It is my first time to grow lemon trees in my garden. I never thought before that they could grow in a tropical country like mine but when I saw in the internet that it is possible, I did not waste time and bought some seedlings for my garden.
I took care of my lemon trees very diligently so when they bloom after few months, I could not contain my happiness. I took photos of the trees with their beautiful white flowers and even posted them in my Facebook Timeline for my friends to see. They were amazed to see my
blooming lemon trees. They could not believe that I was able to grow them in my garden. MY FB friends had a share of my happiness.But my happiness was shortened when one morning, I saw the lemon flowers scattered on the ground. At first I thought the kids played with the flowers but upon close examination, I saw ants feasting on the flowers. I was not sure if it were the ants that caused the flowers to fall, so I immediately researched in the internet and there and then, I came to know that indeed these ants were the culprit. They are feeding on the sweet honey dew of the flowers causing them to fall instead of prospering to fruits.
I posted my problem in one forum site to get tips from fellow members. The following are the all-natural solutions I got from them: (I did not consider using chemicals because I have always been an advocate of organic farming.)
- Follow the ants to see the ant hill. Spray with vinegar. When you solve the very source of the problem, you need not treat the trees individually.
- Wrap the stem of the lemon tree with masking tape (sticky side out). The sticky side will catch the ants that climb up the tree.
- Sprinkle crushed mint around the base of the tree.
- Mix an equal amount of borax and sugar and place this around the base of the plants. This will kill the ants that will surely eat this mixture.
- Sprinkle wood ash around the plants.
- Put some water and very spicy Jalapeños or any super hot chili available in your area inside a blender and spray that mixture to your plants. All of those bugs including the ants will leave.
- Put a thin layer of cooking oil around the rim of the pots so the ants could not climb the tree.
- Use a natural ant spray that contains peppermint oil.
I was overwhelmed with the helpful tips I got. I did not waste time. I first tried the masking tape solution but it did not totally solve the problem. While some ants did stick on the masking tape, some ants were still able to climb.
I then put a thin layer of cooking oil around the plants. This has been more effective. I found no ants in my lemon trees the next morning.
To make sure ants can no longer penetrate; I also made a mixture of borax and sugar and placed them around the pots.
I did not try the other given solutions anymore because ants were no longer able to climb my lemon trees. After few days, the petals of the flowers were already drying up and the young fruits coming out. After a week the fruits have grown bigger. Obviously, I have been successful in protecting the remaining flowers from the ants.
So my next mission now is to diligently search for the ant hill so I can destroy the whole colony. This way, my whole garden will be protected from ants.
It is always good to find the ant hill because when you are able to do so, you can destroy the colony of ants that has been destroying your garden. It takes extra effort but when you have successfully destroyed the source, then it means you have completely solved the problem.
