In article ,
"Jeff Layman" writes:
|
| Yup. And I suggest learning to love ants - they do more good than
| harm in the garden, generally.
|
| I tend to agree, but they can be a nuisance when they start farming aphids,
| and protect them from predators.

It's rarely a significant factor, and never a dominating one. I used
to have lots of ants, but the recent sodden winters have reduced the
number of nests by a factor of ten or more. There has been no change
in the number and severity of aphid infestations - in fact, they have
got worse :-( And there is no correlation in my garden between aphid
problems on plants visited by ants and ones not so visited. Even the
research that showed a correlation didn't show a dominant one.

But I agree that it is a nuisance when it happens.

| And they can be quite destructive when they decide to nest in pots which
| contain sandy soil for plants which need good drainage. Unfortunately, they
| tend to increase the drainage rather a lot by removing most of the sand! So
| much so that the first you know of it is when the leaves look decidedly
| parched, or the pot falls over because it has become top heavy.

It can happen if you let it go too far, but the first sign is usually
a lot of sand around the pot! I have had several such pots with ants
in, and it made little difference to the plants - but I annoyed the
ants by soaking the pots a few times, and they moved.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.