Autumn: 2026
🌱 Natural Farming: Ant Attack
Good evening, everyone! How is it going? I'm finally here! This evening we are going to talk about a very common yet siempre striking phenomenon in the garden: black ant herbivory on an Amaryllis plant that I am taking care of for my neighbors. Of course, as you might expect, I have already applied a natural management and control method to stop their advance, so they are no longer a threat. However, I really wanted to share these photos with you because they perfectly illustrate their foraging behavior.
Interactive Image Viewer: Ants on Amaryllis
Herbivory is the biological interaction where phytophagous organisms feed on plant tissues. In the case of leaf-cutter black ants, their relationship with the plant is quite unique: they do not consume the leaves directly. Instead, they use their powerful mandibles to cut smooth, semicircular fragments and carry them back to the nest. Inside the anthill, this plant material is processed and used as a substrate to cultivate a specific fungus (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus), which serves as the actual food source for the colony.
Ants on the plant
How they eat
You can see a better shot in the previous photo.
Bulbous plants like Amaryllis have fleshy, succulent leaves that are highly attractive to these insects due to their high moisture content and ease of transport. The attack usually begins at the upper margins of the most exposed leaves (as clearly seen in the images) and can progress with surprising speed under favorable weather conditions. When the leaf tissue is drastically reduced, the plant loses its photosynthetic capacity, weakening the underground bulb and compromising future blooms. Fortunately, a timely intervention stops the defoliation, allowing the Amaryllis to recover by drawing on its bulb storage reserves.
That is all for tonight regarding this pest update. See you tomorrow! Get ready, because for the next post I will introduce a brand-new topic: I recently took some cuttings of Streptosolen (the firebush), and right after that, the rain came. From what I can see, the small seedlings have successfully struck root! They have the unique characteristic of thriving remarkably well when rooted in pure worm humus combined with soft, natural rainwater.
