View Single Post
  #13   Report Post  
Old 19-11-2009, 06:45 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Clare Clare is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2009
Posts: 2
Default Organic Remedy for Destroying Ant Nests

On 19 Nov, 01:48, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:

I have more of a problem with them on my plants than anywhere else!
Every year they fill up my cherry tree and harvest from the aphids
that congregate there.


Ants actually farm aphids and do so by spreading them.


Yes I find this aphid farming to be the main problem. The ants will
also attack aphid predators like ladybird larvae so as to protect
their aphids. And don't aphids and other sucking insects spread
infections like black spot on roses?

I once tried a Bob Flowerdew trick to wean the ants off the aphids
(put an old jam jar with watered down jam at the base of the plant in
question. The idea is that the ants choose the jam over the aphid
honeydew, so don't farm the aphids anymore, allowing you to control
the aphids) but it wasn't hugely sucessful (perhaps I didn't persist
enough after the jam jar kept filling up with rain).

Thanks for the tip Uriel13, I'd be quite interested to try this out
next spring if I spot a problem.