Are ants/flies a threat to a raspberry bush?

Question

Ants in my garden seem to especially love this raspberry bush at the moment.

I also notice these two little things that look like tiny flies sitting on the leaves- except they are not moving, like dead flies. Ants seem to be hanging out around them, but I haven't seen them actually take a fly anywhere.

Just curious, should I take action on the flies? Or the ants? I'm keeping my eyes on the leaves for leaf miners, and on the ground for aphids, but otherwise just letting the ecosystem do it's thing.

Answer 1

Aphids inhabit leaves and shoots, particularly new shoots - ants 'farm' them to collect their honeydew, so it might be that the tiny black flies are actually aphids. I've magnified the pictures, but can't see clearly what the little black thing is, but they are most likely aphids - they tend not to move because they're sucking sap from your plant. Seems odd that the ant is there tending only one or two aphids though, but ants don't eat plants - they might chew off a bit of leaf for other purposes in their nests, but that's it. Keep any eye on it and treat for aphids if it becomes necessary. Usually, once the aphids are gone, so are the ants.