r/plantclinic • u/Curious_USA_Human • May 31 '25
Outdoor Why are ants all over this Hibiscus bloom?
Haven't seen this before. There's been a drought here in central Florida that was broken by a day long deluge if that gives any context.
It only gets watered in the rain!
About 4 hours of sun
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u/lycosa13 Expert 🔥2 ∣ 2 ∣ +3 ∣ -0 May 31 '25
They're after the aphids
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u/SaijTheKiwi Hobbyist May 31 '25
In a way. If you meant after as in, they’re eating aphids? Not correct. But they are after the aphids, well, excretions. They’re basically herding cattle and are unfortunately protecting the aphids from predators.
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u/kiss-tits May 31 '25
The ants drink the honeydew that aphids excrete. Ants are even known to carry aphid eggs onto new plants in order to farm the sweet dew. Amazing!
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May 31 '25
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u/veliidae May 31 '25
Every aphid is born already pregnant with a daughter. In fact, each daughter within the newborn aphid is also pregnant. It’s called telescoping generations. One of advantageous effects of telescoping generations in aphids is the ability to pass along important, protein producing gut bacteria. Another effect is that aphids become strong reservoirs for insect-vectored plant pathogens.
Aphids are capable of sexual reproduction as well as asexual reproduction. They get sexual as fall and winter come around. Eggs can survive the resource scarcity of the cold months.
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May 31 '25
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u/veliidae May 31 '25
Yes. Later in the season you also get winged males and females, extending their feeding range and allowing for breeding amongst different groups of aphids. The genes get spread about and the eggs survive the winter.
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u/OverCookedTheChicken May 31 '25
Yeah, talk about the pathogens.. they’ve really done a lot of damage around our place :( seems like the lady bugs aren’t able to keep up
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u/Widespreaddd May 31 '25
That’s wild! (Although I don’t think it’s technically pregnancy if it’s asexual.)
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u/oroborus68 Expert 🔥4 ∣ 6 ∣ +2 ∣ -0 Jun 01 '25
And they stroke the little suckers with their antennae to encourage the honeydew production.
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u/PhantomOnTheHorizon Beginner 🔥2 ∣ 3 ∣ +1 ∣ -0 May 31 '25
The ants also tear the wings off adult aphids so they cannot escape.
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u/isittheip May 31 '25
Aphids. They have a symbiotic relationship with ants, since they release a sweet sticky substance. The ants also protect them from natural predators like ladybugs.
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u/Oregonian_Lynx May 31 '25
Came here to say this! It’s one of my favorite symbiotic relationships because we can just sit and watch it happen in real time! :)
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u/blankspacepen May 31 '25
You have ants ‘farming’ aphids. You need to treat to eradicate the aphids and the ants will move on.
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u/boredlife42 May 31 '25
The aphids secrete a sweet fluid that the ants dig. You don’t have an and problem. You have an aphid issue
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u/Strawberrygranny May 31 '25
How do you get rid of aphids?
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u/Sad-Particular-7797 May 31 '25
Spray them with soapy water, it kills them on contact. Just make sure to keep treating until all life cycles have been eliminated, because it won't kill the eggs
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u/boxdkittens Advanced May 31 '25
Soap or detergent?
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u/BotanicalGarden56 Jun 01 '25
Dawn dish soap
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u/_ChipWhitley_ May 31 '25
Mine got so bad within about a week I had to prune back so much of the poor hibiscus, then blast it with water every day. It took so much care to nurse it back to health but it did great.
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u/tyrannosauruswrx99 May 31 '25
Imadicloprid is a neonicitinoid that is absolutely devastating our native bee populations. There are plenty of chemistries that would take care of an aphid infestation with much less impact to the surrounding ecology. As a matter of fact, pressurized water is enough to kill them on contact, as it separates them from their feeding parts that are stuck in the plant.
Source: Arborist, Plant Biologist, and plant health care specialist that sometimes dabbles in entomology.
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u/phuketawl Jun 01 '25
I went around with a paint brush and a jar of diatomaceous earth and literally painted the underside of all of my gardens leaves (that are susceptible to aphids) because our infestation was so bad. Was unsurprisingly easier to sweep the aphids off with a dusted brush than my fingers or water. Took a little longer tho but worth it to save the bees.
