I have a pepper plant. The tag says its a "long slim sweet pepper" It gets the long red peppers on it. The plant is about two feet tall and has ten good sized "1-3 inch peppers" on it and lots of babys and blooming flowers. Today i noticed it has these tiny baby ant like bugs on it. They look like small ants but they are kind of bright gold in color. Anyone know what these might be and how to kill them?
Andrew I think the ants you have on your pepper plant may be a subfamily of the Golden Black Sugar Ant. Is this what they look like? As their name suggests they like sugar, but they are also attracted to any sweet food. They are omnivores and can be seen foraging on the ground, on plants and bushes. They can be found either in the countryside as well as suburban area.
yes and no. They look sort of like that but they are very tiny and a little brighter in the gold color. I was watching them for awhile earlier and they just seem to hang out on the plant. They aren't going for the peppers themselves or the blooming flowers. They seem to like the soil and the base stalk of the plant. I just noticed them for the first time today. I have a small container garden consisting of the pepper plant, a cherry tom plant and onions. I inspected the tom plant but didn't notice any of them on it. Other than that i have one of those 75 pod jiffy things with a few pepper seeds and tom seeds in it but its starting to grow mold and its only been 3 days! Not a very good day for my veggies... Any additional help would be very much appreciated. Or suggestions on a plant healthy way to kill them.
I was just wondering if the things that you are describing might not be a type of mite....or even a mite predator, like the Persimilis. Obviously if it is the Persimilis, you don't want to destroy that. Can you take a good macro picture of it?
i tried to take a picture with a friends camera but it isnt a real good one so i cant even get a rough outline of one. However, i went to google and did a image search on these Persimilis you speak of and im positive they are not it. They have the same color though, but my insects have the body of an ant, not of a mite. Here in hawaii we have a really bad ant problem. Their are tons of them, of all different kinds. No matter how many times you have them sprayed, they keep coming back. You cant even leave a plate of food out for more than ten minutes without having a swarm of them. as in swarm, i mean at least 50.
Well, I know what you mean about the ants there. I had stopped off in Hawaii to work for a couple of months when I was on one of the world trips--I noticed them then. I stayed down in Waikiki but worked up in Honolulu. It was an experience that I would not forget for quite some time. Do you recall when that elephant ran amok in the downtown streets of Honolulu? I was at work up in one of the tall buildings when the poor elephant was going crazy in the streets below. It was dramatic. Not long after that there was a Tsunami warning for the island. --We missed the last bus out of Waikiki, so there we stood on a totally empty street. It was pretty unnerving...I mean. Waikiki without a single person on the streets. can you imagine! While we were trying to calm this older coupple who had gotten out of the last bus by mistake. just at that moment in the silence, a couple of police cars appeared and the street to where we were staying was cordoined-off with that stripey police tape. We discovered that some man went a little crazy and had killed his wife with a knife back in there. I guess that he thought that the Tsunami would wash-away the evidence. Who knows. It was an exciting time, I'll say that much. The ants were just playing their annoying role in the whole experience. Dealing with them required special techniques and washing the dishes after eating was something that always had to be done immediately.
Elephant? I dont think that happened while i was here. I have only been here a little over 8 months now. That would be crazy though. Not nearly as crazy as the thought of not a single person in the streets of Waikiki. It gets insane down their. I live closer to north shore. Speaking of which, while you were here did you happen to make your way up north shore to sunset, waimaia, turtle bay, or sharks cove? So beautiful. Anyways, Back to the ant problem at hand, do you have any suggestions on how to get rid of them without hurting my plant or pumping my body full of chemicals when i eat them?
Here is a film. I will warn you that there are parts that are shocking... http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=5e4UE7sCC ... re=related The idea of Cajunbelle's with soapy water is a good one. You can also use "ant powder" but then you should take great care to put it in small containers away from the plants.
OM gosh, Sjoerd, what year did this happen? That is so sad and horrible. Love animals, but you gotta' do what you gotta' do!
Well, KG..I do not recall exactly when it was but about 10 years ago I think. I would have to dig out my travel journal for that year to be certain. It was a sad for all concerned. I didn't see this live, I was chatting on the fone to a client and the client was watching it on the telly and giving me a running account as it was happening live. I was just astounded.
