i have ants on my plants..

[herb weedmen]

anyone seen this before..any help would be great..i dont see any harm right now ..its been real rainy here and they are in the swamps..i have never seen anything like it but had heard ants eat aphids but i also heard they tend to keep aphids alive to feed them to their young..

[/URL][/IMG]theres no damage to the plant as far as i can see..i plan on spraying them with some tobbaco juice from cigs buts boiled in water..may add a little hot sause or dish soap ..what you guys think..


oh i didnt see any aphids on the plants eather..

thanks for any help..


herb weedmen

 

[gramsci.antonio]

they are just looking for a new home since their old one got destroyed by the rains... just wait a while... if they keep being there then start worring about aphids...

 

[Storm Crow]

I'm a former bio major and I can't remember not gardening!

Ants keep aphids like we keep cows. They tend them and collect the sweet secretions that the aphids produce. I would kill them. Tobacco tea is a good choice.

Plug up any hole that they are entering through with white, mint-flavor toothpaste. They CANNOT eat through it! The abrasives hurt their "jaws" the detergent upsets their tummies and they hate mint!

- Granny

 

[BudLove]

Bro - kill those fuckers ASAP.... do yourself a favor - buy some AMDRO pellets and lay them down around your plants. If they dont respond to that then put out a small plate of honey and they will drowned.

But my 1rst vote is Amdro....

Ants are NOT our ladies friends, even though they leave the plants alone.

 

[melty]

I am interested to see what works for you herb weedman. I had ants in my veggie garden a couple of years back. Although they did not harm too much, they devoured my okra. They left the plants alone for the most part, but when ever a flower would open a slew of ants would immediately devour it. Sugar and boric acid seem to be a popular method for dealing with this. Here is a link http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-2-9-1471,00.html.

 

[herb weedmen]

yeah they were gone when i got there this morning but i used the tobbaco juice..strate up ..nothing else..i sprayed the soil all around it to..i also sprayed another that was showing signs of bugs..just FEW LEAVES [oops ]were holes were biten threw them..i think the rain sent them looking for higher ground..i am in the swamps and when the water rises it can over run things fast ...


i'll keep ya's posted if they come back or not.....

thanks for the replys..


herb weedmen

 

[Guest]

I had ants all in and around my garden, I put the ant bait stuff out all around and in my garden and now they are gone I also put out a bag of sevenst dust and sprayed the plants with a all purpose bug poison, I have grown outdoors 12 years I hate fucking bugs. I know we want to be one with nature and all that but I have had bug problems every year until I use poison and I find joy in watching the little bastards die. I never put anything but water after the 1st of September. Good luck with your war. I am in the south east yeah, lots of swamps with snakes & such.

 

[HeadyPete]

Ants also defend aphids from their predators as they farm them.

holes in leaves are more likely caterpillar damage. Ants don't do damage (except for leaf cutter ants.....)

 

[herb weedmen]

yeah great growing down there in those swamps i bet incognitoman..i love growing in the swamps but your right those fucking bugs can really mess shit up in a hurry..i hate to use the poisons to but there are some organic methods that work better then most of the stuff ya buy..i no i can use alot of the same stuff on my tomatos as i use on my weed ..the tobaco spray is one of them also i can add things to it like hot sauce or dish soap to give it the exstra kick in the balls that those little basterds need ..

yeah this spray will work on all kinds of things includding aphids white flys catapillers..i use it on everything..from flowrs to weed and my veggies are always getting invaded because they are up tight against the weeds..and i try and keep a bottle spayer near the garden...


hey pete,i thought i had seen that before ..they farm them ..thats kind of amazing when ya think about it..that little ant has raised the yong of another bug to feed on..or like our relationship to the cow and its milk..thats heavy..

a littl;e blueberry here this morning so if i got a little goofy ..well you no why..haha




later

weedmen

 

[Buddle]

I have VERY large red ant hills all around where I plant.It's an old glacier deposit.They live in colonies of three hills. If I put a plant w/in their area.They will attack it and chew it until its DEAD!!! I almost lost my only giesel(fortunately they gave up after half the plant was gone.She's doing great now.I did lose a nice white that I had been vegging since early March.She was in a 3 gal pot and dead w/in 3 days..

 

[HeadyPete]

herb, although the ants are technically farming and consuming aphid excrement ...