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Have always had ants and cucumbers, but the combination is new. I was just outside, and the underside of a couple of my cucumber leaves are covered with ants. I have not worried about the ants much up to this point, because they don't seem to bite, and they have never seemed to eat anything else, but if they're going to start eating my plants, I'll need some advice please. They're small black ants, kind of fat, if that tells you anything.

Not sure but last I knew ants don't like cucumbers, that they are normally a natural way to repel ants. I am going to assume that they will wont damage your plants.

I sprayed them off with a hose, and a couple hours later, the ants are back on the plant. It really looks like they're eating the leaves. I have some other cucumbers that have really bad leaves, and I figured it was just one of those things, but now I think the ants did it. I have had 5-6 cucumbers that we picked, and they were all fine, but I did have one that had some kind of bore hole in it, so I threw that one away. I don't know if it's related or not. Is it possible for the ants to only like the leaves and not affect the fruit? I'm going to go watch them for a while and see if I can tell if they're really chewing the leaves, but if they are, then what?

Chances are the ants are farming black, green or whitefly that are feeding on the leaves of your cucumbers. Have a good look and see if you can see any. Ants love the honeydew that these pests excrete and protect them from predators. Get rid of the fly and the ants should go. As for the hole I think that would have been some other pest. Ants are really not interested in veges.

It seems like the cucumbers are taking the brunt of my pest problems lately. I keep finding little green worms usually accompanied by a spider web type substance and little cocoons, for lack of a better term. And then the ants will be on the leaves, sometimes the same with the worms, sometimes not. The worms will drop down by a thread if I go after them if that helps identify them. The ants seem to have a nest in my patio wall or something. I can't get to the middle of it. I'm not sure what flies you're referring to. I see flies every now and again, different types. And I have seem little tiny dots that I suspected were eggs of some kind. It's Florida, though, so there's lots of bugs. I can't tell which ones think they live there and which are passing through. The ants are definitely up to no good, though. I have seem 50-100 on a single leaf, covering the whole bottom surface, and that leaf later had a bunch of thin spots all over it as if the ants can only eat the surface. The worms make holes all the way through. Both types kill the leaves. And while neither pest seems good for the leaves, I have never seem them congregate on the actual fruit.

$&*#!@ I just posted a whole load of information and then a site I was on made everything freeze and I lost all I had posted!

Right...Aphids look like this and are farmed by ants.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/problem-solving/aphids/main.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ant_Receives_Honeydew_from_Aphid.jpg
https://www.fourmilab.ch/images/animal_magnetism/fourmis_pucerons.html
Have a good look on the underside of the leaves as they are very tiny.


Here are pictures of the more common vegetable pests.
https://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/images/b-1300-2.jpg
Hopefully from there you can identify the caterpillar.

yep, you were right.. tiny little green specks that blend in with the leaf and ants running around sniffing them... guess I'll go do a search on aphid posts

There's a feed store by my house that sells small tubs of ladybugs for 10 bucks.. given the tiny size of my garden, I probably don't need many.. just wondering, how do you actually "apply" the ladybugs? Just set the tub in the middle of the garden and take the lid off or pick them up and sit them directly on infested leaves or what?

If I have enough aphids for them to munch on, can I be relatively secure that they won't just fly away? I presume they will eventually leave once they run out of aphids or no?

I get pretty creeped out by bugs.. they're not going to all fly up my nose as soon as I take the lid off are they? Can I make them a little house or something to be nice, or would that just be silly? =]

I'm having the exact same problem you described. There are ants on my cucumber plants, mostly on the underside of the leaves. The leaves are getting thin white spots and are very wilted looking. I'm wondering if you tried the lady bugs and if they worked. Or did you find another remedy? Thanks for your help...

I have ants as well on my cucumber plants, but in my case I think they help pollinate cuz they are all up in my flowers... any ideas?

Having the same problem but the ants are on my banana pepper plants....

Jess awhile back was right. Ants really aren't interested in veggies. If they are swarming on veggies, it's because there's something else there that interests them, most likely the "honeydew" secreted by aphids, leafhoppers and some other insects. The leaf damage is probably done by the aphids, not the ants.

If you get rid of the aphids, the ants will go away. I've never bought ladybugs because there always seem to be some around naturally. If you buy them you will be importing an excess population and once the excess population of aphids is taken care of, they will leave until there's some reasonable balance between aphids and ladybugs. The ladybugs will never kill every single aphid, so there will always be some of each around.

In the meantime if you want to get rid of the ants (which will not likely solve the leaf damage problem, it's more a cosmetic thing), here's a list of things ants don't like to keep them away from your plants:

One category is powdery things that clog up their spiracles (breathing pores), if they try to walk over them. This includes chalk line, baby powder, cleanser powder (like comet), bone meal. Make a ring of powder around what you want to keep them away from and they won't cross it.

Another category is strong smelling things, including vinegar, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, peppermint oil or other mints, cloves, garlic. Sprinkle your strong smelling stuff on and around what you want to protect from the ants. (Be careful with the vinegar, don't put it on your plants, it can burn or even kill them, if directly on the plant)

Then there are ways to kill them if you are feeling more aggressive (they defintely don't like that): pouring boiling water down into the ant hill, diatomaceous earth around what you are protecting, boric acid powder, and theoretically, put a dish of raw cream of wheat out. Supposedly they eat it and it swells up inside them and they explode. For all I know this this one is an old wives tale, but it might be interesting to try... exploding ants!

Then people have suggested windex + ivory soap, Shakely's Basic H, and simple green. I'm not sure which category these fall in...

Thanks rainbowgardener. I found golden colored aphid covering the undersides of the leaves. Also, I noticed that a second type of ant is all over the plants now too. Today I sprayed the cucumber plants down with All Seasons Spray Oil. Its an organic pesticide and is suppose to kill aphids. We'll see what happens. Thanks for all the info about killing ants. That will always come in handy.