Ants all over my blackberry plant - any advice?

[fillybuster]

I've got a new thornless blackberry growing in a pot and now the new shoots are covered with ants. I assume they are 'farming' greenfly but its hard to squish the greenfly because they are in-between the flower heads. Is there anything I can do which doesn't involve pesticides? Thanks!

Bump...please help!

You could try a solution of washing-up liquid and apply with a plant spray type bottle, same sort of dilution as you would use for dishes. We used to spray aphids on roses with this, as they tend not to like it, I think it's meant to block their breathing pores. I think there's a problem with aphids this year, as I haven't seen many ladybirds. I can't promise this will solve the problem entirely, but will give the new shoots a chance to harden up, when they'll be less atractive to aphids.

Thanks, will break out the ecover and give it a go. Don't know why I forgot all about doing that...used to do it to my tomatoes all the time (until I stopped because additional dampness was making the fungal problem even worse last summer...)...must be nappy brain!