managing ants

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Lodewijkp Zwolle, Netherlands(Zone 7a) Apr 21, 2016

I have alot of ants far away from the house and they actually kill most insects that try to harm my plants especially potted plants. i also seen them picking vaporated plants sap from some cacti and other plants which is cool because sugars attract fungi, they literally clean my plants.

is their a way to feed them ? like give them honey or something ? what do they like to eat ?

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Pistil Lake Stevens, WA(Zone 8a) Apr 21, 2016

There are many many kinds of ants. Inside the house where they are considered pests, there are two broad categories- "sugar ants" and "grease ants". When people want to kill them they need different poisoned baits-sugary or greasy/protein. The are other ants such as "carpenter ants" which of course eat wood. You would not want to encourage them! Some ants are predators, and some herbivores. Some ants actually are farmers, and keep little herds of aphids!
I have never heard of anyone trying to encourage ants, but I see why you want to try. You probably have many kinds of ants, some predatory, and some that eat sap. For the sap eaters ones you might try a dish of honey. I guess you already are feeding the predator ones by having plants with insect pests! The only way to feed them more would be to plant plants that are likely to be pest-ridden, which you might not want to do. For example, Here nasturtiums often get aphids in late summer, if I wanted to help out aphid-eaters I might plant nasturtiums.
I would think the most important thing is just not to use any poisons in your yard.
You might also encourage nesting. Some ants like to make homes in sand. But I just recalled a childhood activity of mine-watching Ant Lions catch ants in their sandy traps.
It might be fun to try and find out what kinds of ants you have. You could take cell-phone photos, and enlarge the photo, then use a field guide. Then you would have a better idea what they need.
Let us know what you try- this is a really different idea.

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