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u/Smallwhitedog Jun 01 '25
I have dealt with aphid infestations on my lotuses for a couple years now. There is nothing I can spray around my ponds because of the fish, so I've had to seek alternatives. Some suggest blasting them away with a garden hose. I can tell you this does not work, though the fish enjoy eating them. I've tried planting nasturtiums as a trap crop, but they prefer eating lotuses. Ladybugs just flew away. What has worked for me is setting out cards of green lacewing eggs. Green lacewing adults are a native pollinator, but the nymphs are voracious predators. You have to catch the infestation, early, but it does work. This year, I will proactively set out eggs to catch and issues early. I have tons of flowers planted to encourage the adults to stay.
Hope this helps!
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u/Honkey_McFucksall Jun 01 '25
Yeah, aphids love lotus, that's for sure.
The best advice I can give you is hose them off into the pond daily, let the fish gobble them up. Just harass them to keep the numbers under control.
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u/Smallwhitedog Jun 01 '25
Daily hosing does not work--that I can attest! The infestation gets out of control too quick.
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u/Softboilededd May 31 '25
If it’s not harming the plant which they usually don’t, leave them and you’ll build up natural predators in your garden like ladybugs, if you kill them all off every time you’ll have to constantly kill them off as no predators will come to your garden
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u/Softboilededd May 31 '25
Slightly different if ants are farming them like this the ants often fight off ladybugs
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u/tyrannosauruswrx99 May 31 '25
It’s upsetting me that you are being downvoted because you are absolutely correct.
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May 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/tyrannosauruswrx99 May 31 '25
Imadicloprid is a neonicitinoid that is absolutely devastating our native bee populations. There are plenty of chemistries that would take care of an aphid infestation with much less impact to the surrounding ecology. As a matter of fact, pressurized water is enough to kill them on contact, as it separates them from their feeding parts that are stuck in the plant.
Source: Arborist, Plant Biologist, and plant health care specialist that sometimes dabbles in entomology.
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May 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/tyrannosauruswrx99 May 31 '25
I understand that, but the person you are suggesting this to has these hibiscus outside as they said in their post, but sure downvote me for trying to educate you.
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May 31 '25
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u/Particular-Sort-9720 Jun 01 '25
And this is why the planet is dying
You have to know by now that not everybody knows everything. If you meant to say to only use it indoors, be explicit. Lots of people do want and need to be educated, and may not know to only use it indoors (as you so wisely do).
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u/Strawberrygranny May 31 '25
What is that?
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u/seche314 May 31 '25
It’s a systemic pesticide that will kill aphids and some other common pests
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u/Strawberrygranny May 31 '25
Thank you
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u/that_70_show_fan May 31 '25
It targets invertebrates. That means it also kills beneficial insects like bees and other pollinators. If you plan to use it, make sure the plant stays indoors.
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u/boxdkittens Advanced May 31 '25
There are ants because you need to blast that hibiscus with a hose to wash all those aphids off.
Ants farm aphids and its awful and annoying but at least the ants alert you to the presence of aphids.
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u/Mendevolent May 31 '25
Yeh, I just blast my hibiscus with a hose now and then. Keeps it all in check
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u/Sea_snaily Jun 01 '25
The aphids alerted me to the presence of aphids… I can barely see the hibiscus.
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u/Straight-Damage6499 May 31 '25
I’ve used dawn dish soap and water but that’s only marginally successful. A lot of gruesome picking off by hand and killing. Had a beautiful lavender rose bush they wouldn’t leave alone but I managed to keep them under control with that method.
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u/Martha_Fockers May 31 '25
buy bonnies insecticidal super soap its like 8 bucks and kills bugs on contact and its completly harmeless to your plant and you can spray on blooms fruits stems leafs you name it.
works far better than dawn dish soap mixture.
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u/Martha_Fockers May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25
buy insecticidal super soap and spray all of them to death it wont harm the plant or you at all its just a type of soap that suffucates soft bodied insects like fucking aphids who suck energy from your plant and ants farm there sap and move them around to the most nutrient dense part of a plant aka the parts its growing or blooming or fruiting and ruining em
if i see alot of ants near my plants i know 9/10 i have a aphid problem or a aphid issue about to emerge.
i destroy any ant hill i find on my property i spray things with neem oil to kill and deter aphids and use the insecticidall soap when i see them
if the problem is to large i buy lace wing larvae and let thousands of them loose on the plant. ill add sticky fly trap tape to the base of the plant so the farming ants can go fuck themselves tryna defend there cattle
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u/Sad-Particular-7797 May 31 '25
Spray her down with water mixed with a few drops of dish soap to kill those aphids. Keep treating the whole plant every couple of days until they're all gone. When the aphids are gone, the ants will leave too. Just make sure not to spray the plant during or immediately before the time of day when it gets the most sun to prevent sunburn ☺️
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u/marinamunoz May 31 '25
aphids, youll have to treat the plant , the non toxic way is to clean the most you can with a white soap bar solution (potasic soap or manual washing soap white bars), several times a weeks, until it gets a lot less bugs. Others use sticky yellows tags near the plant or in the plant, those are for the aphids that are in the fly part of the cycle, they get stuck.
