Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: robinahood on May 18, 2015, 18:09
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I have lots of ants and I know they encourage aphids, at the moment I am trying to deter them from my Loganberry. Are they beneficial to the garden in any way? I would feel a bit better about them if so!
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I think they can be beneficial. I was looking over one of my blackberry bushes a few days ago when I saw an ant stop at a small bump on the stem. It started "tickling" it. It was only then that I realized that the "bump" (which was well camoflauged) was actually a bug. Turns out it was a type of scale bug and had I not seen this little ant encouraging it to excrete honeydew, I might have thought nothing of it and ended up losing my blackberry bush. Scale bugs can kill a plant if left unattended.
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I rather suspect that on the whole they are beneficial - as LotuSeed has implied they will act as a control against other more bothersome insects. I think they can act as pollinators for some plants. They aerate soil and clear up waste. Quite a lot of good in all probability. Can be a PITA with aphids though. ;)
Pip pip,
Balders
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I think they can be beneficial. I was looking over one of my blackberry bushes a few days ago when I saw an ant stop at a small bump on the stem. It started "tickling" it. It was only then that I realized that the "bump" (which was well camoflauged) was actually a bug. Turns out it was a type of scale bug and had I not seen this little ant encouraging it to excrete honeydew, I might have thought nothing of it and ended up losing my blackberry bush. Scale bugs can kill a plant if left unattended.
Isnt this bad though as the honeydew attracts more ants and the cycle continues. I may be very wrong.
I have wooly aphids on the kiwis again this year, tonights job is to jet wash them off. Worked well last year.
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Ants are eating my lettuce >:(
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I think they can be beneficial. I was looking over one of my blackberry bushes a few days ago when I saw an ant stop at a small bump on the stem. It started "tickling" it. It was only then that I realized that the "bump" (which was well camoflauged) was actually a bug. Turns out it was a type of scale bug and had I not seen this little ant encouraging it to excrete honeydew, I might have thought nothing of it and ended up losing my blackberry bush. Scale bugs can kill a plant if left unattended.
Isnt this bad though as the honeydew attracts more ants and the cycle continues. I may be very wrong.
I have wooly aphids on the kiwis again this year, tonights job is to jet wash them off. Worked well last year.
It's good in that it helped me see and identify a pest I might have otherwise overlooked. The scale bugs were extremely well camouflaged.
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Ants help to open my buds on roses and azaleas, but when milking aphids I put jam on the leaves above the aphids and the ants eat the jam and then the aphids. Also planted a melon in the wrong place and the ants ate through the stem..that was my fault.
I don't use poison as there has been a green woodpecker in the area and that eats ants.
Chickens though have eaten the gooseberries!!!
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So they are a mixed blessing, I don't like killing stuff if I can avoid it so I will put up with them and enjoy watching them!
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I've got lots of ants but I've never noticed them causing any damage to my crops. I just leave them alone but watch where I sit!!
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Ants are eating my lettuce >:(
I bet its something else, aphids probably, and then the ants are feeding off their deritus.
Not that my comment helps... :lol:
Pip pip,
Balders
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I loathe ants! :mad: :mad: :mad: :lol:
Especially when they find their way into my kitchen cupboards... :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
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My cat doesn't like them either - she finds a nice sunny patch of soil :) and the ants take exception to her lying on their front door and bite :mad:. Cat's skin itches >:(, she over cleans :( and we are back on the Fuciderm (skin gel) routine again. ::)
She is 17, you think she would have learnt by now. Sigh.
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I've got a lot of yellow ants in my allotment - should they be a worry? If they are meadow ants I haven't been able to find anything about them actually being bad...
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I remember reading somewhere that ants actively encourage blackfly up the stems of Broad Beans so that they can enjoy the secreting sap. I certainly have blackfly on my BB's as of yesterday, where there were only ants last week.
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ants did a fine job in my compost bin last year turned all the rubbish into super fine compost. not seen them this year though.
Dave
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I remember reading somewhere that ants actively encourage blackfly up the stems of Broad Beans so that they can enjoy the secreting sap. I certainly have blackfly on my BB's as of yesterday, where there were only ants last week.
On the other hand ants do not make the blackfly or aphids but they often draw your attention to them ! :)
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They make great pollinators too!