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The best way to get rid of Argentine ants is to place Advion bait gel stations at each corner of the house, then treat the scale insects and aphids on nearby trees and shrubs that are feeding the colony. Indoor activity usually drops within a few days, and the plant treatment is what turns a quick win into permanent control because Argentine ants are network driven and the honeydew from scale insects fuels the entire supercolony.
TL;DR: How To Treat And Control Argentine Ants
- Don’t bait inside the house. That recruits more ants in.
- Wipe up sugar spills and kill any visible indoor ants with a household cleaner or whatever ant spray you have.
- Place an Advion Ant Bait Gel Station at each of the four corners of your house, plus one outside the wall closest to any indoor trail. Add stations along any trail you can see in the yard.
- Wait 1 to 2 days for the bait to start moving through the network, then treat the honeydew source on nearby trees and shrubs with BioAdvanced 12-Month Tree & Shrub granules.
- If activity persists after 2 weeks, perimeter-spray with imidacloprid (Dominion 2L from DoMyOwn or Atticus Mineiro 2F from Amazon) around the foundation, base of trees, and as high into the canopy as your sprayer reaches.
- Reapply bait and granules seasonally to keep the supercolony from rebuilding.
Keep reading for the full breakdown. ↓
What You Need
For most Argentine ant problems, the bait alone gets them out of the house fast. The plant treatment is what keeps them gone.
Advion Ant Gel Stations
Ready‑to‑use ant bait stations with indoxacarb for fast, full‑colony elimination indoors or outdoors.
- Targets 10+ ant species including ghost, Argentine, little black, pavement, and more
- Horizontal transfer wipes out the entire colony — queen included
- MetaActive formula activates only inside target pests
- No‑mess design — squeeze the capsule, bait stays contained
- Use anywhere ants trail: kitchens, patios, apartments, restaurants, commercial sites
Available on Amazon!
Competitive pricing + Fast Free shipping on all orders!
Advion Ant Bait Gel Label – Advion Ant Bait Gel MSDS
Advion uses indoxacarb in a sweet gel matrix. Indoxacarb is a slow-kill active that Argentine ants carry back through their supercolony network and share through trophallaxis (mouth-to-mouth food sharing). The slow timing matters with this species because Argentine ants don’t have a single nest you can hit. The network has to be poisoned from within, and that requires workers to keep moving, keep sharing, and not die at the bait station.
Argentine ants are not a normal ant problem. They’re a supercolony, which means a single connected network of nests can span your yard, your neighbor’s yard, and several properties down the block. Workers move freely between nests with no aggression. There is no single point of failure you can hit to collapse it. Indoxacarb gets distributed through the network the same way the ants distribute everything else they eat, which is why it’s the right active for this species when nothing else seems to work.
In most cases, the bait stations alone clear the indoor problem fast. The plant treatment in step 5 is what makes the result hold.
Signs You Have Argentine Ants
- Wide, busy trails with huge numbers of workers. Argentine ant trails look disproportionate to a normal ant colony. They’re organized, fast-moving, and dense. If you’re looking at hundreds of ants per minute crossing one spot, that’s the supercolony signature.
- Uniform light to medium brown color, 2.2 to 2.8 mm long. Small, all the same color, all the same size. No major and minor workers like fire ants.
- No stinger, no bite worth mentioning. They don’t sting and they barely bite, which is one of the few things going for them.
- No smell when crushed. No coconut, no rotten odor. If crushing the ants gives off a strong rotten-coconut smell, you have odorous house ants, not Argentine ants.
- No heart-shaped abdomen. That rules out acrobat ants. Argentine ants have a normal rounded abdomen.
- Indoor invasions after heavy rain. Saturated outdoor nests push workers indoors looking for dry ground.
