Mealy bugs, ants , and ladybugs

[HiPoha]

I am observing an interesting interaction on my tomato plants and eggplants. I can see that the mealy bugs are crawling up the plants on their own and setting up their little colonies near the buds of the fruit. Then the ants are coming along and acts as guardians to the mealy bugs. Guardians against the many ladybugs and their larvae (mealies are frost coated aphids). The ladybugs still manage to eat some of the mealy bugs but too slowly. Then along comes me. I use my trusty little paint brush to knock off the mealies from the plants. Amen.

[Labradors2]

Interesting!

I had mealy bugs on one tomato plant this year. I removed some of the foliage that looked sick before I discovered what was causing the problem. They seem to have gone now. I noticed tons of them on my neighbour's Hosta plants.

[kurt]

The ants are farming the honeydew(mealybug excrement)for their colonys.There is a term for it but it escapes me at the moment.Control the ants,then the ladybugs will make your maintenance easier.Nothing better than biological/natural control.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by kurt

The ants are farming the honeydew(mealybug excrement)for their colonys.There is a term for it but it escapes me at the moment.Control the ants,then the ladybugs will make your maintenance easier.Nothing better than biological/natural control.

Exactly! Follow the ant trail! Then use DE on the ants!

[nolabelle]

Originally Posted by kurt

The ants are farming the honeydew(mealybug excrement)for their colonys.There is a term for it but it escapes me at the moment.Control the ants,then the ladybugs will make your maintenance easier.Nothing better than biological/natural control.

Some species of ants "farm" aphids, protecting them on the plants they eat, eating the honeydew that the aphids release from the terminations of their alimentary canals. This is a "mutualistic relationship"

Edited to add that scale insects produce some serious honeydew on bay leaf plants among other trees. Which in turn encourages sooty mold on leaves. I took a toothbrush with some soapy water and scrubbed every nook and cranny of my bay leaf plant. It was full of scale insects and the leaves were black with mold. It looks good now.

[kurt]

Thanks for the definitions/clarification.I get the sooty mold everyonce in a while on our gardenias.Your terminology makes it sound so much more intelligent.