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 Post subject: ants & aphids
PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 3:27 pm 
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Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2003 8:38 am
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Location: Flower Mound, TX
Well I guess my new pasionflower vine has ants farming aphids...if I've got the concept right. Anyhoo, the ants are on the vine and seem to be going inside the buds.

I inquired about rent payment but the ants won't pony up so I've got to kick them out. Is my diagnosis right (about the aphids)? What's good to use?

I've repeatedly hosed off the vine but that's not helping. It's forming buds like crazy & I'd like to attack very soon.

Thanks in advance.

Linda J


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 3:40 pm 
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Location: Dallas,TEXAS
Release ladybugs. Be sure to follow the directions on the package.

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The Laws of Ecology:
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 6:48 pm 
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Location: Azle,TX
:D I live in the country on 8 acres and have managed to get rid of most of the fire ants. Now I have either dark red of black ants all over the place, no mounds. They are crawlng up my hibiscus and sunflowers. The
Fire ant bait does not kill them.

Is this the same kind of ants you have? Maybe someone knows what kind they are.

Yellow Rose


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:26 am 
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There are literally thousands of types of ants. If they are crawling up your sunflowers, they are doing the same thing, most likely, that they were doing in the post by lj. Farming aphids. They go after the honeydew aphids leave behind. The aphids are a secondary problem. The plant is in stress. You need to feed the soil it is in. The basic organic program will head you in the right direction. http://dd.spiralfx.com/pics/documents/bop.doc
Aphids may be blasted off with a strong stream of water. It kills them, leaving their jaws in the plant while their body is ripped away.

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Nadine Bielling
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The Laws of Ecology:
"All things are interconnected. Everything goes somewhere. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Nature bats last." --Ernest Callenbach


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 3:58 pm 
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Here are a couple things to try. First mix up a batch of molasses/seaweed water and spray the plants. If the ants are farming the aphids, maybe the sugar in the molasses will be more attractive to them and they will stop farming.

Second thing to try is a home made bait. Mix a teaspoon of molasses with a teaspoon of sugar along with a quarter teaspoon of baking yeast. Mix that up and spread a little on some cardboard. Then put the cardboard in the ant's trail. In a day or two, the ants should start farming the cardboard. Something about the yeast eventually kills the ants. Probably there is a secret ant disease we don't know about. Or maybe the yeast turns their sugar stash to Jack Daniels and the ants end up partying to death. :D


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