The other day I offloaded a bunch of macro pictures I took of the two Meyer's I have inside the house that are blooming again (so beautiful), and noticed something in the macro's I didn't see with the naked eye.....ANTS. They are very small, but there were about 4 or 5 all over a cluster of blooms. Which means they are elsewhere also. Some of the leaves on my Eureka are "sticky", but I haven't noticed any ants on them and I've inspected the plants closely since viewing the picture (closer than I ever have), and I don't see any evidence of ants or damage.

What can I use to safely get rid of them? Any home remedy? I'd rather not use chemicals, if at all possible. View the large size for best look.

Steve, others may comment on the ants as pollinators. When I see ants, I have another pest until proven otherwise. Scale, mealybugs, and aphids are "farmed" by the ants. The usual controls on the "farmed" pest plus Tanglefoot on the trees has worked fairly well for me.

Robert

Thanks Stressbaby. I've inspected the plants, bark and leaves (topside and underneath) and everything looks OK, as far as I can tell...a first-time grower.

There is some leaf dropping, but nothing I'm concerned over. I kind of expected it when bringing them indoors. They're fruiting and becoming ripe and exhibiting healthy growth and putting out new blooms. And I haven't seen the ants since.

I did put some ant bait traps down on the floor around the plants. Could be why I haven't seen any of them lately. Not for sure, could be a coincidence, but I don't know.

We did have an ant problem way before I brought the plants indoors. A lot of swarming and masses of them outside because it's been an EXTREMELY dry summer here (9" below drought conditions) and they're seeking moisture. The first place I noticed them was in the kitchen, which is adjacent to the room where the plants are, so I think they probably migrated to the moisture of the plants in the next room...what was left of them after setting the little bait traps.

Thanks for your input. I'll keep a watch on them closely. So far, so good. They don't seem to be suffering from what I saw on the digital image, thank goodness. They're little pis*-ants (what my father used to call them), and hard to see, which is probably why I didn't notice them until shooting the blooms with a double-macro lens.

Scale are hard to see if you dont know what youre looking for-

i saw a few last winter and smooshed them. theyre almost like little barnacles- mostly flat. mine were grey/green

I think I've got my pretty well covered. I actually went looking over them with a magnifying glass after seeing what I saw in the macro photos. Top and underside of leaves and stem and stalks look fine. I think it was an isolated incident. A least I hope so. I love my Meyer's. Still, I will be keeping my eye on them.

I just got through preserving three 1-pint jars of them. There's a great recipe for preserving them for up to a year on epicurious.com. Just type "Meyer Lemon" in the search field, and it will come up. It's very easy to do. The only advice I have to give, as doing it for the first time, is to make sure you have an uber-sharp knife on hand for cutting the lemons after you blanch them. They're soft and not easy to work with (even as thin-skinned as Meyer's are), and without a super sharp knife...impossible. I used my favorite chef's knife first on one before breaking out the extremely good, and cut-your-finger-off-if-you're-not-careful, cutlery.

Steve

Hi,i have posted this tip before but i will go for it to help you.
Get a plastic saucer to put under your pots(fair bit bigger than needed),get some plastic pot feet. Are you using plastic containers or terracotta?
Smear vaseline around the lip of the plastic saucer and around the underneath of the lip of the plastic container if you are using plastic containers.Raise your pot off the saucers,this is good for air circulation under your pots.I use 3 feet in a triangle shape,you may need 4. put water into all the trays,this also adds humidity from below.
Dont stand your pot in the water as this could cause root rot.
I use terracotta,so trust the vaseline around the saucer.
In this way,the ants have to climb up the tray,over the vaseline(which they
dont like!),swim across the moat!,climb up the pot and cross another film of vaseline to get to your tree!
Before doing this,spray your tree with a mister on firm spray,under leaves as well.To get rid of the aphids,red spider mites or ants running around. Maybe,put some ant baits nearby,ones that the ants take back to the nest to kill the lot.
It works for me and theres ants everywhere here.I have noticed ants like to hide under pots when it rains too,so elevating is good.
I have had no aphids,whitefly,caterpillars or ants on my trees
using this method and misting when i get chance.Ants look after aphids,as
they leave sap for them.Good luck