strawberry pirates?

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blmlb Orange Park, FL Jun 02, 2007

And they sail accross the strawberry bed like tiny sailboats. The other day I was out in my little garden, just checking things out. I've got a small bed of strawberry plants, just 10 plants in a 3x5 bed. As I was glancing down at them, I noticed what looked like tiny sailboat sails floating accross the surface of the bed.
Upon closer inspection, I saw that there was a whole army, (well, not really an army, but maybe a platoon) of tiny ants who were marching accross the bed to the nearest strawberry plant that had a newborn flower. These tiny ants were climbing up the flower stalk, and were carving out pieces of the white flower petals and were taking them back home with them. The tiny sailboats I saw were the itty bitty ants carrying little pieces of strawberry petals.
Now, pickle worms I despise. Those ugly black and yellow caterpillars who eat everything in sight, I despise. Those critters who burrow into the leaves and stalks of my crooknecks, I despise.
But I really don't know about these tiny ants. I kinda think that they really aren't doing much harm. But I'm really not sure. A few of them were carrying the 'pistols' of the flower, the parts that provide the pollen.
Should I just tolerate them? Should I get rid of them? Anybody had similar experiences? I will say that for the most part, the strawberries that have grown in that bed have grown just as advertised. A few have been lopsided and not well-formed, but I attribute that to the fact that the nationwide honeybee population has been decimated. In fact, over the past several months I have seen almost NO honeybees in my garden. And Florida, according to recent reports, is NOT one of those states suffering a bee die-off. Any thoughts?

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