Our apples are your apples
To head off any local difficulties, we diplomatically (& grandiosely) declared it a Community Orchard, & mailed short explanatory notes to all the neighbours to say that the apples were for all.Over the following weeks we had some nice comments in passing, but we knew the 'hood was down when some kids knocked on the door asking if they could bury their deceased pet gerbil under the trees.
Working together
The apples are different varieties, Bountiful & a Russet, but they are from the same pollination group. |
| Blossom on the Russet |
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| Not actual size, but with any luck these Bountifuls will get bigger |
Aphid ant farm
We were out this week inspecting the fruits & checking for damage, we spotted that the Bountiful had a lot of aphid action: |
| Houston, we have a problem... |
Then I saw the ants... slowly the cogs of my brain chugged round... & I remembered: don't ants farm aphids for their honeydew?
This may sound insane, but in the ongoing discussion about what separates mankind from the beasts, the answer is: far less than we like to think. A couple of answers I was given as a child have been overturned since my school days:
- Opposable thumbs
From pandas to opossums, opposable digits are enjoyed across the animal kingdom. - Using tools
Some apes use twigs to fish for ants. Otters, elephants & crows are all in on this tool use action.
Earlier this year I saw some stuff on TV about ants farming fungi, and I read about ants & aphids the other week, in Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman.
The Fantastic Mr Feynman
I'm a bit obsessed with Richard Feynman at the mo: the fab docudrama on the Challenger Shuttle enquiry; the documentary the BBC screened with it; the enthusiasm for Feynman that Robin Ince showed when we saw his show The Importance Of Being Interested.Right from when he was a nipper, Feynman was interested in all kinds of stuff. Even as an adult, he would keep his microscope's eye piece in his pocket, so he could spy upon interesting small stuff when going about his day.
His Dad told him about ants & aphids, & then one day he saw it for himself:
"So here was this aphid and sure enough, an ant came along, and patted it with its feet - all around the aphid, pat, pat, pat, pat, pat! This was terribly exciting! Then the juice came out of the back of the aphid. And because it was magnified, it looked just like a big, beautiful, glistening ball, like a balloon, because of the surface tension...
"The ant took this ball into its two front feet, lifted it off the aphid, and held it. The world is so different at that scale that you can pick up water and hold it!... Then the ant broke the surface tension of the drop with its mouth, and the surface tension collapsed the drop right into his gut. It was very interesting to see this whole thing happen!"
Well we didn't see what Feynman saw, but every aphid-rich leaf had at least 1 ant...
Ant siesta
I went & checked again lunchtime today, to take photos, but no ants. Maybe they were hiding from the midday sun.But when I went & checked again in the evening, there they were:
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| Ant farmer, bottom right of the leaf... honest |
Plan of attack...?
We speculated that, if the ants are farming, then presumably that means protecting the aphids from predators. A quick Google brought up a BBC clip showing a group of ants fighting off a ladybird.So it's no use going to the aphids. I guess we have to target the ants first. I feel really bad about this but, for the health of the tree, something might have to be done.
I've had a dig around online for advice, but am struggling to find a consistent answer - I don't want to nuke the place.
Any suggestions, folks?
Update: All this might be academic if the local kids don't stop ripping the fruit off. I guess this lot were too young to get the memo... :(
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