The least toxic (and most amusing) way I get rid of ants is to take a trowelfull from one nest and put it on a rival nest. Just keep doing it till they've killed each other off. Ant war of attrition. Beautiful.

I cannot find any nests, that is the problem, I think my whole raised bed is a nest. LOL!! I have aphids crazy too, is that why I have ants or the other way around?

Ants feed off the honedew that the aphids excrete. Use insecticidal soap (get the concentrate or make your own)every couple of days. I have never found an ant trap that works on the little black ants, so I spary themn with the soap and focus on removing their food source - the aphid waste products.

reba - that was funny, I love feeding my tomato hornworms to the fire ants in the yard. It is deeply gratifying, as well. Anyway - socal, just recently - did I discover that the ants were the reason I had so many aphids on my okra plants. I think it was in one of your threads, where DIGDIRT or somebody mentioned it. Anyway, I put the big S to the okra, and things got alot better. One thing that I did learn about ants along time ago - if ants are coming into your home, just figure out where their trail is coming from - and put something out there like a cookie. They will stop in their tracks, right at the cookie. I used to buy the cheap ones in the large packs, and could basically feed them for a month on about $2. Maybe this will help, just locate something like this several feet away from the bed, that they can eat.

they are infested with ants and now I am finding bugs on everything, are my ants making other bugs come?

There is no correlation between the existence of ants in the garden and the presence of other "bugs" so let's not jump to any conclusions, ok? ;)

Many new gardeners over-react to the presence of bugs in the garden because they don't understand the role that most insects play in making a successful garden. Bottom line - there is no such thing as a bug-free garden because without insects you can't have a productive garden. So it is important to first identify the bug, then determine if it is a pest or a beneficial, and only then determine what sort of treatment, if any, is needed.

Ants, unless they are fireants, are garden neutrals, even beneficials in many ways, as they do pollinate some vegetables. While it is true that ants will feed off the honeydew of aphids, the aphids come all on their own - usually in response to the use of excessive nitrogen in the plants. So it is the gardener that brings them, not the ants. ;)

All other garden pests have their own cycles of egg hatch and feeding that is totally unrelated to the presence of ants. So exactly what sort of "bugs" are you seeing?

but nothing is going to be there for harvest at this rate

Why? What specific sort of damage to the plants are you seeing?

Dave

I'm a fan of the borax/powdered-sugar/water "paste" mixture.

Unscientific formula, but a bit of borax, a bit of powdered sugar, a small amount of water to mix with it to get it into a paste...put it on small pieces of cardboard and set it out.

Too much borax and the ants won't take it. Too much sugar at the "paste" turns rock solid too quickly. Too much water and it won't stay where you put it.

Also, you don't need a lot. I figure my $2 box of Borax will last me a lifetime...or until the box itself falls apart.

Basically the ants collect it, share it with others, and through the MAGIC OF SCIENCE!!! (aka, i don't exactly recall the biological mechanism) the ants die back severely.

I am seeing a lot of ants of course, some spiders, a ton of aphids, a few squash bugs, one lonely ladybug, but the back of my leaves are covered with eggs of some kind, rather a white looking opaque egg substance. Making me nuts.

The backs of the leaves on what plants? Not all pests attack every plant so the type of plant often determines what the pest is. We really need a picture or at least be given specific details, ok?

Meanwhile, "the back of my leaves are covered with eggs of some kind, rather a white looking opaque egg substance" is most likely not eggs but aphids. If so, then they can easily be hosed off the leaves with just a blast of water from the garden hose. Are they doing any damage to the plant? Most likely, no.

If they are some sort of egg then I need to know the color, shape, in clusters or individual eggs, and what plant they are on. They could easily just be lady bugs eggs for example.

Spiders are garden beneficials and do absolutely no harm to the plants. And a "few" squash bugs are no big deal so why not relax a bit. ;) Many people mistake squash bugs for similar good guys too. Either way all you have to do iis take a cup of soapy water and a stick and knock them off into the cup. Kills them.

And your aphids are there becuase you are using too much high nitrogen fertilizers. It draws them like flies!

Dave

You definitely want to spray the backs of the leaves with insecticidal soap. The ants do damage by tunneling around the roots and introducing too much air. You can just scoop ants from one bed to the other, they'll find the nest themselves and kill the queen. Happy hunting!

