In article ,
Raymond RUSSELL wrote:


Much as I admire their amazing organizational talents,
ants are becoming more than serious competitors to us humans
- at least they are in our greenhouse and fruit garden.
Is the planet perhaps one huge ant-nest ?

Yes.

In the greenhouse they farm those little scabby things
on an indoor grapevine (had to rub them off between thumb and finger)
and greenfly on my (now crippled) tomato seedlings.
I`ve watched them doing it.
On apple trees I've watched the little perishers
collecting aphids on the outermost tips of the branches.

No, they don't farm them - they follow them. Ignore the ants as an
irrelevance - if the scale insects and aphids are there, the ants
will follow; and conversely. I use them as a mealybug indicator
in my conservatory :-)

Is there anything I can do (apart from the boiling oil) ?
Is there some odour they can't stand ?
Do they have no natural enemies - apart from me - and ant-eaters
which are a bit rare round here ?

Lots, but they have been around for quite a long time. They do very
little harm (and quite a lot of good) in the garden, and are best
ignored. Use a borax-based poison for nests that start raiding the
kitchen, digging up the patio or otherwise making an excessive
nuisance of themselves, and otherwise live with them.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.