"Mark. Gooley" wrote in message ...
"J. Del Col" wrote :
"torresd" wrote:
Ants are GOOD for roses. They keep the evil rose eaters away.


I wouldn't say that.

Ants will cultivate and protect aphids on roses in order to harvest
the aphids' sugary wastes. Their nests can also disturb the roots of
roses.

Sadly, yes. I've found that when it rains a lot here, the fire ants move
into the soil of the potted roses. The mounds I'm planting roses in, due
to the same heavy rains of late, are also gettting colonized. The ants do
loosen the soil nicely, and they are mostly insectivorous -- but even fire
ants have been known to "farm" aphids. Mind you, I haven't seen any
obvious aphid damage on my roses, but...

The acephate-and-something powder, the white stuff that smells like
vinegar only worse, seems to work pretty well and doesn't seem to
kill other insects.


Fire ants? Yikes! That's an ant problem from hell.

Good luck.


J. Del Col