Argentine Ants vs Other Sweet-Feeding Ants
Three species get confused with Argentine ants constantly. Here’s the quick split:
| Feature | Argentine Ants | White-Footed Ants | Odorous House Ants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size | 2.2 to 2.8 mm | 2.5 to 3 mm | 2.4 to 3.3 mm |
| Color | Uniform light brown | Dark brown with pale yellow legs | Dark brown to black |
| Smell when crushed | None | None | Strong rotten coconut |
| Trail behavior | Wide, fast, organized | Heavy, slower trails | Tight trails, often along edges |
| Where they nest | Soil, mulch, tree roots | Wall voids, soffits, shrubs | Wall voids, mulch, under stones |
If the ants are pale-legged or smell like rotten coconut when squished, you’re on the wrong page. Click through to the right species
Why They’re In Your Yard
Argentine ants don’t randomly choose a property. They show up because the food and moisture work for them.
Honeydew from scale insects and aphids. This is the biggest driver, and it’s the one most homeowners and many pest control companies miss. Scale insects, aphids, and mealybugs on landscape trees and shrubs secrete a sugary liquid called honeydew. Argentine ants harvest it, defend the bugs producing it, and build the entire supercolony’s food supply around it. If you have an Argentine ant problem, there is almost always a scale or aphid issue in the landscape feeding it.
After 25 years of treating these ants, the case I remember most was a five-story condominium in Stuart, Florida built around an enclosed courtyard full of mature oaks. The previous company had been baiting for months with no result. The trees were covered in scale, the air didn’t circulate, and the honeydew supply was effectively infinite. The ants weren’t there for bait or for the building. They were there for the dripping sugar in the trees. Once the scale got treated systemically, the ants left the property and didn’t come back for six years. The ants were the symptom. The scale was the disease.
- Moist soil and irrigation. Argentine ants like cool, moist soil. Overwatered foundation beds, leaky irrigation heads, and dense mulch right against the structure all create ideal nesting conditions.
- Mulch beds and pavers against the foundation. Both hold moisture and create protected satellite nesting spots inches from the house.
- Trees and shrubs touching the structure. Branches in contact with siding, gutters, or the roof are highways. Argentine ant trails run up tree trunks, across branches, and right onto the house.
- Heavy rain. Saturated outdoor nests displace workers indoors. The few days after a major storm are when most homeowners first notice them.
How to Get Rid of Argentine Ants – Step by Step
Step 1: Clean Up Food and Kill Visible Indoor Ants
Wipe up sugar spills, sticky drink rings, fruit residue on counters, and anything sweet sitting out. Take the trash out. Rinse the recycling.
For any Argentine ants you can see indoors right now, wipe them up with a damp cloth and an all-purpose cleaner, or hit them with whatever household ant spray or vinegar solution you have. The point isn’t colony control. The point is to stop the visible emergency in your kitchen while the real treatment goes to work outside.
Step 2: Don’t Bait Indoors
This is the rule that separates a fast win from a 3-week kitchen disaster.
Argentine ant supercolonies are huge. If you place sweet gel bait inside the house, you don’t kill the network faster. You recruit hundreds more workers from outside to come in and feed. The trail thickens. The homeowner panics, sprays the trail, ruins the bait, and ends up worse off than they started.
Bait outside. Always. The workers will carry the active ingredient back to the network from the exterior placements just as effectively, and the kitchen stays clear.
Step 3: Place Advion Bait Gel Stations Outside
Place one Advion Ant Bait Gel Station at each of the four corners of the house, low to the ground, tucked against the foundation where the station is protected from direct sun and heavy rain but the ants can still find it.
If you see active trails in the yard, on trees, along fence lines, or running up utility lines, add stations along those trails too. The more bait points the foragers can hit, the faster the network declines.
If ants are already trailing inside the house, place an extra station on the OUTSIDE wall closest to where the indoor trail comes through. The foragers running inside are leaving from a nest outside, and intercepting them at that exterior point shuts the indoor trail down within a few days.
Advion Ant Gel Stations
Ready‑to‑use ant bait stations with indoxacarb for fast, full‑colony elimination indoors or outdoors.
- Targets 10+ ant species including ghost, Argentine, little black, pavement, and more
- Horizontal transfer wipes out the entire colony — queen included
- MetaActive formula activates only inside target pests
- No‑mess design — squeeze the capsule, bait stays contained
- Use anywhere ants trail: kitchens, patios, apartments, restaurants, commercial sites
Available on Amazon!
Competitive pricing + Fast Free shipping on all orders!
