The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
nice :-)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

Yes that's an annual treat for my aunt, broad bean tops

"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...
: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
: nice :-)
:
: Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

Steve Harris wrote:

: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
: nice :-)

Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.
--
__________
|im |yler http://timtyler.org/

In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
Steve Harris wrote:

: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
: nice :-)

Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.

Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
nutritious though they are :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
: In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
:Steve Harris wrote:

:: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
:: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
:: nice :-)
:
:Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.

: Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
: nutritious though they are :-)

....and *I* meant the ants are "milking" my broad bean tops! They sit
under the young leaves and eat little black spots in the centres of them.
I presume they're after the juices, but am not really sure what's going on.

No sign of any blackfly here yet ;-)
--
__________
|im |yler http://timtyler.org/

In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
: In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
:Steve Harris wrote:

:: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
:: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
:: nice :-)
:
:Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.

: Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
: nutritious though they are :-)

...and *I* meant the ants are "milking" my broad bean tops! They sit
under the young leaves and eat little black spots in the centres of them.
I presume they're after the juices, but am not really sure what's going on.

No sign of any blackfly here yet ;-)

Get a magnifying glass and look harder! As far as I know, there are
no British ants that do that, and it is almost certain that something
else is causing the black spots and the ants are after the honeydew
that the something else secretes.

I can easily believe that ants would collect the sap where a plant
has already been damaged, too - it is a convenient sourece of water.
But most ants have the wrong sorts of jaws to gnaw holes in leaves.

I can't, of course, say that no species of ant in the UK does it,
and we would need an entymologist to say for sure.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
: In article , Tim Tyler wrote:

:...and *I* meant the ants are "milking" my broad bean tops! They sit
:under the young leaves and eat little black spots in the centres of them.
:I presume they're after the juices, but am not really sure what's going on.
:
:No sign of any blackfly here yet ;-)

: Get a magnifying glass and look harder! As far as I know, there are
: no British ants that do that, and it is almost certain that something
: else is causing the black spots and the ants are after the honeydew
: that the something else secretes.

: I can easily believe that ants would collect the sap where a plant
: has already been damaged, too - it is a convenient sourece of water.
: But most ants have the wrong sorts of jaws to gnaw holes in leaves.

: I can't, of course, say that no species of ant in the UK does it,
: and we would need an entymologist to say for sure.

I can verify that there is no sign of any other insects attacking
the plants.

It's possible that some nocturnal critter is causing the damage -
and they vanish whenever I'm around ;-)

It's also possible that a virus - or some other pathogen is
at work - and the ants are exploiting the damage.

The ants don't make holes in the leaves. There's just black spots on
the undersides on young leaves with ants "licking" the edges of the
spots.

Currently I would guess the ants are wholly responsible - but I don't
really know what's going on. At the moment, I leave them to it.

I know ants do a similar trick of attacking from below when "pollen
stealing" from some plants. I wouldn't put this sort of stunt past them.
--
__________
|im |yler http://timtyler.org/

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
Steve Harris wrote:

: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
: nice :-)

Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.

Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
nutritious though they are :-)

Pity. I was so looking forward to steamed blackfly on toast.

--
Tony
Replace solidi with dots to reply: tony/anson snailything zetnet/co/uk

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi

In article , Anthony E Anson writes:
| The message
| from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
| In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
| Steve Harris wrote:
|
| : The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
| : them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
| : nice :-)
|
| Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.
|
| Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
| nutritious though they are :-)
|
| Pity. I was so looking forward to steamed blackfly on toast.

Don't let that stop you, and please tell us what they taste like!

They will certainly be a very good source of digestible protein.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , says...

In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
: In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
:Steve Harris wrote:

:: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
:: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
:: nice :-)
:
:Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.

: Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
: nutritious though they are :-)

...and *I* meant the ants are "milking" my broad bean tops! They sit
under the young leaves and eat little black spots in the centres of them.
I presume they're after the juices, but am not really sure what's going on.

No sign of any blackfly here yet ;-)

Get a magnifying glass and look harder! As far as I know, there are
no British ants that do that, and it is almost certain that something
else is causing the black spots and the ants are after the honeydew
that the something else secretes.

I can easily believe that ants would collect the sap where a plant
has already been damaged, too - it is a convenient sourece of water.
But most ants have the wrong sorts of jaws to gnaw holes in leaves.

I can't, of course, say that no species of ant in the UK does it,
and we would need an entymologist to say for sure.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Ants certainly drink the sap from my asparagus plants when I snap them off.
Doesn't seem to do any harm.
--
Jonathan Ward
Remove the 'X' when replying

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
Steve Harris wrote:

: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
: nice :-)

Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.

Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
nutritious though they are :-)

Pity. I was so looking forward to steamed blackfly on toast.

--
Tony
Replace solidi with dots to reply: tony/anson snailything zetnet/co/uk

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi

In article , Anthony E Anson writes:
| The message
| from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
| In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
| Steve Harris wrote:
|
| : The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
| : them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
| : nice :-)
|
| Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.
|
| Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
| nutritious though they are :-)
|
| Pity. I was so looking forward to steamed blackfly on toast.

Don't let that stop you, and please tell us what they taste like!

They will certainly be a very good source of digestible protein.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , says...

In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
: In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
:Steve Harris wrote:

:: The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants so I topped
:: them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really are rather
:: nice :-)
:
:Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.

: Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
: nutritious though they are :-)

...and *I* meant the ants are "milking" my broad bean tops! They sit
under the young leaves and eat little black spots in the centres of them.
I presume they're after the juices, but am not really sure what's going on.

No sign of any blackfly here yet ;-)

Get a magnifying glass and look harder! As far as I know, there are
no British ants that do that, and it is almost certain that something
else is causing the black spots and the ants are after the honeydew
that the something else secretes.

I can easily believe that ants would collect the sap where a plant
has already been damaged, too - it is a convenient sourece of water.
But most ants have the wrong sorts of jaws to gnaw holes in leaves.

I can't, of course, say that no species of ant in the UK does it,
and we would need an entymologist to say for sure.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Ants certainly drink the sap from my asparagus plants when I snap them off.
Doesn't seem to do any harm.
--
Jonathan Ward
Remove the 'X' when replying

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article , Anthony E Anson
writes:
| The message
| from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
| In article , Tim Tyler wrote:
| Steve Harris wrote:
|
| : The pods are just starting to form on my "The Sutton" plants
so I topped
| : them to deter blackfly. Then I steamed them and they really
are rather
| : nice :-)
|
| Ants seem to like mine. They are busy "milking" them from underneath.
|
| Er, I don't think that he meant that he steamed the blackfly,
| nutritious though they are :-)
|
| Pity. I was so looking forward to steamed blackfly on toast.

Don't let that stop you, and please tell us what they taste like!

They will certainly be a very good source of digestible protein.

I'll find someone growing asparagus. Better class of blackfly.

--
Tony
Replace solidi with dots to reply: tony/anson snailything zetnet/co/uk

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi