Actually some ants do bring the aphids to the plants, others are opportunistic farmers. It's misleading to talk about ants, or aphids, as if they are all the same. There are thousands of different, unique types of ants in the world and they don't even all eat the same things. There are populations of aphids that are winged and fly to new plants, others are carried by ants. The OP probably has both types occurring. There are some cases where I ignore aphids happening, like trees and sunflowers, since large plants often don't seem to care. Also some populations of aphid are not large enough for me to bother with. Anyway, for the OP's particular case, I would say if the ants ignored the bait, then it isn't the right type of food for them. Baits can be protien based or sugar based. Sugar based baits are probably appropriate for the ants in question, but even that may not be enough to get them to sample it. Since they are feeding on honeydew, it is likely that these ants will go for a bait that is in a liquid or at least gel, form. I think you can find baits and traps online that will work. I made a homemade bait of sugar water and borax that worked pretty well last year, but you have to be careful with the borax. It's pretty much harmless to us and most wildlife, but the plants really don't like excess boron. Don't know if any of that will prove useful to you in the long run, since a lot of what you are seeing sounds environmentally based. But sometimes a little intervention can give a plant enough energy to survive until the weather or soil get to be more copeacetic.

Well, I'm not in your climate/region, but perhaps you can glean something from my experiences. They are incredibly easy to grow, in fact, TOO easy, as this plant has tremendous weed potential and self-sows with abandon. In fact, they come up all over my 2 acres now, I suspect that perhaps birds are spreading them in their droppings. The berries are OK, certainly nothing to write home about. Pleasant enough out of hand to casually eat a few, but they really don't have a whole lot of flavor. I tried cooking up a few into jam, and it didn't have a whole lot of flavor either. You could probably throw them into a mixed fruit salad or even toss some into a regular salad. Culture is basically the same as a tomato. Last year was cool here, and they did well. This year was hot, and they did well. Since they're basically just a weed, it doesn't surprise me.

Thanks for the welcomes! I am trying to grow it slowly so it doesn't get out of hand. My skills (marketing, efficiency, and all sorts of things) need to grow with it so slow, steady growth is certainly what I'm aiming for. I'm not yet sure how big I want to go with this but I'll probably have a better feel for it in a year or two. Thanks for the tips, Slimy. Since my garden here is still young, I don't have enough of many things to take to market so I'm trying to whet the appetite of my customers with an occasional teaser. Our berry patches are in their infancy so I put a strawberry, blackberry, or raspberry as a "decoration" on top of cakes. I'm working peaches & sunberries into sweet breads. Things like that just to give 'em a taste of what produce we'll have in future years. I'll tell you what -- this is the toughest job (outside of being a parent) that I've ever had. The most fun, too. Diane

I received a surprise today from Chris (grolikecrazy)! Thank you. :) The plain letter envelope had holes in it- looks like it was damaged in transit. There was no bubble wrap or other padding inside of it to cushion the seeds. Seeds sent to me with no bubbles almost always do get destroyed like this, because the PO runs mail through some hard metal rollers unless it's in a bubble mailer marked FRAGILE in big red letters. :( The Dianthus barbatus seeds were about 75% destroyed and the Red Noodle Yard Long Bean seeds were completely dust. Thank you grolikecrazy, for kindly sending to me. I can still sow the few Dianthus seeds that made it, and hopefully get some plants! Excited about that. :) I'm sorry this happened, Chris. You were so kind to send seeds to me. I'm very glad you were thinking of me, and some of the Dianthus seeds do appear to be usable. It made my day to receive this, even if it is just a few seeds. : ) Thanks, Grovespirit Wondering why the surprises I mailed out haven't shown up here yet. I do hope they didn't get lost in the mail.