when i see ants.. i look.. long and hard.. to see if i can find aphids ...

you dont mention any harm.. so whats to do about it????

are you sure on the ID ....

ken

Thank you for the reply ken-adrian. I hadn't thought about aphids. Years past have had aphids on some ornamentals shrubs and yes, ants were with them. Yet I hadn't noticed any in my new veggie garden, and when I saw the ants, failed to remember the past association! So I went out and did indeed "look long and hard" for aphids. Fortunately, I see none!

Yes, sure on the ID on the ants. And when I said "no harm", I ment, I don't SEE any harm. I'm new at veggie gardening, so am not confident that I know for sure what to look for.

I also see some very tiny fly type critters on my zuchinni leaves and blossoms. Maybe a gnat type thing. Not a great lot of them. No idea what they are. Again, I see no visible damage, but ----I'm new at this!

Ants, as a rule, are not plant pests. While ants may "farm" aphids those aphids can be quite prolific even in the absence of ants, and plants ants are on may not have any aphids. I have observed ants carrying aphids from plants to their nests but have not yet seen an ant carrying an aphid from the nest to a plant.
Ants are predators and scavengers, helping clean up our world by working to eliminate the trash we toss.