hey dave,

just had a look at least one of the roses i have stuck in pots has
aphids, and you guessed it the pot is infested with ants, when i
actually touched the developing rose bud to have a close look one of
the ants came running to investigate.

what am i going to do hmmmm dunno probably nothing at this time, i am
not a lover of roses, reckon they are not suited to our clime, and
anyway i am a believer in growing not only natives as such but indemic
natives. so anything else outside of that is exotic.

also don't reckon the aphids are going to do that much damage to a
healthy rose plant. probably going to sell them at an upcoming garage
sale anyway and no extra charge for the aphids.

while the ants and aphids are happy on the roses they are leaving my
preffered vege' & other plants alone hey??

f1 might offer to buy them and observe the phenomena??? chuckle
chuckle


With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

"gardenlen" wrote in message
...
hey dave,
just had a look at least one of the roses i have stuck in pots has
aphids, and you guessed it the pot is infested with ants,
What about the other pots - no ants + no aphids?

what am i going to do hmmmm dunno probably nothing at this time, i am
not a lover of roses, reckon they are not suited to our clime, and
anyway i am a believer in growing not only natives as such but indemic
natives. so anything else outside of that is exotic.
fair enough. i dont mind them, i just hate pruning em, and its that time of
the year, urgh. I like them because theyre pretty effortless to grow which
suits me, only annual maintenance (aphids aside), they provide nice flowers
for my frontyard which women have complimented me on *smirk*, and provide
good security at my back fence

also don't reckon the aphids are going to do that much damage to a
healthy rose plant.
They havent caused too much damage but there were so many of the *******s i
thought i better get on top of them early

while the ants and aphids are happy on the roses they are leaving my
preffered vege' & other plants alone hey??
yeah but aphids are seemingly fairly selective about what they eat

Wikipedia has a good page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphids
"Many, but far from all, aphids are monophagous (i.e. feeding only on 1
species of plant). Others, like Myzus persicae feed on hundreds of plant
species across many families."

"Some species of ants "farm" aphids, protecting them on the plant they eat,
and eating the honeydew that the aphids secrete; this is a mutualistic
relationship"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:A...ing_aphids.jpg