Paddy's ants

Paddy has seen a fair bit of ant activity in the garden lately.

[flashvideo file=http://www.paddysgarden.com/video/PaddysGarden.com-Ants-DSC_0909.MOV-av.flv /]

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.

[flashvideo file=http://www.paddysgarden.com/video/PaddysGarden.com-Ants-DSC_0907.MOV-av.flv /]

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..

[flashvideo file=http://www.paddysgarden.com/video/PaddysGarden.com-Ants-DSC_0903.MOV-av.flv /]

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.

[flashvideo file=http://www.paddysgarden.com/video/PaddysGarden.com-Ants-DSC_0899.MOV-av.flv /]

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