Ants!

[JaimeB]

Si, this us my first year growing cukes, and they just started flowering. I haven't seen any bees around them, so yesterday I plucked a male flower, and placed it on the female. Today I went out to see the next female bloom, and noticed thief ants on my male blooms. They had taken: what looked like; all the pollen.
My cucumbers are in a raised wooden box (approx 7cu. ft) with a Minnesota Midget melon. How can I keep the ants out of the planter box entirely? Of course thief's and pharaohs are terribly tricky to get rid of, even by an exterminator, which I'm very tempted to call.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[digitS']

JaimeB,

I'm not sure of what I can share other than personal experience. I had the tiny ants show up on the concrete at the bottom of the backsteps last week.

They were swarming around in great numbers. I used Pyrethrin spray and they haven't been back.

Steve

 

[baymule]

Put a layer of food grade diatomaceous earth around your cukes. The razor sharp DE cuts the exoskeleton of the insects and they dehydrate and die. worth a shot.

 

[JaimeB]

Thanks! I'm gonna go ahead and try the diatomaceous earth. I'll have the hubbs sprinkle it around the perimeter of the house too!