Ants Killing Cabbage and Broccoli
I planted out cabbage and broccoli in early April I believe. It was doing really well up until mid May when we noticed one of the cabbage was wilting a bit. Watering didn't help. It got worse and eventually I went to pull it out and noticed a mound around the stem like a bug had burrowed into the ground there. As I pulled the plant it came right out like nothing. It barely had any roots, just a few 2-3 inch ones coming out. What it did have was ants, lots of little brown ants all over the roots and they came crawling out of where I pulled the cabbage up. So I checked around the base of the other plants and they also have mounds where they go into the ground like ants are living under there. Now two more plants, another cabbage and a broccoli, are dying too. I suspect the ants are chewing through the roots. I don't know if they eat them or the roots are just in their way but it's a big problem as they're all over the garden (actually the whole yard is infested with them, everywhere you look their are huge ant colonies). Is there any way I can kill them without harming the plants or causing the food to be dangerous for us to eat? I've heard borax works well on ants, is it safe to use in the veggie garden?
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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Ants don't typically eat live plants and aphids don't eat roots. It sounds like along with your ants you have some other kind of pest or disease going on. There is something called the cabbage root maggot.
Cabbage root maggots are the larval stage of the cabbage root fly, a little grey fly, smaller and more slender than a house fly. This fly lays eggs at the base of a plant which hatch out to become small, white worms. Wilting leaves that don't respond to watering is a very typical sign of the root maggots. With the roots damaged, the plant can't take up water very well. When you pull the plants, you will probably notice tunnels or holes in the roots.
Once the maggots are in the roots, they are very difficult to get rid of and unfortunately you may just have to pull and destroy all your plants, to keep the maggots from going on to produce the next generation. Growing your cabbages under row cover helps keep the maggot flies away from them.
Having your yard so full of ants sounds unpleasant, even if they are not what is damaging your plants. One easy way to control them is to pour a kettle of boiling water down into each hole/ mound you find. Borax is ok in traps: mix the borax, some sugar and enough water to make a paste. Spread it on plastic lids and placed around the garden; scout ants will eat the mixture and take it back to the colony and the queen. But the borax is herbicidal; it will kill your plants. It can also be toxic to pets that might eat it because of the sweetness. If you have cats, dogs or other animals in your yard, maybe spread your borax paste inside something like a small (opened and cleaned out) tomato paste can, that the ants can get in to, but not larger animals and put the can traps near the ant mounds.
Cabbage root maggots are the larval stage of the cabbage root fly, a little grey fly, smaller and more slender than a house fly. This fly lays eggs at the base of a plant which hatch out to become small, white worms. Wilting leaves that don't respond to watering is a very typical sign of the root maggots. With the roots damaged, the plant can't take up water very well. When you pull the plants, you will probably notice tunnels or holes in the roots.
Once the maggots are in the roots, they are very difficult to get rid of and unfortunately you may just have to pull and destroy all your plants, to keep the maggots from going on to produce the next generation. Growing your cabbages under row cover helps keep the maggot flies away from them.
Having your yard so full of ants sounds unpleasant, even if they are not what is damaging your plants. One easy way to control them is to pour a kettle of boiling water down into each hole/ mound you find. Borax is ok in traps: mix the borax, some sugar and enough water to make a paste. Spread it on plastic lids and placed around the garden; scout ants will eat the mixture and take it back to the colony and the queen. But the borax is herbicidal; it will kill your plants. It can also be toxic to pets that might eat it because of the sweetness. If you have cats, dogs or other animals in your yard, maybe spread your borax paste inside something like a small (opened and cleaned out) tomato paste can, that the ants can get in to, but not larger animals and put the can traps near the ant mounds.
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skiingjeff
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- Location: Western Massachusetts Zone 6a
We had root maggot problems with cauliflower and broccoli one year and have since either used row cover or made 5" disk shapped collars for around the base of the stems. The collars may not work on cabbage but IDK because I've not researched or grown cabbage.
The collars keep the flies from being able to land and plant their eggs in the dirt around the base of your plants. We made them out of some old roofing paper but any stiff cardboard/paper would do as well. You just cut a large enough circle and then cut 1/2 way into the circle and put some additional smaller cuts in the middle so the paper/cardboard will allow the stalk of the plant to come through but not leave any room around the stalk and so the disk lays flat.
Here's a picture
Unfortunately as RBG said, your current plants are probably not going to survive. If you restart any plants be sure to put them in an area away from where these were because the maggots/flies are still in the soil there.
Good luck!
The collars keep the flies from being able to land and plant their eggs in the dirt around the base of your plants. We made them out of some old roofing paper but any stiff cardboard/paper would do as well. You just cut a large enough circle and then cut 1/2 way into the circle and put some additional smaller cuts in the middle so the paper/cardboard will allow the stalk of the plant to come through but not leave any room around the stalk and so the disk lays flat.
Here's a picture
Good luck!
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meshmouse
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:14 am
- Location: Long Island NY USA zone7a
I also have used the borax and sugar traps with great success, but I did it a little differently. I mix the borax one part to four parts sugar. I take a flat-ish small plastic container with a lid and drill holes around the bottom about 1/2 inch up. I put about ts of borax/sugar in bottom, close lid, place rock on top to secure it and just observe.
I've never made a paste, but on occassion, enough moisture has gotten in to make a syrup inside. Doesn't matter, ants still gobble it up.
When I was first researching this, I was told that borax in large enough quantities could make a small animal or child sick, but it wouldn't kill them, and they would have to eat the stuff by the spoonful at that. Please don't rely on my word about it but perhaps give a call to the poison center help. Each trap has maybe 1/8 ts borax in it. Not a lot. My dogs never have never bothered with it.
As to killing or injuring plants, I have no idea, but I wouldn't doubt rainbowgardener.
I've never made a paste, but on occassion, enough moisture has gotten in to make a syrup inside. Doesn't matter, ants still gobble it up.
When I was first researching this, I was told that borax in large enough quantities could make a small animal or child sick, but it wouldn't kill them, and they would have to eat the stuff by the spoonful at that. Please don't rely on my word about it but perhaps give a call to the poison center help. Each trap has maybe 1/8 ts borax in it. Not a lot. My dogs never have never bothered with it.
As to killing or injuring plants, I have no idea, but I wouldn't doubt rainbowgardener.