Ants are eating my okra

[Ariel301]

The ants are destroying my okra. Every time I get a pod, they burrow into it and if I try to pick it, hundreds of ants come out of the pod and attack my hand! They're only doing this to the okra, nothing else in the garden. I've put some ant bait in bowls around the base of the plants to try to kill them, but they are ignoring it completely, it appears.

Does anyone have an idea on how to get them off my okra? I'd rather not have to spray the pods with any pesticide, I would not feel comfortable eating them then.

 

[dickiebird]

That's odd.

The ants are what's pollinating my okra.

The stink bugs are all over the stems and leaves, but nothing seems to be munching on the pods.

Picking lots of okra, I enjoy the way it can be just a small pod in the morning and be ready to pick by evening.

THANX RICH

 

[ducks4you]

Have you tried any bait that kills the queen?

 

[Holachicka]

Well, I know DE, baby powder and I've been told sprinkling cornmeal about will all kill them, but with the cornmeal I'd worry about attracting rodents... Weird because the ants are pollinating mine too, I don't have any pods yet but they did the same last year and left the pods alone. Good luck!

 

[Ariel301]

I didn't know the ants would pollinate it.

The bait I have is supposed to kill the queen. It worked great for me last year, I got rid of almost all the ants around the house, garden, and livestock. This year, they are all back (you can't completely get rid of them here, there are probably many millions just on our property!)
They don't seem to be touching the bait; usually I find a lot of dead ants in it and it gets empty fast, but this year, nothing. I will try DE on them, I guess. These are red ants of some kind, and they're nasty things, almost as bad as fire ants for aggression! I brought one seemingly ok pod in the house and when I cut into it, it was full of ants! It almost looks like they are nesting inside the okra pods, but I can't imagine them doing that, it would be weird.

 

[Holachicka]

It must be the type of ants then! Yuck, mine are just black ants and they seem to go for the flowers. Good luck with the DE, I *heard* that baby powder does the same, but DE sounds safer.

 

[ducks4you]

Try switching to another chemical family and another brand of ant bait. We livestock owners rotate our wormers so that the parasites do not develop a resistance to the chemicals in one particular drug.
Ironically, though my Vet chided me for buying Advantax instead of Frontline this year (for my dogs), they have been almost flea-free, and I am sure that it's because our fleas developed a resistance after many years of using the Frontline.

 

[Ariel301]

I understand the concept of rotating chemicals with animal medications, and I can see the application with pesticides as well.

I think the issue is not so much resistance as avoidance. The okra is more yummy than the ant bait, so they eat that instead.

I do not use a chemical pesticide ant bait. It's a homemade one that is child/pet safe because I do not put chemicals into my garden. It's basically a sugar syrup with borax in it. So, unless someone has another nifty recipe for non-chemical ant bait, that's what I've got. I've never heard of using baby powder, perhaps I will put that one one plant and see what it does, and try the DE on the others.

 

[Holachicka]

If you do try the baby powder, please let us know, I'd like to know as I've never tried it!

 

[Ladyhawke1]

The ants are destroying my okra. Every time I get a pod, they burrow into it and if I try to pick it, hundreds of ants come out of the pod and attack my hand! They're only doing this to the okra, nothing else in the garden. I've put some ant bait in bowls around the base of the plants to try to kill them, but they are ignoring it completely, it appears.

Does anyone have an idea on how to get them off my okra? I'd rather not have to spray the pods with any pesticide, I would not feel comfortable eating them then.

I have used sucessfully Doctor Bronner's Peppermint soap diluted. When I water, they all come running out in the millions with their eggs and then I spray the soap on them and they all die. Mu ....ha...ha....ha!