I have been spraying for spider mites. Now I found crawling over the wisteria lots of ants, and what look like small black bugs chewing new growth. I really don't want to spend the next six months spraying every day. Is there a better ant repellent or treatment that will last a couple of months?

I guess the ants are after the "small black bugs".
Eliminate those, ants will be out.

I know little about insects, but don't I remember that ants bring bugs to plants like this and then milk them?

I'll keep spraying.

Ivan wrote:

I know little about insects, but don't I remember that ants bring bugs to plants like this and then milk them?

They don't bring them.
They're already there, and then ants take control.

Clicio wrote:

[They don't bring them

Actually they do

Auk wrote:

Clicio wrote:

[They don't bring them

Actually they do

So off I went to research, and much to my surprise Auk is right. They do carry the aphids around.
Take a look:
"It appears that ants aren't just opportunistically squeezing honeydew out of any old aphid colony. They are deliberately maintaining aphid herds, possibly for many seasons,
Ants shepherd their bug flocks to better pastures and shield them from rain, sometimes carrying them from one plant to another. Ants care for and protect aphids’ eggs, treating them as their own and keeping them safe inside their colonies for winter."

UPDATE: The surprise is not Auk being right, of course. It is the ants behavior towards the aphids.

Clicio wrote:

UPDATE: The surprise is not Auk being right, of course. It is the ants behavior towards the aphids.

Yep, and it's even more fascinating: ants bite of their wings and use chemicals to make 'm move slower. Of course they protect them from predators too, so there are benefits for the aphids - not that they seem to have a say in it though They do get eaten too.

Can't remember where I read that - so do verify if what I say is true.

[edit]Well.. that was easy to find using my own keywords... aphids ants wings chemicals...[/edit]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science...prey-with-drugs.html

Oh hell yeah they do carry them around.

I have a cotoneaster shrub in my garden and it gets load of aphids every year. I use insecticide against them but when I do so, the ants grab them and move them to safety. After 1-2 weeks they bring them back. I just can't win against them. On the other hand this is amazing in my opinion

There are some amazing examples of cooperation between insects just like this, and lot of them are ants and something else. I can't remember any of them. Bugs aren't my field, but nothing is amazing.

I wonder where they get their supply of aphids. If I could block the supply that would solve my problem.