If your veggie plants have ants on them, it just might not be aphids that are the cause. Yesterday I found ants again on the Red Noodle beans up near the flowers even though I thought I had won the aphid battle with these beans. But a closer look revealed the real reason. There weren't any aphids.
These beans also have the extrafloral nectaries that I discovered on the field peas last year! In the case of the field peas, it was a ton of flying things from wasps and bees to other things all over the field pea blooms. What the heck are they all after? I can’t see any kind of bug and the flowers usually aren’t open. In fact, even if the flowers are open, the insects aren’t interested in them. Inquiring minds have to know! And I found an amazing answer at
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in175
Apparently they’re after nectar. The peas and the Red Noodle beans are among 2000 plant species in more than 64 plant families that have these special little structures called “extrafloral nectaries”, meaning they are nectar producing bodies that are outside the flowers. The nectar is 95% sugar and the other 5% has a wide array of amino acids and other nutrients. No wonder all the flying things are having a ball!
In the photo the nectaries are the small bumps with little pores in them, located on the stem right between the base of the flower buds. And the Red Noodle beans have them too. Ta-daaaa! Mystery solved.
For sure these nectaries attract a pile of pollinators and beneficials. If you search “extrafloral nectaries” you can find lists of other types of plants that have these structures that make wonderful attractors of beneficials.