They encourage and develop aphid colonies and do act as farmers in the same way that humans do, by protecting their 'flocks' from predatory insects and making sure they have adequate food - they will move aphids to new host plants should the need occur. Controlling ants organically. Some species of ants will actually farm aphids and move them from one plant to another. They do eat some of their aphids from time to time – it’s a source of protein – same as we eat beef. Plan B: Chickens eat bugs. And they may also simply feed on healthy flowers and vegetables. No, the ants are not feeding upon the aphids such as meat but are harvesting the sugary waste, like humans milking cows. But aphids do not rely on ants in any way to spread, reproduce, or infest our plants. Re: Do ants eat aphids « Reply #7 on: June 20, 2013, 07:02 » My french beans in pots were really suffering, so i put ant powder around the outside of the pots to clear them and then used soapy water to clear the aphids, that helped with those and now the beans are clear. Household ants can sometimes be tracked right back to the aphids outside. A version of this scenario plays out all over the world, where ant invasions often mean aphid invasions, too. Aphids excrete a sugary fluid after the feed off your plants. Mantids love aphids because its soft body makes it easy for mantids to prey and eat them. How do I kill them? Ants act as herders for aphids and their eggs. Ants are attracted to aphids because of a sticky, sweet substance they produce when feeding, called honeydew. Ant-loving aphids do not develop physically to put up a defence when ants come around, as they feel protected. The ants then gather this fluid and eat it as food. Aphids feed on the sap of plants and secrete a honeydew substance that ants love to eat. The ants on your corn are probably protecting the aphis from predators just as a human shepard would. Let’s go back to the cow-milking analogy. They do this because they use the honeydew the aphids excrete as … Some ant here and there might eat a dead aphid or two, but they seem to actually have a symbiotic relationship, more or less, with the ants using the aphids for sugar, which they actually make, believe it or not, and then in turn protecting the aphids. Aphids are the insects that feed on plant sap and will turn your plants unhealthy once this creature keeps themselves busy eating all your plants. Ants are omnivorous and are frequent collectors of carrion, which might include aphids, at times. No, aphids do not eat ants.Specifically, aphids are herbivorous insects that therefore feed on plants. Many ants graze on other arthropods of the Homoptera order, such as aphids or aphids. 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