Michael Berridge wrote:

: Ron wrote in message ...

:It's also a good idea to kill off any ant's nest near the plants for
:ants are the main cause for spreading and protecting blackfly.
:
: Urban myth again. Ants take advantage of the aphids, but I'm not sure
: that blackfly even come into the types they use, by persuading them to
: secrete Honeydew, but that is all, they do not spread them, or defend
: them except that they will attack anything that comes near them, the
: ants I mean, as they would in any other situation.

- http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/...ids000828.html

``Honeydew is the reason that ants are associated with aphids. In fact
many species of ants are so addicted to this sweet drink that they will
protect the aphids from various predators and move them to new plants if
the one they are on starts to wilt. Some ants even go as far to build
small shelters over species that feed near the base of the plant and or
to keeping root-aphids inside their own nests. Lasius fuliginosus
workers carry newly hatched fundatrices from the base of oak trees where
they overwinter as eggs to new growing leaves at the top of the tree as
soon as they are hatched. The common meadow ant Lasius flavus has a
particularly close relationship with the root aphids it uses and even
collects their eggs in the autumn and early winter and stores them in
its nests, then in spring the eggs are moved to suitable chambers so
that plant roots are available for them as soon as they hatch. In effect
these ants treat the aphids as well as they treat their own brood. The
interaction between Aphids and ants has been going for a long time and
some ants are almost dependant on aphids for food while some aphids such
as Protrama spp. are obligate myrmecophiles, and do not excrete
honey-dew unless stimulated to do so by ants. Species of aphids which
have intimate associations with ants, particularly those that live in
their nests are of necessity monoecious.''

- http://www.earthlife.net/insects/aphids.html

``In return, the aphids don’t only win protection from the ants, often
they also gain a warm, safe place to spend the winter. When crops have
been harvested and temperatures drop, some ant species take in aphid
eggs and larvae and host them in leafy nests. In Australia and Africa,
certain ant species even build their aphids shelter during the warm
seasons to protect them from torrential rainfalls.''

- http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/...ids000828.html

``Colonies of aphids are sometimes protected by certain ants. In return
for this protection the ants are allowed to collect the sweet
honeydew. In most cases, the ants protect aphids that have already
established themselves on the plant and these aphids or their eggs and
keep them through the winter in their nests. In spring, the ants
transport these aphids to food plants where they protect them from
enemies and at different times the ants take them to new feeding
sites.''

- http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il...cts/aphid.html
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