a question about black-eyed peas

[Heather Booth]

I'm growing some black-eyed peas and have trouble with
black ants. They cluster around the tops of the pods.
The places they cluster are lacking pods and some of the
pods are lacking some peas. None of the garden books
I've seen even mention black-eyed peas and none mentioned
any trouble with ants (except for encouraging aphids).
How can I get rid of them without pesticides? One book
said that ants didn't like to cross ground bone meal
or charcoal. I tried some wood ashes but the ants were
undeterred.

Also when do I pick the peas? They seem to be ready now
(pods are light green, peas are fully formed but still
pretty hard) but I have vague childhood memories of
withered brown pods.

I've also had some trouble getting the vines tied up. I
ran them up vertical strings but they'd grow about 10 feet
high vertically if I let them. Is there a better way? I
had horizontal strings originally but they just climbed
the supports. They seem to want to go straight up.

Thanks,
Heather Booth

(Why is it that no garden books mention black-eyed peas?
Do southerners not garden or do they not write garden books?
Or does my New Jersey public library contain only northern
garden books? Black-eyed peas are delicious and easy to grow
(except for the ant problem).)

[L...@psuvm.bitnet]

In article <15...@princeton.UUCP>, bo...@princeton.UUCP (Heather Booth) says:

>I'm growing some black-eyed peas and have trouble with
>black ants. They cluster around the tops of the pods.

I've heard that ants are good guys. Earlier this season I had lots
of ants on my corn. A gardening friend told me to look closer and
see if there was something the ants were eating. There were aphids.
I'm not sure if ants are good guys in all situations, but I'd
suggest looking to see if there are some harder to see bad guys
that the ants are feeding on. Good luck.

[Rick Buls]

Actually the ants ARE the bad guys, the ants don't eat the aphids, they
spread them. Aphids are ants' milk cows. They raise them, moving them from
leaf to leaf. Its an example of two species relying on each other for
some benefit.