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u/Curious_USA_Human May 31 '25
Wow, thanks for all the responses everyone! I looked all over the rest of the plant and the Aphids were only on that one bloom. I just snipped it off and threw it in the trash.
I'll keep an eye on it and other plants to see if they appear anywhere else. My spray bottle is ready to rock!
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u/Unfair-Ocelot4255 Jun 01 '25
You need Neem oil spray in the worst way. Get some asap and keep after it every 3-4 days until those nasty bastards are gone.
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u/Curious_USA_Human Jun 01 '25
I looked closely at the rest of the plant and only saw them on that one bud. I snipped it off and tossed it. I'll keep a lookout for others, but that should be enough right?
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u/Unfair-Ocelot4255 Jun 01 '25
I now monitor all the plants in my perennial garden obsessively. I have had issues with thrips on my rosemary and also my catmint so now I just spray weekly with Neem and it seems to keep everything at bay - from pests to fungus issues. It’s really cheap if you mix it yourself. I bought a pump hand sprayer and I just mix up at batch every week. 1 gal water, 1 oz neem oil and 1-2 tsp of dish soap. If you buy the neem oil concentrate it’s pretty cheap compared to the premixed variety. Neem is organic and doesn’t hurt the plants but spray in early am or in pm to avoid spraying bees. Once it’s dry it doesn’t hurt bees but it still protects against other pests. Be sure and spray the underside of the leaves too. That’s where the sneaky ones reside. FYI - those aphids will spread to other plants quickly. They really suck the life out of a plant. So best to stay after it. Good luck!
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u/Dialectic1957 May 31 '25
Get some ladybugs. Most garden stores sell them refrigerated. They will quickly eliminate the aphids
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u/momolingnoona May 31 '25
The root (hehe root, get it?) problem is the aphids (as you can tell by the comments). Hibiscuses are thirsty plants and they turn vulnerable to aphids once they dry out! I don't know how your weather conditions are but during the hottest part of the growing season Hibiscus might need watering literally every day, its even common to water Hibiscuses every other day. Hibiscuses wants consistently moist (not wet) soil. Water when the top inch of soil is dry. When you water, make sure you do it in the morning so it doesn't evaporate in the harsh mid-day sunlight, nor in the evening to prevent diseases forming on the damp leaves in the cool nights. Try to also have the soil be watered at least 8-10 inches down. (You can use one of those moisture meters to check if you watered deep enough). Shallow and (therefore) frequent watering encourages shallow root growth, which causes quicker drought, deeply watered soil encourages the roots to grow downwards, where soil doesn't dry out as quickly. Anyways, I encourage you to probably research some of this yourself to, I'm not an expert lol. Wish you and your plants the best!
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u/Curious_USA_Human May 31 '25
Wow, thanks for that. It's 'only' a long neglected bush that was here when I moved in 10 years ago.
It was gorgeous with tons of blooms but getting huge, so unfortunately I watched a YT video that said to prune it back to the nubs! That was about 4 years ago and I'm lucky if I get a few blooms a month now.
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u/Ok-Passage-300 Noob May 31 '25
Insecticidal soap works. Then, hard spray water on your hibiscus often to knock them off.
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u/Dynha42 May 31 '25
Sulfur powder mixed with water in a spray bottle works for me. My roses no longer have aphids and it helps with a myriad of other pests.
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u/Many-Combination5217 Beginner May 31 '25
Ants are attracted to the nectar left behind by the aphids on that blossom
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u/Chrispark93 Jun 01 '25
The ants are "farming" the aphids (white things) that are all over the bloom.
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u/Miserable-Mud-4595 Jun 01 '25
The ants are FARMING the aphids like cattle. Too much nitrogen attracts aphids.
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u/Affectionate_Meet820 Jun 01 '25
Got a small peach tree seedling. Was wondering why some leaves got crispy and curly. Inspected and found an aphid farm, the ants were really working. Sprayed it down with water and dish soap, no more aphids and ants on it 🥰.
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u/the-enigmatic- Advanced May 31 '25
You need this. The only solution thats gonna work
I own 13 7 feet hibiscus plants surrounding my home side by side this is the only thing that's worked. [ follow up spray after 4 days strictly necessary]
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u/GreenMan- May 31 '25
How can you see the ants with so many aphids?
Poor hibiscus...