TIL some species of ants farm aphids like we do cows
TIL some species of ants farm aphids like we do cows
Several species of ants have a special symbiotic relationship with aphids- they farm them! Aphids feed primarily on the sap from plants and secrete a liquid called honeydew. This secretion is very sugar-rich, and quite favoured by ants as a food source. As a result, a system has been hashed out by t...
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Dealing with this is so annoying. Not because it’s difficult to handle, though it is, but because I have to exterminate multiple Argentine ant colonies in rapid succession despite loving ants. Please just let me garden in peace, ants. :(
Ugh after having them come into my house once... I feel you. I love you, little ant bros, just not in my house!
Could you give them something that doesn’t harm the plants, that might lure them where they won’t bother you, and that won’t make the problem worse in a different way?
Maybe they’d like something you normally throw away in relatively small quantities that won’t attract something worse or poison anything?
e: disclaimer: IANAG. I am terrible with plants.
Argentine ants are altogether too numerous to meaningfully distract or redirect for long. If there’s a new ____ source, they’ll find a way to dive in and then produce a sister colony like 40 feet away. My options amount to either spreading poison, thereby killing a non-negligible sum of rabbits and neighborhood dogs, or killing the ants. I can always grow poisonous or undesirable veggies, but I can only take so many years of mustard, parsley, garlic, and tomatoes.