Ants on okra

hendi_alex · Wed Jun 22, 2016 11:20 pm

Ants, mostly fire ants, get on my okra and destroy he pods. They also help infest the plants with aphids as they farm them. This year I decided to try an experiment that is working well so far. A piece of duct tape is placed sticky side out around the base of each plant. The ants do not like crossing the barrier and are leaving the protected plants alone.

Lindsaylew82 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 10:08 am

Awesome!!! I've been wondering about tanglefoot....

pepperhead212 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 9:53 pm

I had a severe infestation of black aphids on my okra early on, farmed by ants. I killed everything with some pyrethrin spray - I don't use it, unless there is a severe infestation, like this. But I have problems with this on pepper plants, as well, when under cover, and they can go unnoticed for too long. So I might try tanglefoot on those, as well as the okra. Maybe this will stop those farmers!

Lindsaylew82 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 11:10 pm

pepperhead212, have you tried the tanglefoot on anything else? There's talk elsewhere on here about its use on squash, as well.

pepperhead212 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:05 am

I never used tanglefoot on squash, as the problem that I have is SVB, which flies in.

hendi_alex · Fri Jul 08, 2016 4:34 pm

The duct tape remedy didn't hold up long. I may try either tacky glue or spray starch to see how that works. For now I'm using pyrethrum spray to discourage.

NinaS · Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:26 am

I have had problems with ants eating my garden to pieces. My mom told me to use cornmeal. Ants cannot digest it, therefore it kills them. I garden using raised beds so I just sprinkle a little barrier of cornmeal around the outer edge of the beds. It gets rid of all different types of ants quickly. I reapply after it starts getting washed away and I start seeing ants in my garden again. It is an easy and inexpensive way to control your ant problem.

rainbowgardener · Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:24 am

pepperhead212 wrote:I never used tanglefoot on squash, as the problem that I have is SVB, which flies in.

the idea of the tanglefoot is specifically against the SVB. The SVB moth flies in, lands on the base of the plant stem and lays her eggs there. The eggs hatch out into larvae which burrow into the stem, chew their way around in there, destroying all the circulation channels carrying water and nutrients from the soil to the plant in the process. The tanglefoot spread over the stem base (allegedly, I have not tried it yet) stops all that process of egg laying and larvae burrowing in.

imafan26 · Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:35 am

I use ant baits, terro for sweet ants. I have tropical fire ants but not little fire ant. The greenhouse frogs seem to be keeping them in check for now. Around my problem plants I set outdoor terro and on the trunks of the citrus trees I slather on a layer of vaseline about 8 inches wide all around the trunk and spray boric acid powder on it. and put the terro bait at the base of the tree. It seems to work pretty well. I also use water to blast off the ants and aphids from the young leaf tips. The ants will cross the vaseline but not if it has boric acid on it. I only use enough to stick to the vaseline so I don't have a lot of excess on the ground. I have use this trick on the post where the leafcutter beehive is attached. It keeps the ants from bothering the bees. For grease eating ants I have to use a peanut butter bait, but I haven''t really had problems with grease eating ants.