Dear Daniel, et. al., Yes, at first it seems counter-intuitive that the plants with aphids sucking on their juices at the roots would be the healthiest, most robust specimens. When we tap sugar maples I don't think that makes them more robust.
But the secret here lies in the ants. Ants are more practical soil microbiologists than people. Maybe they know more too. They commonly culture 30 or 40 different species of microbes in their ant colonies, and they can do a marvelous job of aerating plant roots (including in soils where structure is a problem) and planting the appropriate species of mycorrhyzae there. With the appropriate mycorrhyzae a plant may have its nutrient uptake of such things as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, etc. improved by a factor of ten. Plus the plant is no longer dependent on nutrient solubility. This means the mycorrhyzael hyphae can suck up nutrients in more complex forms. For example they will uptake nitrogen compounds as amino acids rather than urea, nitrates or other crude salts. This so vastly improves the chemistry of the plant--since it hasn't nearly so much nitrogen salt burden--that photosynthesis is markedly improved, as are many other plant functions. Ants herd aphids and milk them for latex which they use in many of their cultures and preparations. Since the plants would never do so well without the ants, the percentage of surplus sap the aphids drain away from a plant is a small price to pay. Check it out. I first noticed this with lettuce and with beans. In tilling up a lettuce patch after harvest I found all the hugest roots shared three factors in common--great mycorrhyzae, aphids and ants. In fact they had a fourth characteristic. You could smell the delecate, cleaner-than-lemon smell of the formic acid left behind by the ants. In pulling up bush beans in large quantities and sitting in the shade picking off the beans I would come on plants with twice or even more of the number of perfect beans. Always these plants had great mycorrhyzae, aphids, ants, and that wonderful formic acid smell. It bears investigating what Steiner had to say about ants and formic acid. Best, Hugh >>Dear Daniel, >> >>Ant and aphids on roots is just about always a good sign. Ants >>cultivate the mycorrhyzae so there is a surplus for the aphids. >> >>Best, >>Hugh > >Hugh - I thought ants on the roots, among other things, indicated >poor soil structure. It seems so degenerate, aphids on the roots (I >don't recall seeing ants, myself). > >(Moving right along) Are you saying that the aphids are only feeding >on exudates and not on the plant itself? > >-Allan Visit our website at: www.unionag.org
