Are ants eating the roots of my tomato plants?

I planted three tomato plants in pots and have lost 2 with the third very loose at the roots. Do ants eat the roots under the soil and therefore separate the whole plant above from the roots? Or if not ants, what?

 

Do you know what kind of ant it is ? I have not heard of it before but that doesn`t mean that they won`t eat the roots. I guess some types of ants do that.

 

ants and tomato plants

Hi, Mart,
We have a lot of fire ants here, and they do live in the ground in nests. When I moved the pot, tons of ants were underneath, which led me to my initial question. The pots were on the ground. I have now moved the remaining pot up onto my porch.

 

I have had fire ants in my garden on occassion but they really didn`t seem to hurt anything other than me. I would just sprinkle Sevin dust on the pots soil and on the ground and then set the pot in the middle of it. They will leave shortly after doing that. About a square foot should be enough. I would dust it on the plant too for all the creepy crawlies. It is for use on vegetables.

 

Thanks. Last year, I planted the toms in the ground and all that got them was the worms. That's why I was so surprised to see them chewed off like that right at dirt level. We have rabbits here too, but I don't see how they could have chewed the stems off like that and then leave the rest of the plant with tomatoes and leaves left alone. I am out of Sevin....so off to WalMart!

 

If its at ground level, the problem might be a cutworm. You can wrap tin foil around the main stem from the ground to about three inches up for those. I would still use the Sevin as well.

 

Wow! Good idea. So far my one remaining plant is doing OK on my porch. Getting the Sevin this afternoon. Thanks for your help.

 

Good luck with the tomatoes. If you want additional plants you can pinch off suckers from the one remaining plant and root them in a bit of dirt and enough water to make it soupy. I have six more that I have rooted that way to plant soon.

 

Thanks for your help. I know it was the cutworms. I have never had any experience with them..I lived in California and didn't have that problem. I am just going to see what happens with plant #3....and plant again next spring. So it will probably be the grocery store for me if I want tomatoes.