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ants eating peppers?

T

thismembername

noticed today that one pepper had been eaten some, and it was full of ants.
 
im not sure if the ants caused all of this damage. I would have to assume that someone else took a nibble, and the ants picked up where it left off.
 
should i take any proactive measures against ants?
 
i will be putting up some garden fencing this week, im pretty sure this pepper was originally eaten from either a bunny or bird.
 
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Ants aren't interested in pepper pods. However, they'll farm aphids on pepper plants, so it's ideal to get rid of them. You can use diatomaceous earth on the ants - it has to be sprinkled on them, but you can make a circle around the plant and they won't cross over it, either. But note, once it gets wet, it loses its effectivity, so must be reapplied. 
 
Ants have been crazy here and i have found that a solution of borax, sugar, and water spread around the edges of my garden has almost taken care of them, not an expert but hey its worth a shot :)
 
I boil water and dump it down their holes.  They don't like that.
 
Oh!  I forgot to say it gets rid of them.
 
From all I have read ants are really not a problem other than the fact that they harvest aphids at times. Keep the soil moist all the time and they won't colonize like they do in dry ground.
I am talking about the regular sized black ants here not the big army ants or red ants you all have in some states. Not sure what damage they may do.
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
From all I have read ants are really not a problem other than the fact that they harvest aphids at times. Keep the soil moist all the time and they won't colonize like they do in dry ground.
I am talking about the regular sized black ants here not the big army ants or red ants you all have in some states. Not sure what damage they may do.
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Not so sure about that, I had a complete colony attempt to move into a large cooler today I drained last night that was still all wet inside. I kept seeing ants walk by the smoker and then all the sudden every other one had an egg sack. The other 2 areas I removed them from today were also always moist...these are the regular black ants. 
 
I had some of the look like not a problem kind take out one of my orange trees.  Got in under the bark and destroyed the cambium layer all around at the bottom.
 
Them black ants love my strawberries, had to DE them recently.  I don't know what in ground damage they do, but they took over the dirt in 2 or 3 of my leftover buckets this winter.  Not sure about damp dirt but fully flooded muddy buckets sure do discourage the hell out of them.
 
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