Ants killing spider mites?!

it's getting hotter and hotter these days and pests wouldn't fucking leave my plants, nothing biggie with some.. something very biggie with others.

i first noticed ants like few days ago, mainly on 1 plant, some of em got to others as well, but have seemed to disappear after spraying the gals with neem oil.

i started freaking out about the ants and sprinkled some cinnamon on top of the soil, did it with only 4 out of 8 females i've got, others didn't seem to be infected.

so i got back from work today and seen something amazing happening.. the 1 plant that had most ants is loaded with them, i could see like 20 ants on 1 leaf, so i investigated the same leaf and notice something crazy. im pretty sure what i saw was tons of yellow spider mites on the same leaf! ants seem to eat them!

so my question is.. WTF?! i read tons of stuff about ants and cannabis and there seem to be few kinds that actually harm and eat the leaves, leafcutter ant is one i read about in many forums/posts.

now.. how the hell can i recognize an ant? i tried to use my lups, but it seems almost impossible to catch a static ant in its place.

you guys think that there's any chance that the ants were 1stly attracted to this specific plant cus of its spidermite problem?
im gonna try to take a pic, it is truly an AMAZING sight!

anybody up for cool pics?



i wish i could post the full size picture so you guys could zoom in and actually see the ants eating the yellow fuckers! BUG FIGHT!

you are one lucky man i wish my plants had body gaurds

I think if their not eating your plants, and their not building a nest in the soil/root ball then your golden.
TMB-

strange fact - ants farm aphids - maybe spider mites too - almost makes me think what you are calling spider mites are aphids - if they are brightly colored they are mites - if they are dark little lumps like tiny ticks - then they are aphids..

ants eat what the mites secrete, it's a sugary substance. If you have mites, that is part of the reason why you have ants. Get rid of them both.

i like lady bugs and spiders for getting rid of mites. as far as the ants i dont see a problem. unless they develope a taste for resin glands.

Hit your plants with "Forbid" (look on ebay or-- http://www.rosemania.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/product147.html )and it will kill the mites for good then kill the ants. They are both pests and a healthy garden has NO pests, bugs, or whatver.

Ant and aphids go together and it is bad news for any plant.
http://insects.about.com/od/coolandunusualinsects/f/antsandaphids.htm
I cannot see clearly but you may have aphids. Especially if it seams the ants are farming them. Give them both the boot.

ford442 said:

strange fact - ants farm aphids - maybe spider mites too - almost makes me think what you are calling spider mites are aphids - if they are brightly colored they are mites - if they are dark little lumps like tiny ticks - then they are aphids..

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the reason i haven't posted reply yesterday, is exactly what you mentioned, i started researching like crazy and at midnight i decided im gonna get this girl inside under a desk light and give her a good check up, those ARE in fact aphids, yellow aphids, after researching this subject, im also very happy those aren't root aphids - since it is harder to get rid of those.

i gave it a good neem oil spray and put back outside, also added some nice smelling cinnamon on top of the soil so the ants would get away, i wake up today to no sign of ants, aphids.

my concerns is about my early flowering ak, btw, same genetics as the one in pics, it's somewhere around week 5 or 6 and im pretty much afraid to spray it.
although i gave it a good check today, i saw little to no signs of aphids colonizing the leaves, i saw maybe 1-3 very small leafs very close to soil with 1-2 aphids on each one, i simply removed em.

other plants i don't care spraying and i could spot some on my fimmed ams bob marley, so im gonna spray it good when the sun's starting to set. maybe the whole bunch for further prevention of the bugs. it seem to have done a good job on the most infested one from yesterday.

however, you think it'd be smart to spray neem on the 5th week flowering girl? ill be wiping of the leaves with cotton afterwards of course remove any remains of the neem, after reading neem is effective on contact but once it dries and the plant you are treating is flowering - you might wanna rinse the leaves to remove possibilities of taste in buds.
i'd appreciate an answer before sunset
just j/k
thanks for the correction! i love studying bout those little buggers, even though they're harmful for you, this is the best way to treat infestations, reading!

another thing that works good for killing ants that eat sugar is called Terro ant killer. It's a sugar solution with poison in it, the ants carry it back to the nest and it kills the entire colony when they feed it to the queen.

edgein123 said:

it's getting hotter and hotter these days and pests wouldn't fucking leave my plants, nothing biggie with some.. something very biggie with others.

i first noticed ants like few days ago, mainly on 1 plant, some of em got to others as well, but have seemed to disappear after spraying the gals with neem oil.

i started freaking out about the ants and sprinkled some cinnamon on top of the soil, did it with only 4 out of 8 females i've got, others didn't seem to be infected.

so i got back from work today and seen something amazing happening.. the 1 plant that had most ants is loaded with them, i could see like 20 ants on 1 leaf, so i investigated the same leaf and notice something crazy. im pretty sure what i saw was tons of yellow spider mites on the same leaf! ants seem to eat them!

so my question is.. WTF?! i read tons of stuff about ants and cannabis and there seem to be few kinds that actually harm and eat the leaves, leafcutter ant is one i read about in many forums/posts.

now.. how the hell can i recognize an ant? i tried to use my lups, but it seems almost impossible to catch a static ant in its place.

you guys think that there's any chance that the ants were 1stly attracted to this specific plant cus of its spidermite problem?
im gonna try to take a pic, it is truly an AMAZING sight!

Click to expand...

Old post I know but ants protect aphids...not sure if spider mites are a danger to aphids but either way ants farm aphid "dew" and protect the farmers "aphids"

growitsfun said:

Old post I know but ants protect aphids...not sure if spider mites are a danger to aphids but either way ants farm aphid "dew" and protect the farmers "aphids"

Click to expand...

Spider mites also aren’t yellow, so this dude was probably confusing them for aphids lol.

waterproof808 said:

Spider mites also aren’t yellow, so this dude was probably confusing them for aphids lol.

Click to expand...

Yea we had aphids come out of no where in our indoor and a little research and due diligence found out they were coming in from the expansion joints in the concrete....scraped them out vacuumed up a whole colony in 9ne area and sealed it with caulking.

pretty sure those arent spider mites they look like ants farming aphids they do that n eat their shit because its sweet.