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Ants in the flowers?!

I dont spray plants with insecticides at the first sight of ants in fear of them "possibly" bringing aphids. Also depends on the type of ant as well, most ants do not farm aphids.

See him? Ants are good pollinators too.
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Thanks guys

Since they are in a balcony i took guru's advice
The ants really pollinating!!

No aphids yet, just baby peppers :)
 
Thats the main reason I left the ants on mine in Okinawa.... 8 floors up, not a lot of flying pollinators .. its only when I could see the ant trail along the balcony going to a pot when I would run them off.... didnt want to be moving a pot and look down and see ants all over my hands or have them drop off the pot inside dependng on why and where I was moving them....
 
Mine are attracting ants too, but I've been watching for aphids.

The plants are still growing well and starting to flower like crazy, so I'm leaving them.
 
I have been getting these black ants which have been making holes in my chiles.  I sprinkled some D-Earth around my plants and that got rid of them.  Got rid of the slugs also.
 
I just don't want to spray or do something and also get rid from all the others insects (spiders, earwigs, mantis etc')
Now there is some balance, not to much ants and no aphids

At first i think that ants can damage the plants shortly
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
 That may be so but he is in Israel. ;)
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and guru is in georgia, maybe you should quote his statement too and point out the geographical variance, just a thought.
 
Believe it or not, but ants can be good to have around (in moderation and depending on species). The ants are attracted to, and feed on the nectar just like bees, except they are far less likely to cross pollinate (they aid in self pollination though). I use the ants to show me where the aphids are, then I manually destroy the aphids and let the lacewings, parasitic wasps, orius, and ladybugs handle the ones I miss. Luckily for me though none of the aphid utilizing ants in my area sting! Also as an entomologist I can tell you that it is a common misconception that ants "bring" the aphids onto the plants. Most of the time winged aphids seek out host plants where they "poop out" wingless clones at a ridiculous pace, later to be discovered and utilized by the foraging ants. There are exceptions of course, but MOST of these exceptions involve species of flightless "root aphids" that depend on ants to move them about underground and place them on plant roots.
 
armac said:
and guru is in georgia, maybe you should quote his statement too and point out the geographical variance, just a thought.
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It doesn't matter as the point was he is on another continent and his ants may behave differently.
 
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