"Jen" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
"gardenlen" wrote in message

that is how it has worked for me, aslo i don't think the aphids
last
long without their farmers.

Len that makes no sense. Ants aren't the problem only (according
to
you) a consequence. Aphids are the problem.

If you hose a rose bush with both aphids and ants on it and can
get
enough pressure to blow off the aphids then you would also blow
off
the ants. Aphids have their snout buried in the bark of the rose.
Ants do not have the same sort of grip as the aphids. The only
problem with blowing off the aphids is that they will come back as
they will not all be removed and they breed up fast. Killing the
ants
will not control the aphids.

But the ants help the aphids! If you get rid of the ants at least
they
won't have their helpers and they'll be easier to control. Sounds
logical
to me.

Well think about it a bit more and try reading what Len wrote. He
wrote "i don't think the aphids last long without their farmers".
Aphids will exist quite happily without ants. Mine do till the birds
kick in and start eating the aphids.

You have introduced a new thought over and above what Len said in that
you believe that you will control the aphids "easier" without the
ants.

That may or may not be so. If you don't have birds in your garden or
ladybirds/lacewings etc and you have to rely on chemicals then nuking
the ants before nuking the aphids MAY make it easier to control them,
but that is NOT what Len said.

Len thinks that aphids won't survive without ants. I went through all
my rose books today and not one of them mentions such a situation.
All mention aphids but not one mentions that aphids must be farmed by
ants in order to survive.