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Post by sarah on Jul 12, 2010 10:01:23 GMT
Last night when watering my green beans I noticed a couple of leaves had loads of ants under them and some more crawling up the canes! now this is my first attempt and am chuffed to bits so far at how fast they are growing, but will these pesky ants damage them? (I can't see a nest anywhere close and don't want to use any chemicals) pretty please could someone advise me what to do, and no I won't pick them all off - I hate the little s*ds. xx
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Post by Slowan on Jul 12, 2010 10:46:42 GMT
They'll be after aphids I expect. Look closely under the leaves and I bet you'll see some. They will damage the plants, the ants won't.
If there are some there you can jet them off with a hosepipe.
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Post by sarah on Jul 12, 2010 23:48:06 GMT
Ooer! I picked off one leaf which was covered in little black things but last time I looked there were still ants climbing about the stems (shiver), someone told me to use a diluted washing up liquid solution, but I don't want soapy beans!! xx
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Post by Slowan on Jul 13, 2010 8:03:33 GMT
The black things are aphids - blackfly/greenfly. They secrete a sugary substance that the ants love.
Soapy water is good and won't taste the beans, a hose pipe will blast them off.
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Post by sarah on Jul 13, 2010 23:28:20 GMT
aha thank you slowan, I really hate ants, but I wonder if I may be better letting them much on the aphids rather than come indoors! (she says having just squished one just now - ewwwwww!) xx
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Post by Slowan on Jul 14, 2010 13:34:21 GMT
The ants don't eat the aphids - they 'milk' them for the syrup.
*wonders if she has watched tooo much David Attenborough over the years*
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Post by sarah on Jul 14, 2010 23:04:17 GMT
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! haha you know me so well! (shame I get it all wrong) xx
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