By Max Sargent

When growing cannabis, especially outdoors, infestations from pest insects are a real threat—and can become a real problem. This list of potentially problematic insects is very long, as are the ways of dealing with them.


Are Ants a Problem for Cannabis Plants?

Are ants attracted to weed? Do ants eat weed? These are important questions to know the answers to, as you will almost definitely find ants wandering among your cannabis garden, especially if you’re growing outdoors.

The quick answer is that, if you find some ants on or around your cannabis plants, it needn’t be a sign that anything is wrong. Ants exist pretty much everywhere, and will explore large territories in search of food—these territories include your cannabis plants.

Occasionally, though, ants can become problematic for your grow. To answer the two questions above: no, ants are not directly attracted to cannabis, and they won’t usually eat it. So, what’s there to worry about?

Ant on a Cannabis plant

First, ants may build nests around the root systems of your weed plants. As the nests increase in size, this incessant tunnelling can become problematic and might damage the roots. This could then lead to stunted growth and poor production.

Second, ants are avid farmers (or should we say aphid farmers?). They feast on the sugary secretions created by aphids and whiteflies. More than just being opportunists, if ants discover a colony of these creatures living on your plants, then they may protect and harvest them.

By protecting them from predators, such as ladybugs, their numbers will swell. The bad news? Aphids and whiteflies will devour you cannabis plants, and an unchecked infestation can cause serious damage, or even death.

So, as we humans destroy rainforests in order to farm cattle, ants will destroy cannabis plants by farming aphids or whiteflies.

How to Spot an Ant Infestation on Your Cannabis Plants

As mentioned, spotting ants on your grow doesn’t mean you’ve uncovered an infestation. Signs of an infestation might be:

  • A very large number of ants on your plants
  • A nest in the soil around your plants
  • Large numbers of aphids, whiteflies, or mealybugs
  • Pale, drooping plants (however, if not accompanied by other signs, it is unlikely that ants would be the cause of this)

How to Get Rid of Ants on Weed Plants: Natural Solutions

Ant colonies are robust, but there’s only so much they can take until they decide to move to a more hospitable environment. Below, we’ll outline purely natural, organic ways to remove ants from a weed garden.

How to get rid of ants on weed plants

Cinnamon Powder or Ground Coffee

Ants are not fond of cinnamon nor ground coffee. Therefore, these household ingredients are one of the best ways to get rid of ants.

At first, if you see that the ants are just beginning to burrow into the soil, simply dump a spoonful of ground cinnamon or coffee wherever you see a large concentration. In many cases, the pungent aromas of these substances will be enough to deter them.

If this fails, all is not lost! Mix either ground coffee or cinnamon with water (you can use the same amount you’d normally water your plants with), then just evenly water the soil. As the cinnamon or coffee runs down into the soil, it should cause the ants to disperse.

Neem Oil

Neem oil is a precious ally of the organic cannabis grower. This essential oil comes from the neem tree and contains powerful insecticide compounds. It has been used in horticulture, and also in ethnomedicine, for centuries. It can be sprayed directly on plants as an immediate pesticide, or even every week or so as a preventative measure. Neem oil doesn’t harm beneficial animals like ladybugs, bees, and earthworms, and it can also be added to irrigated water to prevent root rot.

A good pesticide mix can be prepared with 1 teaspoon of neem oil and just 5 drops of surfactant per litre of water. A surfactant, such as dish soap, is useful because neem oil does not mix well with water. Using warm water makes the mixing process even easier. Just allow the mix to cool off before applying it on your plants. A sprayer with the finest possible setting will be necessary to mist the tops and bottoms of all the leaves.

Neem oil may not be the best solution if you have ants nesting in the soil, but it is perfect if you notice a colony of ants farming a colony of some other insect directly on your plants. The neem oil will deal with both at once.

How to get rid of ants on weed plants

Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth is a natural and safe pest control method that doesn’t harm plants or growers by releasing toxic chemicals. Instead, diatomaceous earth, also known as diatomite, is a siliceous rock originating from fossilised remains of small beings with a hard shell. It can be easily crumbled into a powder, and has many industrial applications. Diatomite is a beautiful mechanical insecticide, and this is what interests cannabis growers.

The abrasive nature of this “shell powder” scrapes away insects’ exoskeleton as they pass by, while its high porosity absorbs any critters’ vital fluids. Not exactly the environment ants will try to colonise, and not something a parasite can develop a resistance to, as opposed to chemicals. Plus, diatomite improves soil’s moisture retention, holding water, drying slowly, and increasing the oxygenation of the substrate.

Some caution is needed when handling diatomaceous earth because it can irritate the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract.

Beneficial Insects

There are certain insects that eat ants, including wasps, beneficial nematodes, spiders, and (surprisingly) certain species of butterfly. However, ants live in huge numbers, and inviting in beneficial insects won’t be enough to destroy a colony. What’s more, ants actually protect their livestock from other predatory insects.

That being said, having a rich garden that hosts these insects may make it more difficult for ants to set up store in the first place.

Or, perhaps you could invest in a pet anteater?

Preventing Ants From Damaging Cannabis Plants in the Future

In most cases, a well-cared-for cannabis garden is highly unlikely to be disturbed by ants. They will not seek out cannabis plants, but will only be attracted to them via other insects such as aphids, whiteflies, and mealybugs. So, if you can keep your grow clear of these creatures, the chances of ants becoming problematic are very slim.

If you do spot ants becoming a problem, add cinnamon or coffee grounds to the soil and consider spraying your plants with neem oil. Even if you can’t spot anything, this measure might catch the early stages of an infestation, and ward off larger problems.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: