Hi All, my fava beans are being eaten by black ants , no aphids. the ants themselves seem to be sucking the juice out of the leaves, leaving black spots where they have been nibling.
I thought they normally employed aphids to do the hard work for them but maybe they are skipping the middle man. Anyone seen this before?
Other leaves are full of holes but that looks more like snails , dont think the ants are capable of that.
Any good tips for encouraging the ants to move elsewhere ?
The first year I saw ants crawling all over our peonie buds I was very confused. They're there for exactly the reason you described.