CassieCakes
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Eggplant Pests

Eggplant pests 1
Eggplant pests 1
Hey guys can anyone help me identify what is growing on my eggplant? It's overrun by ants, could it be an ants nest?
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Eggplant pests flash
Eggplant pests flash
Eggplant plants 2
Eggplant plants 2

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

More like the scale insects they are tending. Put out outdoor terro ant bait so the workers will take it back to the nest to kill the queen. To get rid of the scale there are a few options.

If you can, cut back the most infested parts of the eggplant. Don't worry, it will take time but it comes back. Now, that you have a smaller plant it will be easier to deal with the rest. Use a strong jet of water and blast the ants ans scale off. I use a brush, I have a toothbrush for the small tight areas and a tile brush for the stems, I mix up a bucket of dawn 1 tablepoon per gallon of water and I have a bottle of alcohol outfitted with a sprayer. The sprayer from any spray bottle will fit right onto the alcohol bottle. Make sure you thouroughly clean out what was in the sprayer first. I spray alcohol all over the plant stems and under the leaves as well. I use the brushes dipped in the soap solution to scrub off the scale from the stems. I use a sponge dipped in the soap to wipe the leaves and also to rub off any scales or aphids on the leaves usually near the veins and the midrib of the leaves. Sometimes a cotton swab works better to rub off the scale on a leaf. Hose off the plant with water again and repeat the scrub to get whatever you may have missed. Spray the plant all over with alcohol, but make sure you are doing this early in the morning. Alcohol can burn the leaf if it is applied during the heat of the day. If this plant is in a pot, soak the pot in a bucket of water for about 10 minutes. Apply tanglefoot to all around the base of the steims going up about 3 inches. Give the plant about 5 days to rest and recover, check again for the scales. If you don't see many try repotting the plant, in case the ants are nesting in the pot. The bait will work but it takes time for the ants to take the poison and feed enough of it to the queen to kill her. Healthy plants are poor targets make sure you have the right sized pot and the plant is fed and watered as needed. Inspect every 5 days or so and use the alcohol, soap and brushes or swab as needed to rub off the pests. Scale even when they are dead will remain on the plant so I rub them off. It is easier to tell if they are increasing that way.

I have tried boiling water and malathion on ant hills, but if the queen isn't killed, the ants just move the nest a few feet away and start over. Baiting takes a while, but in the long run, the only ant you really have to kill is the queen.

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applestar
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Yep. I see scales in this photo -- they are the brownish waxy oval bumps.
Image
I puzzled over what the grey cottony looking things are, but I think they might be mold growing on the honeydew excreted by the scales. This sweet substance is what the ants are after.

CassieCakes
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Wow! Thank you both so much for your responses! Honestly, I had no idea. Thank you for your direction, I will give these ideas a go.

pepperhead212
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And something that I found useful in a similar case, in which ants were farming aphids, was to brush tanglefoot on the lower sections of the stalks of the plants. This keeps the ants off, but you still have the scale to get rid of.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I am surprised that a lot of people don't know about tanglefoot. The biggest problem here sometimes is finding it. It is not readily available. That is why I usually go with the vaseline and boric acid. The boric acid used to be sold in pharmacies as eye wash but now more likely to be found in the pest aisle under the name roach proof. Tanglefoot is a bit messy to use, they both are so I would recommend gloves and popsicle sticks to spread the tanglefoot.
https://eartheasy.com/tree-care-kit

pepperhead212
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I definitely use gloves when applying tanglefoot! And the thing that I use for applying this is a glue brush - something that I buy in large numbers for my workshop, but I keep a bunch of them in my garden supplies, as well, for this, and other uses.

Tucson
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I have had hundreds of ants on my eggplant leaves this summer. I thought of wrapping tape, sticky side out, around the stem. Then, remembered my Tanglefoot that I'd bought for my tangerine tree years ago. I looked online for tips, since you must not put it directly on trunks or plant stems, and found this forum. Anyway, I wrapped some plastic wrap around the stem, took a piece of twig, swirled it in the sticky goop, and smeared it on the wrap. This after I knocked the ants off the leaves. They won't cross it! I've used boric acid mixed with powdered sugar. Also, some people swear cinnamon keeps them away, and I sprinkled that to no avail (they walk right through it). But this seems to do it! I would just say don't put it directly on the plants or tree trunks!

pepperhead212
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Welcome to the forum!
Check your eggplants for aphids, too. Where there are as many ants as you describe, they are usually farming aphids, on the undersides of the leaves.



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