AT A GLANCE
Do ants eat aphids or protect them?
Ants do not eat aphids, but feed on their sweet excrement. They milk and protect the aphids from predators, which is problematic for affected plants can be, since the infestation increases the risk of fungal infections and the plant metabolism slowed down.
Do ants eat aphids?
ants wolf down not aphids, but feed on their excretions. The louse excretes a sticky sweet residue. This is so popular with ants that the ants even specifically milk aphids. However, the leaves of the affected plant stick together with the excretion. When this happens, the plant's natural metabolism slows down. In addition, aphid infestation increases the risk of fungal infections. Even if ants don't plant themselves damage, the infestation is by no means harmless for the plant.
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How do ants behave towards aphids?
ants milking aphids and protection these from predators. To a certain extent, both animals live in a kind of symbiosis. For example, ants repel ladybirds and some lacewings, which otherwise eat pests such as aphids on leaves. When the ants protect the aphids and cultivate them on plants, the infestation spreads more and more. Although the ant itself is a beneficial and not a pest, you should therefore take action against such an ant infestation in an emergency
Plant proceed.How do I keep ants and aphids away from plants?
Remove you the aphids or, for trees, attach a glue ring to the trunk. You can clean smaller plants with alcohol. Otherwise, a solution with the following ingredients has proven itself as a home remedy against aphids:
- tablespoons of soft soap
- some neem oil
- 1 liter of water
First, blast the leaves of the affected plant with a jet of water. This allows you to remove pests located on it to a certain extent. In order to finally get rid of the animals, you should treat the plant several times with a soft soap solution.
Tip
Consider ants beneficial
However, just because the ants encourage aphid infestation, they are not pests. Ants clear up a lot of garden debris and keep the soil in good condition. It is a useful animal that makes an important contribution to maintaining ecological balance. It is therefore best to treat the animals with gentle methods fight.
