Excerpt from 'Controlling Pests' by John Dengate - "Attracting Birds to the Garden"
Just a few food crumbs on the floor can bring hundred of ants into the home. In the garden you would think of them being more welcome. However that is not always true.
'Ants are rarely a problem in the garden- they can even be useful in eating insect pests and attacking termite mounds. However, they can also be garden villains - especially when they are scuttling up and down a plant stem. Even though they look innocent, those ants are up to mischief. They are protecting colonies of bugs which drill tiny holes into your plants to siphon the life-giving sap, and they are also spreading plant diseases. The bugs, in return for protection from their enemies, give the ants a sugary solution. It's a great system for the ants and bugs, but not for the plants, which often have wilted shoots and are stained with black mildew growing on the excess sugary residue.
The solution to this problem is to put the bugs off-limits to the ants by greasing their pathways. After blasting the bugs off with a hose, or alternatively, scrubbing them off with a nail brush, cover a few centimetres of the plant stem with petroleum jelly, lanolin or anything else that ants are unable to climb. Although this process allows some of the bugs to return, without their ant protectors, they mostly end up as dinner for other insects.
Ants in pot plants are easy to remove. You simply sink the pot into a bucket of water or a pond. After half an hour, your problems have swum away! The herbs tansy and peppermint are also reputed to repel ants.'
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