Thanks Dave will try to relax, I will attach a pic, but I don't think it will do much good, not a great camera. I have used NO fertilizer at all, I mean none. There is compost in my soil, but nothing added. The spots/eggs thing are on my cucumber plants mostly. The second picture shows them better.

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Maybe it's the picture but it doesn't look like a serious infestation. Give it a spray with the hose in the morning, fix yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy your view of the ant wars.

ants take over in socal...my squash containers are nest pretty much...i spray it all down at night ..throw on some coffee grounds and they seam to stay thinned out...you can not get rid of them they just move, as well they do no real damage except if the nest gets to big and the roots take damage ....so far it is all balanced out and the squash keep coming as long as i hand pollinate.

I can't agree that nitrogen is the sole or even main cause of aphids infestations. Many of my natives and xerics that I never fertilize suffer aphid attacks. The 20 or so gaura probably had close to 5000 aphids I fought all June. My butterfly weed draws far more aphids than it does caterpillars.

I can't agree that nitrogen is the sole or even main cause of aphids infestations. Many of my natives and xerics that I never fertilize suffer aphid attacks.

Maybe the California aphids are more desperate or starved or perhaps you have commercial growers nearby with infested fields? But the correlation between the use of high nitrogen fertilizers (including composted manures) and aphid infestations is well researched and documented, especially so in commercial fields.

This does not mean you can't still get aphids, sure you can. But just that the use of excess high nitrogen ferts will insure that you get a bad infestation.

Dave

Aphids are attracted to tender, succulent new growth. Period. Obviously they were around long before fertilizer was anything more than a happy accident. Let's drop it before Dave strokes out. My tomatoes had an infestation on the new growth for about 3 weeks this spring. I crushed a third of them with gloved fingers and left the rest for the swarms of ladybugs they drew. Haven't seen an aphid in 2 months. Don't let the bugs get you down socalgirl, their life cycle is short and the end is sweet.

Actually ants are attracted to aphids. They feed on the honeydew subtance that the ants exude. Ants 'farm' the aphids and even fend off potential attackers.

Your ants aren't destroying your plants--I would check and see what other insects are on the plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ants and Aphids

As other posters have said, the ants themselves do not usually directly harm plants unless their nest is right at the root system of a plant, which can harm it (otherwise their tunneling aerates the soil, which is a good thing). Aphids, however, will harm your plants by sucking the sap out of new foliage and thus stunting plant growth, and they also spread diseases. Ants do farm aphids (spreading them from plant to plant to ensure a good crop to feed on), but if you control the aphids, the ants will go elsewhere.

Organic insecticidal soap is an easy and sure way to kill aphids. Be sure to spray the underside of the leaves as well. Spray until runoff, wait a few days, and spray again, until they die off. You can also squish aphids or try to just knock them off with a strong spray of water, but that's usually a never-ending battle and if you spray water, do it only in the very early morning, so plants have time to dry out before midday.

If you have so many ants that they are a true nuisance, borax and powdered sugar mixed (no water in my case) and left in a large yogurt container tilted on its side will kill ants. This should be a last resort. Try the ant war, aphid control, or food diversion suggested above first (honey in a small open jar works). Diotamaceous earth (spelling?) can help too.

As for the other bugs, I can't see much in the photographs, but could it be that you have powdery mildew rather than white egg sacs? Googling should turn up some P-mildew pictures. For squash bugs, here's a link to a previous discussion (see below). Looks like spraying neem might be an option if things are bad enough to warrant it. Ladybugs and spiders are the gardener's friends. Leave them alone.

Here is a link that might be useful: squash bug discussion

What bothers me about ants in the garden is having ants crawling up my legs as I'm weeding. That's enough reason for me to want to get rid of them when they are in certain areas. If the nests are out of the way I'm fine with them being there.

Question though: if the ants are herding the aphids, are they preventing the beneficials (ladybird beetles, etc) from eating the aphids as well? Do they attack the beneficials to protect the aphids?

Great little conversation to help me diagnose my problem. The ants are nesting right in the roots of the kale, which then wilts and dies. Must be too much air around the roots as suggested above. I did fertilize with high nitrogen recently as my gardens tend to be naturally low. Also used compost from the bin, maybe introducing the ants. I'll go check for aphids now and decide which delightful anticidal approach to follow.