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Ants

Ants

Family Formicidae

Insectalso: Garden ants

Among the most common insects in any garden, ants are usually harmless or even helpful, but they turn into a pest when they farm sap-sucking insects for honeydew. By protecting and spreading aphids, scale, whiteflies, and mealybugs from their predators, ants make those pests, and the sooty mold that follows, far worse.

🔎 How to spot it

Ants are familiar small insects with elbowed antennae and a narrow, pinched waist, traveling in trails. The pest connection is the giveaway: look for ants streaming up plant stems and trunks to tend colonies of aphids, soft scale, whiteflies, or mealybugs, often with sticky honeydew and black sooty mold nearby. Some ants also nest in beds and pots, loosening soil around roots, and a few bite or sting.

🥀 Damage it causes

Ants rarely damage plants directly. The harm is indirect: by guarding honeydew-producing insects from the lady beetles, lacewings, and wasps that would eat them, ants let aphid, scale, and whitefly populations explode, worsening that feeding damage and the sooty mold it causes. Nesting ants can also disturb roots and seedlings and farm pests onto new plants.

🛡️ Prevent it

Manage the honeydew makers, since ants follow the aphids and scale, not the plant itself. Encourage natural enemies and keep those sap-suckers in check so ants have less to farm. Keep mulch and debris from piling against stems where ants nest, and remove other attractions like spilled pet food and sugary trash near the garden.

🧯 If it is already here

Wrap a sticky band around tree trunks and woody stems to stop ants from climbing to the colonies they tend, which lets predators knock the aphids and scale back down. Use ant baits along trails to control the nest, the most effective chemical approach, rather than spraying foliage. Once the ants are gone, beneficial insects usually clean up the honeydew producers on their own.

💡 Good to know

Ants are best thought of as a symptom and an accomplice rather than the main pest: a trail of ants up a plant almost always means aphids, scale, or whiteflies are feeding above. Because the ants protect those pests from their predators, getting the ants off the plant is often the key that lets nature control the real culprits.

🌱 Plants it attacks

714 plants in the library can be attacked by this pest

Acorn SquashAdirondack Blue PotatoAdzuki BeanAfrican Blue BasilAfrican MarigoldAgapanthusAgeratumAgrimonyAji Amarillo Pepper🍓Albion StrawberryAlice du Pont Mandevilla🥔All Blue PotatoAlmondAloe VeraAmbrosia CornAmerican BasswoodAmerican Beauty Dragon FruitAmerican BeechAmerican PersimmonAmethyst Falls WisteriaAmish Paste TomatoAnaheim PepperAnemoneAngelique TulipAngeloniaAniseAnise HyssopAnjou PearAnnabelle Smooth HydrangeaAnnual VincaApeldoorn TulipApple MintApril Tryst CamelliaArbequina OliveArizona Sun Blanket FlowerArkin CarambolaArmenian CucumberAroniaArp RosemaryArugulaAshwagandhaAsian PearAsian PersimmonAtemoyaAtlantic Giant Pumpkin🥕Atomic Red CarrotAucubaAugust Beauty GardeniaAunt Molly's Ground CherryAutumn Joy SedumAvocadoBachelor's ButtonBalsam FirBalsam PoplarBanana PepperBarbara Karst BougainvilleaBartlett PearBay LaurelBayberryBeach PlumBeauregard Sweet PotatoBecky Shasta DaisyBee Balm🍅Beefmaster TomatoBenarys Giant ZinniaBengal Tiger CannaBetter Boy Tomato🥬Bibb Lettuce🍅Big Beef TomatoBig Boy TomatoBilberryBing CherryBitter MelonBlack BeanBlack Beauty EggplantBlack Beauty ZucchiniBlack Beluga LentilBlack Cherry TomatoBlack CrowberryBlack Currant🍉Black Diamond WatermelonBlack Kabouli ChickpeaBlack Krim TomatoBlack RaspberryBlack Sapote🥬Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce🥕Black Spanish RadishBlack Tartarian CherryBlack WalnutBlack-Eyed PeaBlack-eyed Susan VineBlood OrangeBloomsdale SpinachBlue Bird DelphiniumBlue Bird Rose of SharonBlue FescueBlue Lake Green BeanBluecrop BlueberryBocking 14 ComfreyBok Choy

For educational and informational purposes only. Pest control advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a pest positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.