To our boiling water on ants in the earth around this potted vine?

[PrinceHaz]

I’ve just spotted ants and earth around the base of my vine pot. I was about to our boiling water around the pot then spotted that the ants are all over the earth in the pot. I presume if I pour boiling water on the earth I’ll potentially damage or kill the vine.
Any advice on getting rid of ants but saving the vine greatly appreciated.

You need Nippon Ant Traps. Ants will be gone in 24 hours with absolutely no mess or plant damage.

I lost all of my globe artichokes to aphid farming ants. It was years ago and I'm still salty about it. They can kill the plant.

Try googling "ants" and "ecosystems" to find out how useful ants are, and what you might find out about your garden if it were ant free. Ants are not a "problem". They are an important cog in the workings of our planet. I would have thought by now that most people would have realised the harm that we do when we start eradicating species, putting species where they don't belong, or pouring chemicals into the ecosystem. And removing your current ants doesn't solve your "ant problem" - it simply leaves a nice space for a new queen to move into and start her new colony. If they must be removed then there are non-invasive ways (although expect a new queen to move in), but they can be managed - for example by putting them to work in an out of the way corner / a compost heap.

Ime ants can end up killing the plant when they take up home in a pot. My garden has lots of ants / ants nests and 9/10 of them are left alone but when a nest becomes problematic, I take action and that's OK.

You can't move them. They like to build nests underneath concrete, bricks and patios. Unless you are prepared to destroy all your paving you can't get them out.

I would leave them alone if they didn't spread. But they do. So you have to cull them or else you end up with a whole garden full of the things and them running around inside your house.

Serve them a section 21 no fault eviction while you still can

Haha I've the opposite problem - I've been using boiling water to kill weeds in the patio and was feeling guilty about killing the poor ants.

They're pretty amazing creatures, really clever - i like them.

Ants like dry soil hence living under patios and whatnot. They’ll move of you increase your watering schedule and ensure the ground around your vine is properly saturated.

You don’t need to boil them and you definitely don’t need to poison them.

Diatomaceous earth will kill all insects, including ones we need to keep. Should only be used as a flea treatment on pets.

I deter ants with a line of lemon juice to keep them from crossing over the door threshold or window ledge. I don't kill them, they are hard workers.

It's not good to kill something just because you don't like it.

I have absolutely loads of ants in my garden, nests all over the place - I have yet to see any sign they have damaged anything. Yes they farm greenfly, but the sparrows eat the greenfly, so my plants are happy and healthy and the birds benefit.

Ants are adorable. I love seeing their little networks in the patio cracks and the things they carry around.

There's zero need to kill them unless they are either inside your house or you are taking the plant inside your house. Just no need - they do not do any harm.

Do not put poison down. The ants eat it and birds then eat the ants and die. This is why some bird species have been decimated in numbers.

It makes me really sad that so many people are happy to wipe little creatures out for no other reason than they don't like them.

They kill the plant.

Do you not think plants have evolved to survive having ants around them?

Thanks for a fascinating array of responses. I don’t dislike ants, just don’t want my vine to die. Going to water it more heavily.

I love ants, especially in compost as they leave you with a lovely friable rich compost.

If you want them to move just water them. And let them move their eggs somewhere else.

I've got loads of ants nests in my garden .I hate them ,they are red ants and it's impossible to do any gardening without getting bitten.
I have to wear sunscreen ,insect repellant ,trousers in socks and my hands still get bitten .
I hate them .

Why do you want to kill them?

baking powder mixed with icing sugar is the best none chemical ant powder I've found.

OPs garden OPs choice

How can anyone not understand that sometimes ants are pests? It's not difficult to imagine why people might not want ants in certain places. You can't simply ask them to move, and if 'humane' efforts to encourage them to move don't work, then you may need to kill them. It doesn't make someone a bad person if they occasionally kill pest insects.

What are the issues because I can honestly say I haven't encountered ants causing an issue.

I like snails but I can understand killing them if they get out of hand. But what do ants do? Really not sure but fair enough if they are causing lots of damage I guess.

Leave the ants alone- what do you teach your kids? I tell mine the garden is the home of the insects and to just let them be (if they come in we get them out we don’t kill them either although I’ll be honest, we’ve been lucky, never had issues with anything other than mice- which we caught alive and released)

How do ants farm aphids ???