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touching fruit attracts ants????

16 years ago

Hello everyone,

I do not frequent this forum often but I hope you all can help me anyway. I have a neighbor that insists that touching fruit on a plant will attract ants to it. She insists that the scent we leave behind attracts ants which then in turn destroy the fruit.

Has anyone ever heard this before and can anyone show me a reputable link to a site that will substantiate this claim? I have looked and can find nothing on the subject.

Thanks for your time.

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Comments (4)

Kimmsr
16 years ago
A myth. There are a lot of reasons that ants might be attracted to the fruits your plants produce but your touching them is not one. If that were true you would have ants everywhere in your house and would not be able to keep them out.
botanybob
16 years ago
If you break the skin of the fruit when touching it, that can make it more attractive to ants. Does your neighbor have long fingernails?
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ofionnachta
16 years ago
Ants & fruits were around a long time before people were---ants don't need people touching fruit to make them hang around. The ques is, what kind of ants? Are they sucking on sweet juice made available by broken skin of fruits? Are they hunting other insects that live on that tree? Are they carrying aphids around to let them suck on the tender shoots, and eating the "honeydew" (aphid pee) produced by the aphids? Or is your neighbor just freaky about ants?
davidandkasie
16 years ago
i have heard that same thing all my life, and have yet to see it substantiated. if it were true, then NONE of my plants would make it. my wife and i take our daughter out to the garden every day, and she has to hold each tomato or whatever and ask us can she eat it yet. the ants all around the garden don't hit those fruits any worse than the untouched ones.

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