Ants? Good or bad?

[Harry Bootlace]

I reckon its White footed house ant, the legs are certainly lighter in colour, they are VERY small, need my loupe to see them

 

no molasses. but did spray with the rosemary/garlic/aloe/silica spray last night.

 

it seems they are all over the soil, below the mulch. and running up the plant to the break/knot.

 

I have cleared out the knot, and taped up, secure, as it was breaking more in the wind, plus i guess ants didnt help.

 

cant see any aphids,. but did see ONE scale on trunk. And a few very small grasshoppers, oh and those plant hoppers.

[Serrated edge]

Photo ?

[Harry Bootlace]

very hard, they are seriously tiny.

have them inside the house too though.

 

ill try again, but my hand is quite shaky, so I find difficult.

 

 

the plant affected is the one in the back, its my healthiest plant

 

[pedro de pacas]

Get the hose on them

If you think their a problem

[Harry Bootlace]

got thunder storms coming tonight or tomorrow morning, prob for a couple of days, so Im holding OFF water, they will be swimming soon (and its 41c today !)

[itchybromusic]

i have had 2 splits this year 

, pic sideways = i dun no 

this one , i had no idea it happened , as you can see it's brown not green like a fresh split would be 

& is still the same , i have not tried to repair her , the plant is in a cage wrapped around a geopot 

 

which makes it easier to leave the way she is , she's outdoor but in flower & gets no rain , i think you can do

more harm than good with some of the items used to repair these splits , i do make sure not to water or put

mulch in the split , keeping it fairly clean 

 

if your quick enough to join back together after a split , the plant will heal the split back together  , don't know 

if i'd trust it to be as strong as it was but it will join back , down side is , you need to tie it back together quite tight

around the split

 

this will restrict the plants growth at the tie points , on the next left & right branches above the split , tie a tight loop between the 2 ,

the split is forced together by the 2 branches being pulled together above that split , this tie can stay , it restricts nothing but does

pull branches closer together 

 

the tight lower tie needs to be removed ASAP , i leave it for as long as poss , trying to check for the lill bit of movement

in the tie that was there when you tied it , the moment that movement stops = stem is growing past the lill slack in the tie ,

get that tie off , now , you will see indents in the stem from the tie , wanna try to minimize that as much as poss 

 

try using pure cotton & keep away from synthetics if the ties going to be on the plant for a while , less chance of bad bugs with natural fibres  

 

[itchybromusic]

could be just dry , they seem to like it dry 

seen it mentioned re compost bins being to dry if ants are living in the bin 

[Harry Bootlace]

ahh thanks, yeah, well thunder storm is still looming, wet few days ahead. 

 

split isnt as bad as that, im sure it will heal AOK.  i find often it helps, well makes them bushier. Had a plant in the bush once, a tree fell down in a storm and smashed a 6 foot sativa, but when I went to check, found a mangled but healthy 2 foot bush where the xmas tree had been

 

 

 

ants were crawling out of this break.

 

 

[itchybromusic]

must be something of interest to them but in general ants don't kill plants , doesn't mean they can't 

just keep an eye on things , have you tried a gentle hole poke with a wooden skewer ,

does the hole go all the way into the center  

[Harry Bootlace]

doesnt seem to go through, I fiddled around to make sure no ants were left inside before I secured it.

 

on a side note, this plant smells very strong, and I ate a leaf, something I always have done, and it was VERY peppery (no I hadnt sprayed with chilli), but the most peppery flavour ive ever had - almost like the smell of those native pepper trees (hmm, we have on Sth west- assume they are over east). Anyway, the other plants dont have this.