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Hi All, my fava beans are being eaten by black ants , no aphids. the ants themselves seem to be sucking the juice out of the leaves, leaving black spots where they have been nibling.
I thought they normally employed aphids to do the hard work for them but maybe they are skipping the middle man. Anyone seen this before?
Other leaves are full of holes but that looks more like snails , dont think the ants are capable of that.
Any good tips for encouraging the ants to move elsewhere ?
Ants and plants have complex relationships. Some plants produce extra-floral nectarines to feed ants. The ants then protect the plant from other insects.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11829-014-9338-8
Fava beans are one of these species that actively attract ants to them.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2015.1835
So in this case the ants are your friends helping the plant fight off other insects.
Thanks you, that is very interesting
The first year I saw ants crawling all over our peonie buds I was very confused. They're there for exactly the reason you described.
I really like minced garlic in water, most insects, birds, cats hate it.
Mince garlic, add to water, let sit in the sun a few days, it will smell terrible. Filter out the garlic, put in a spray bottle, spray on plants. After harvest, rinse well.
Some people add a few drops of liquid soap to make it cling to the leaves and stems better, I prefer not to.
Depending on the amount of garlic it will cling like glue. Overdid it one time and thought of nuking the whole site. Neighbours would have approved.
Does this work for vine borers? If yes, you just radically changed my outlook on this season.
Maybe the aphids unionized and do to restrictions on labor. The ants decided not to outsource?