Broccoli & Ants

Dayton, WA

Every Spring I try to grow broccoli and cauliflower, but ants discover them both and they chew on the stems at just below soil level until they sever the stems completely. How do I keep them away ?

Dublin, CA(Zone 9a)

Sounds like cutworms to me--they are a common pest of those type of plants and that's exactly the damage they do. Ants may coincidentally be in the area but they're not the ones doing that damage. Here's an article that talks about cutworms: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/285430/controlling_cutworms_in_your_garden.html

Dayton, WA

No, I'm familiar with cut-worm damage. The ants gather around my broccoli plant stems in large numbers and in a matter of a few days they will reduce the stem diameter from a half-inch to less than an eighth of an inch--eventually down to no stem at all! I haven't seen ants bother any other plants. In my case they attack broccoli, cauliflower and sometimes Kohl-Rabi stems. I just want to know how to kill them organically or at the very least keep them off my plants.

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