Farming

Well spotted.

We have ants in the garden but I've never seen this.
 
woof woof said:
Well spotted.

We have ants in the garden but I've never seen this.
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Cheers Alan, look in the underside of leaf stalks, "climbers" are a good source.
But if you are anything like me you will need your good specs on :D

But in this instance they are a PITA on one of my cherry apple bonsai trees.
 
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Cobra said:
Cheers Alan, look in the underside of leaf stalks, "climbers" are a good source.
But if you are anything like me you will need your good specs on :D

But in this instance they are a PITA on one of my cherry apple bonsai trees.
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I don't know if all ants farm aphids. I'll take a closer look but to date I've not seen this.
 
woof woof said:
I don't know if all ants farm aphids
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Honestly? I don't know either. I do know that a lot will chew the roots and kill (mostly) delicate or succulent plants.

woof woof said:
I'll take a closer look but to date I've not seen this.
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If you see ants climbing up any of your plants, there is a good chance there are Aphids.
Just follow the trail
 
Excellent I haven’t seen it before either well spotted
 
LCPete said:
Excellent I haven’t seen it before either well spotted
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If you look closely at the ants mouth you can just make out its "Milking" the Aphid.
In case anyone doesn't know, its the sugary secretions the Ants are after.

Cheers Pete :)
 
Cobra said:
If you look closely at the ants mouth you can just make out its "Milking" the Aphid.
In case anyone doesn't know, its the sugary secretions the Ants are after.

Cheers Pete :)
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Oh yes I see what you mean
 
"Eat s***!"

Good spot and capture, Chris.

Gav-canon said:
Nice find :) I agree they can be a PITA
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The farmers on our cherry tree aren't as much of a problem as their livestock. Even they are less of a real problem than the bleeding blackbirds (among others!) who nick most of the fruit. The aphids (blackfly rather than green in our case) just make a lot of the leaves on this year's growth curl up and look unsightly.
 
woof woof said:
I don't know if all ants farm aphids. I'll take a closer look but to date I've not seen this.
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Not all do Army Ants and Leaft cutters don't but in the UK a lot do. Some like Lasius Flavus though only farm underground aphids so photographing them would be very tricky.
 
This is always a problem on my chilli plants and apple trees.
 
davholla said:
Some like Lasius Flavus though only farm underground aphids so photographing them would be very tricky.
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Thanks for that David (y)
Everyday's a school day as they say.
(I'd not even thought about underground aphids, or the fact that they actually existed)

edited to add, a light bulb moment, having done a quick google I always assumed that it was the ants chewing the roots of some of my plants,
inhibiting their growth, as I only ever saw ants.
 
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