Mini-update to previous ants post

In regards to my latest post on ants that I discovered in my herb bed...

The great Tom Turpin from Purdue University's entomology department emailed me identification on my little guys:

"These are Lasius ants.  Sometimes called piss ants.  They tend aphids (which might be a problem for plants) but cause no direct harm to plants.  So your saffron bulbs are safe but the presence of the ants might mean that there is a healthy population of aphids on some plants in the vicinity. Regards."

(heh, "piss-ants"  Ok, a little puerile, but I'm amused mostly because I'm a fan of entomology as well as etymology I've heard it used a few times, really! It's in Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: piss·ant 

Pronunciation: \ˈpis-ˌant\

Function: noun

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: pissant ant, from ¹piss + ant

Date: 1945

sometimes vulgar : one that is insignificant —used as a generalized term of abuse

and from dictionary.com:

Also, piss-ant.

Origin: 
1655–65, in sense “ant”; piss + ant, prob. orig. on the model of pismire

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source

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 Link To pissant

Word Origin & History

pissant

1661, "an ant," from first element of pismire (q.v.) + ant. Meaning "contemptible, insignificant person" is from 1903.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Anyways, thus far I haven't noticed an ant problem in my herb bed, but thanks for the heads up Tom!  I'll probably inspect it closely tonight and possibly give it a spray-spray of soap or neem or just knock 'em off with water.

Admittedly, it would be kind of cool (and uncool) to see ants milking aphids like farmers.  But I'll just tune into the Discovery Channel (if I had tv...oh, yeah, the internet!) if I really want ant-milking-aphid action. 

Fickle things: Ladybugs

I've been slowly taking indoor plants into the screened sunroom where the air and slight light change will hopefully acclimate them to the outdoors before I thrust them entirely out there to fend for themselves.

One plant that I've been aching to chuck out is my ornamental pepper, Black Pearl.

Out of all of my plants, the ornamental peppers have suffered greatly from an aphid infestation that I couldn't shake this winter despite repeated neem sprayings until I simply killed the Tricolore garda and then the Purple Calico soon thereafter (which I think got water logged and rotted too... my bad, I had a container that was spiffy and thought I'd be good at not overwatering.  Crud.)

The Black Pearl has held out pretty well out of all of them and was attacked last.  I didn't know of the infestation for quite a while I think because the new leaves on it are this lighter green the aphids hid in.  Later when they moved on to the darker purple leaves/stems did I CLEARLY see them.

Learning from my prior neem frenzy with the now dead other ornamental peppers (and there was poor light, and it's been cold in the house! They were weakened I say! Weakened!)  I just started snipping off the severely infested bits and made a good effort to check every day and squish any aphid stragglers.  Ick, that was a sticky mess.

So, as the weather appears to be more regularly now, I moved it into the sunroom and lo and behold, there was a a LADYBUG on the screen area, basking in the sunshine.

I promptly snatched it up and thought, "Haha! Now I've got you, you stinking aphids! Meet my leetle friend!"

Then placed the ladybug onto Black Pearl. AND, like all ladybugs it tried to fly away.

So I put it back on the plant.  It attempted to fly away again, but hit a leaf above it (brilliant bug, obviously).  Either ladybugs have a bad sense of smell/sight because I placed it on a plant with a veritable feast in front of it, and it didn't care.  After this long and starved winter? What gave?!

Luckily it appeared to start sniffing around and moving its mouth parts like it was really getting at stuff and began to explore the territory.

"PERFECT!  It's like my own aphid ROOMBA!" I sort of cackled in my head and rushed off to get a pic of this momentous occasion.

When I got back the ladybug had decided to fly off and thus, no pic could be got.

Then I found a small stem COVERED in aphids and got a bit huffy and chucked the Black Pearl outside in a sheltered location.  Here's where I do a little prayer hoping that the aphids will not like the weather and just melt down or something (like be discovered by smart ladybugs) and allow my Black Pearl to continue growing merrily along.

In the mean time, I've started some new Tricolore Garda and Purple Calico ornamental peppers from seed again.  Luckily for me, those things really put out little pepper fruits!