Peony question...I know that in order for the buds of peonies to open, you need ants. I have ants on mine, but someone I work with has 9 peony plants and not one single ant which means she will have no flowers

My question - if I bring her some ants will they do the job or will they only work in their own back yard ? How would you keep ants alive for the day...in a jar or something (would it need holes-would they all climb out?? - and how many ants would one need for 9 plants???

Ant's are a colony creature. The ones you see are sterile, meaning that they will not multiply and be fruitful.

The Queen (the female) is hidden in the colony - much like Bees.

A lack of ants means something, either someone had the Orkin guy come by with his poisons, or they have pretty poor environment for the ants to want to stick around.

IF you can find a colony (Ant Hill) and IF you can dig it all up without destroying everything, you MIGHT catch a live queen and the whole colony for transplanting to a new home.

These are a lot of ifs - and some ant colonies are many feet in diameter and several hills connect to one colony.

The best bet is to get an Ant Farm see: http://24hours7days.com/Bugs/Ant_Farms.html for an example and start from there.

Another option is to go to the local nursery and explain the situation, they may have ant farms for the region - or know where to get one.

Also, not all ants like the flowers you mentioned. So it may be that she has ants, just not the right kind.

Cheers

David

David - no the news she was hoping for, but what a phenominal answer!!!!! Thank you!!

Geeze!

I have a crack in my driveway
where the ants are congregating
and I thought of getting rid of
them, until I stumbled upon this
thread.

AND thought of my peonies!!

Thanks guys.