, she has ants too. At least they are not cockroaches, thats much worse then some ants. Where I live its a bad year for ants, lots of people are having troubles, they usually don't have an ant problem. I have no explanation for your ants, maybe they were hiding out.
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@deebomb (15304)
• United States
31 Jul 08
I think what happened is they moved from the kitchen to the African violets because I haven't seen them in the kitchen for some time. When I put the pot back in their water catcher then There was a very thick trail leading to the window. Any way they are gone now. I hated to get rid of the plants though. youe'r right ants are better than cockroaches.
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@caribe (2465)
• United States
4 Aug 08
After reading your discussion topic I researched on the internet about african violets because it made me curious. It seems that they produce something called honeydew that ants really love. This is probably what they were carrying. I have never tried to grow african violets but ants are bad enough in the area where I live, so I sure don't want to grow something that will attract more of them.
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@deebomb (15304)
• United States
5 Aug 08
I did not know that African violets produced any thing that ants like. any way they went out the door. Thanks for that information. I won't be having any more of them.
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