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These ants appear to be guarding the flower buds, are they? Or are they hurting it?

Also how do I stop the damage to these buds? enter image description here

enter image description here

Dan Anderson
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2 Answers2

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No, the ants are not hurting the peony buds or plant in any way. See this answer to a similar question for an explanation.

Jurp
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The ants are fine, as already noted.

The shriveled bud may be an indicator of poor overall health in the plant, rather than "damage, as such" - I have some peonies in marginal locations that will produce "dud buds" like that - a half-hearted attempt that never makes it to being a flower. Of course, I don't know what your's looked like before this - there might be some sort of damage going on, but my experience suggests "improve soil and/or light condition for an overall healthier plant" as being the root cause for similar things that I see.

Though zooming in, that looks more "eaten" than I gathered in the zoomed out view.

Ecnerwal
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