Paddy's ants
Paddy has seen a fair bit of ant activity in the garden lately.
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The videos show two types of serious ant activity in the garden.
Last time it was crazy swarms of bees, now it seems the ants want a slice of the action.
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Paddy says it could be the plague and part of the four horsecats of the apocalypse due some time in 2012!
Paddy's ant piles
The ants have been carrying soil up the plant and dumping it in piles along the stem and leaves
Paddy's bugs
When we cleared the sand off we could see mealybug/aphid like creatures living on the stem.
Paddy's antsy
It’s like the ants have been creating a mini tree-house for the aphids. We’ve seen mealy bugs and aphids before but not in the soil..
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You can see in the video that the ants seem to be digging nests at the base of several plants.
Paddy's fern
Paddy says its a good idea to have something happy in each post and drew our attention to this jurassic looking fern.
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A cucumber plant was also under attack from similar looking aphids with a few ants monitoring them.
Paddy's aphids
One cucumber plant has a tiny resident spider and that seems to have helped it escape attack
Paddy's spider
We pulled up an eggplant the ants were attacking and the roots of the plant were covered in a white mold
Paddy's mold
So Paddy’s doing his best to catch the ants at it and I’ve got the pyrethrum on standby…
Paddy's antsy
