P Crocker wrote:
> Hello all from Nova Scotia. I'm hoping someone may have some info to
help
> me. I have a huge ant problem in my yard. In our back yard we have no
> grass, a pond surrounded by pea gravel pathways and stone, along with
> concrete pathways with bricks bordering perennial beds. Our yard isn't
> really very big, approx 30 x 30. In recent years we've had huge numbers
of
> ants (I think a lot of people have had) and I've always had aphids in my
> plum tree. This year however I've noticed aphids on my 3 clematises and
on
> a shrub in the front yard. I've never had before or heard of aphids on
> clematises. I'm wondering if the huge number of ants have something to
do
> with my increasing aphid population. My husband says ants "farm"
aphids, I
> think he means they sort of herd them 'cause the ants like the sticky
stuff
> the aphids excrete after sucking the good out of a plant. Anyone know
> anything about this? I use soapy water to combat aphids which does kill
> them, but often the damage is done. I know of nothing that will kill
large
> amounts of ants. I know of the store bought and even home remedies but
they
> are difficult to apply to an entire yard.
>
> Any suggestions?
Your husband is correct. The ants feed off the aphids sweet excretions
and will go as far as to protect the aphid eggs over the winter.
The soap is the best solution for the aphids, but as long as the ants
are such a problem, so will be the aphids. The best solution for the
ants if you have access to their nests is to simply make the area
unlivable for them. Ants don't like a lot of water. If you continuously
soak the nest, the ants will eventually move on...probably shack up with
the neighbour. You can also rake the top of the nest...keep both up and
they'll get fed up.
There are other alternatives. Half and half sugar/baking soda
combination - the sugar attracts them and they bring it home while the
baking soda causes them to explode. There's also borax - I've never used
it but some suggest it. I've never had much luck with commercial
anti-ant stuff.
You could experiment with ways to keep the ants away from plants as
well. In my case, they went after my green peppers which were in 30L
plastic pails. I relocated some of them and the aphids didn't return
after I removed them. For some of the others, I wrapped some tape sticky
side out around the pail and made sure the leaves didn't hang below the
tape or against something the ants could use as a bridge. It seemed to
help but I didn't get a second chance to experiment...I didn't bother
with green peppers again. This idea might help with the tree, but I'm
not sure what you can do about the shrubs. Others here might have more
suggestions.
:)
--
We must change the way we live,
or the climate will do it for us.
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