bath

I've never resorted to soaking a plant in the sink before, but this seemed the easiest remedy to my ant problem. A steady line of them has been marching to and from the Croton pot on the windowsill; I'm afraid they set up housekeeping in there! The remedy was to submerge the pot in a sink half full of water (this was soapy from some light dishwashing, all the better as soap I believe injures bugs but not plants), pouring some back onto the soil until it was fully saturated, then leave it there for two hours. This is to make sure any eggs or ant larvae get drowned.

Also had to clean the windowsill with vinegar and bleach to erase the ants' scent trail. It seems to have worked. I kept an eye on it the rest of the day. Some ants came and wandered about aimlessly but none found their way back to the Croton (moved to a different spot on the windowsill) and I kept picking up the wanderers and dropping them onto my sundew plant.