I have heard of this, but am seeing it now on my young cucumber plants. How
devastatingly spectacular--big ants seemingly patrolling the vines up and
down while the sheltered aphids grow and thrive, literally sucking the life
out of my baby cucumbers.

I am currently on the lookout for a praying mantis to set out there, but in
the meantime, what can I do to stop this?
--S.

g'day suzanne,

yep this more common that most would admit to, probably beause they
don't see ants at the time of inspection maybe doesn't mean ants
weren't there at some time?

so you need to target the ants then simply hose the aphids off the
plant using a strong rose type spray not jet from the hose.

might be some hints on our remedies page for moving the ants on?

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 08:54:14 -0600, "Suzanne D." snipped


With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

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

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Suzanne D. wrote:
I have heard of this, but am seeing it now on my young cucumber
plants. How devastatingly spectacular--big ants seemingly patrolling
the vines up and down while the sheltered aphids grow and thrive,
literally sucking the life out of my baby cucumbers.

I am currently on the lookout for a praying mantis to set out there,
but in the meantime, what can I do to stop this?
--S.

You can hose off the aphids, they are not clever/strong enough to climb back
on to the plants but this will probably not get them all.

You can spray with pyrethrum which is a fairly benign contact insecticide
that will get the aphids. Spray by moonlight (or torchlight) if possible.
Not because of the magical properties of moonlight but because the bees will
all be home in bed and the air is often more still at night which reduces
overspray.

Keep a close eye on susceptible plants as aphids can re-breed from a few
individuals back to troublesome numbers in a few days under favourable
conditions.

David

In article , says...


You can spray with pyrethrum which is a fairly benign contact insecticide
that will get the aphids. Spray by moonlight (or torchlight) if possible.
Not because of the magical properties of moonlight but because the bees will
all be home in bed and the air is often more still at night which reduces
overspray.

_Most_ bees will be home in bed.

Bees that get caught away from the hive in the evenings, sleep on the
flowers; expecially when the weather is cool.

From my observation other pollinators including solitary bees will also
sleep on blossoms.

There are times around here when every other flower seems to have a
sleepy bee in it.

And a few mornings ago there was a bee with its head buried in a
marigold. --I watched it for awhile, wondered if it was dead and poked
it. It kept its head buried, swivelled one leg around, sorta waved it,
swivelled the leg back into landing position and stayed where it was.

On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 06:45:21 -0400, phorbin wrote:

In article , says...


You can spray with pyrethrum which is a fairly benign contact insecticide
that will get the aphids. Spray by moonlight (or torchlight) if possible.
Not because of the magical properties of moonlight but because the bees will
all be home in bed and the air is often more still at night which reduces
overspray.

_Most_ bees will be home in bed.

Bees that get caught away from the hive in the evenings, sleep on the
flowers; expecially when the weather is cool.

From my observation other pollinators including solitary bees will also
sleep on blossoms.

There are times around here when every other flower seems to have a
sleepy bee in it.

And a few mornings ago there was a bee with its head buried in a
marigold. --I watched it for awhile, wondered if it was dead and poked
it. It kept its head buried, swivelled one leg around, sorta waved it,
swivelled the leg back into landing position and stayed where it was.

I've found bees sleeping on zinnias many times.