Ants climbing all over my blueberry bush

[Flame]

We finally planted the thing this afternoon (been in a pot for weeks now) and it has ants tramping all over it.

Are they going to do bad things???

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

I think ants are good - don't they eat aphids?

[Flame]

OOh ants being good I like

[redadmiral]

Ants 'farm' aphids and will encourage them to breed!

I wouldn't worry too much though. Spray it frequently with water with a little bit of washing up liquid in to get rid of apids.

[BigBadMouse]

No they don't eat aphids - they farm them!

The like the juices aphids secrete so they sort of care for them and harvest the juice .

Flame - not sure why the ants are all over your blueberry. You can try to keep them away by putting some jam on a stick stuck in a pot elsewhere (but relatively near to the blueberry) to attract hem to that. It sometimes works for me when I have ants on my broad beans.

[Flame]

Arse. I liked the eating aphids!

I will do the jam round the back of the bush (or Flameboy'll be eatin it)

[EachPeachPearMum]

sorry Flame- BBM - did you have that baby yet???

[BigBadMouse]

eachpeachpearmum - nope sensible little one is staying put - think he has heard his sisters fighting and decided he's safer inside .

Should be sometime next week according to MW

[EachPeachPearMum]

Hope all goes well! You must be sweltering in this heat though

[BigBadMouse]

I'll post a birth announcement if I get chance but I do love this weather

[CountessDracula]

You could put up a sign saying
"No Ants"

[Danae]

Message withdrawn

[Flame]

if I could find the nest then they would be well and truly boiled - but there seems to be no proper place to get em

Love the sign idea

They are currently going through oodles of jam

[BigBadMouse]

Ooopps...feel responsible for increasing your food bill now . All those extra mouths to feed!

If you get a spare 15 mins (HA!) then you should be able to watch them and see where they take all your jam...thinking about it maybe you could try to set a DC to the task more easily (although it would be a good excuse for you to sit in the garden for a while I guess)

[Flame]

ooh good idea

Amazed at how quickly it went!