I finally got my peppers in the garden on Thursday. One thing I noticed is a large amount of ants have set up shop in my garden, making a huge deal over my plants. There aren't aphids present, so what's the deal? Should I let them stay or should I declare war? If I should wish to nuke them, what is the best way, seeing as how I am organic and need to remain so for my hot sauce to still be declared organic? Any help would be appreciated. I will post pics of the garden in a few weeks, since I see the plants EXPLODING with new bushy growth!
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- Thread starter Wolfman0709
- Start date
Interesting topic, I couldn't tell you because i don't know but those ants ate 20% of my pea pods i planted not sure about what they do with pepper plants but someone here should know.
millworkman
eXtreme
Keep and eye on them. The aphids could be super tiny still and ants love to "farm" them on your pepper plants. They even supply them with food if your plants aren't supplying enough so that the ants can eat their poo, or honeydew. Place some bait to try and kill the colonies if you want, or wrap some tape around the stem sticky side out to keep them from crawling up.
Excellent advice millworkman. I know that a solution of diswashing liquid and water, sprayed on the plants will also do the trick and I think I read that it won't kill my organic rating, but more research is needed. If I do use some ant traps, is that going to do any damage to any other insects? I would sure hate to do something that will have a cascading effect, potentially harming beneficial insects.
I would take a hot chili, blend it in water, let it sit for a couple hours and then sprya everything down with it.
I have heard of this. What kind of pepper works best? I have jalapenos right now, but can get my hands on habaneros soon. Does this adversely affect the plants at all?