Ants

Ants, Beans and Scales

| Flower Roberts

Must I do battle every single day here?

I paused to admire my new little green coffee beans on my coffee tree.

There seemed to be quite a bit of action around the beans.

Ants were busily running back and forth along the branches.

They were tending to their flock of scales. A nasty insect that sucks sap.

There was a busy little food chain with my beans at the bottom.

For the next hour, I sat in the rain with skewers and Q-tips.

Interfering with nature.  I killed hundreds of scales.  The ants skittered away.

The removal was followed by spritzes of warm Dawn water.

First my buds and now my beans!

My bunnies better not be next!

Oooh Wee Baby!

Warrior Flower

A Plant that Feeds Ants

| Flower Roberts

I was thrilled to discover my first Red Passion flower bloom last week.

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When I checked on it the second day, it had all ready closed.

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Upon closer examination, I discovered it was covered with tiny ants.

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These ants were busily scurrying between tiny green discs on the outer edges of the sepals/calyx.

I at first thought these green discs to be aphids,

but they were too uniformily spaced.

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I had to do a little research to discover their identity.

They are tiny nectaries, produced by the plant to feed the ants.

These ants in residence provide services in return.

They guard the plants against aphids and caterpillars.

If you have been following the FLOWER, you have seen my caterpillar photos,

many of which were taken on my wild Passion flower vines.

I have not seen one caterpillar on this Red Passion flower vine.

So the Red Passion plant has pet ants.

Who knew?

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FLOWER

Ants on my Plants

| Flower Roberts

Ants are not bad.

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If they are on your blooms,

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they are just sipping some nectar.

If they are running up and down the stems and leaves,

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Scale on Key lime tree.

you probably have aphids or scale,

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Aphids on Butterfly weed.

which the ants milk like cows.

Ants on blooms are okay.

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Ants all over your plant probably means there is a problem.

The ants are a result, not a cause.

Follow the Ants.