Aphid explosion

[efisakov]

First time I got them on this property (since we moved here) on dahlias. I saw ants and aphids and was thinking that ants would kill aphids. Very naive of me. That year my dahlias buds dried out and did not bloom at all. Now I dust them early with Diatomaceous earth. It works.

Getting rid of ants farming aphids is not easy. Every year they pop up in different locations. But dahlias are earliest favorite spot for them.