A new one on me: ants farming aphids below ground.

 

My wife pulled up the Bhringraj(eclipta alba) this morning and we found
one ant clinging to the plant just above the soil and aphids attached to
the roots.

This is a new one on me but once I got thinking about it, it seems
pretty logical that this would be quite common.

Live and learn.

The next thing is to id just what kind of aphid.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phorbin/4998231621/

 

g'day phorbin,

yes this is a common symbiotic relationship which i at least have
tried to tell other gardeners about only to be hit on by those who may
not know or think they know, dunno? no money in it for us. and the
suggested remedy is as cheap as cheap is.

ants aren't different by nature in other parts of the world they are
all about prolificating and eating.

so yes ants not only farm aphids, but also mealy bugs/woolly aphids
and scale, and yes they keep a breeding stock of the above on the
roots of the plant so if the ones on the plant die or get knocked off
the plant in which case they die, then they can bring fresh bugs into
play.

this is why in very many cases i read people go to extraordinary
effort to control aphids only to have them return, and the aphids i am
familiar with don't bring themselves in ants do that job very well.

mealy bugs can of course infest the roots of the plant which then
means time to dump the plant.

aphids can be dislodged by a strong spray of water, and if they come
back then would be a good ime to look for the ants, no need to see
masses of ants a few is all, so may not be in sight working all
through the day.

wrote:


Matthew 25:13 KJV
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither
the day nor the hour wherein the Son
of man cometh"

Mark 13:33 "Take ye heed, watch and pray:
for ye know not when the time is".

len

With peace and brightest of blessings,

"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/

 

@bigpond.com says...


Hi Len,

Ah well, some people think they're smarter than Mother Nature until she
proves them otherwise.

I've known for a very long time about ants' aphid ranching. Since grade
7 IIRC. I thought the parallel with human activity was really cool.

I'm pretty sure I've never seen any explicit mention of aphids being
sheltered underground; that was today's surprise and research project.

Around our place aphids don't usually survive in great numbers above
ground. Our predators deal with enough of them quickly. The last time we
had to hit aphids with a stream of water was four or five years ago when
there was a local ......plague. There was a crust of aphids on plants
all over the city. Even non-gardeners were remarking on it.

I know exactly which ant colony was guarding this herd and it's one of
our nastier varieties of ant (possibly the invasive Euro-import Myrmica
rubra). --We have two colonies of this type in inconvenient places but
they've not been too much trouble thus far and don't seem inclined to
build elsewhere.

I watch these things even when I'm not watching them.

 



They'd be better to encourage wildlife that can do the work for them.

 


Well that was an interesting pic.  Every Spring I get aphids on my roses but
within a week they all disappear.  I have tiny superb little birds who
patrol the garden and get rid of the lot.  This is the boy of the species of
birdie:
http://www.google.com.au/images?hl=en&rlz=1W1HPAA_en&q=superb+blue+wren&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=SW-UTPmPII3-vQOFpemtBA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved  CcQsAQwAA