Step 4: Don’t Use Repellent Sprays on the Trails
This is the step homeowners get wrong most often with Argentine ants.
Most over-the-counter ant sprays (Raid, Ortho Home Defense, the perimeter products from big box stores) are repellent pyrethroids. Repellent sprays on Argentine ant trails do not kill the supercolony. The network detects the disruption, the trail reroutes, and the workers redistribute through the supercolony’s connected nests. The result looks like the ants “moved” or “spread” – they didn’t, the network just reorganized around the chemical barrier.
It’s fine to spray visible ants inside the house in the moment to stop a kitchen emergency. It is not fine to spray every trail you find in the yard. That makes the problem worse, not better.
The only spray that belongs on Argentine ant trails outside is non-repellent chemistry – imidacloprid in step 6 below. Until then, let the bait do the work.
Step 5: After 1 to 2 Days, Treat the Scale or Aphid Source
Give the bait a day or two to start moving through the network, then look at the trees and shrubs on the property for scale insects and aphids.
Scale insects look like small bumps on twigs, branches, and the undersides of leaves. They don’t move. Aphids are soft-bodied, pear-shaped, often green or black, and cluster on new growth. Sticky residue on lower leaves, sticky spots on the driveway under a tree, or black sooty mold on leaves are all signs that something above is producing honeydew.
The easiest fix for a homeowner is BioAdvanced 12-Month Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed Granules.
Scatter the granules around the base of any affected tree or shrub and water them in. The plant takes up the imidacloprid systemically along with the fertilizer in the product (and that fertilizer is doing real work – it’s what triggers the plant to actively pull the insecticide upward through its vascular tissue). Within several days the scale and aphids feeding on the plant die from the inside out, and the honeydew supply dries up.
BioAdvanced 12 Month Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed
A granular, no‑spray systemic treatment that feeds your trees and shrubs while protecting them from borers, beetles, aphids, and other destructive insects for up to 12 months.
- Kills borers, beetles, aphids, adelgids, leafminers, and other common tree/shrub pests
- Protects for up to 12 months with one application
- Built‑in fertilizer helps plants absorb the systemic insecticide more effectively
- No spraying or mixing — measure, sprinkle at the base, and water in
- Ideal for trees, shrubs, and container plants needing long‑term protection
Available on Amazon!
Competitive pricing + Fast Free shipping on all orders!
Critical timing note. When the scale crashes, the supercolony loses its primary food source overnight and starts looking for alternatives. That is exactly when an Argentine ant network will push hardest into a house if there’s no other food option in front of them. This is why the Advion bait stations went out in step 3, before the scale treatment. The bait is staged and ready for the hungry network. Without it, you can solve the scale problem and create a worse indoor ant problem the same week.
This product is for ornamental plants, trees, and shrubs only. Not labeled for vegetable gardens or fruit trees. If your honeydew source is on edible plants, you’ll want to handle those separately with an organic option appropriate for food crops.
Step 6: Perimeter Spray With Imidacloprid (Only If Activity Continues)
In most cases, the bait stations plus the BioAdvanced granules are enough. The indoor trails clear in days, the outdoor trails fade over the next 2 weeks, and you’re done.
If you’re still seeing meaningful trail activity 10 to 14 days after the bait went out, or if the property has large untreated trees that won’t take up granules fast enough, perimeter spraying with an imidacloprid concentrate covers the bases the other steps can’t reach.
Mineiro 2F Flex (Imidacloprid 21.4%)
Non‑repellent concentrate for ants, perimeter control, termites, and systemic treatment of scale and other plant pests.
- Perimeter ant treatment — Mix 0.6 fl oz per gallon of water. Apply around the base of the home, entry points, and along foundation edges.
- Ant trails on vegetation — Mix 0.6 fl oz per gallon and spray shrubs, branches, and plant trails leading to the home.
- Scale, aphids, mealybugs on ornamentals — Mix 0.6 fl oz per gallon and spray foliage, undersides of leaves, and stems.
- Systemic root drench for scale — Mix 0.2–0.4 fl oz per gallon and apply to soil at the base of affected plants.
- Non‑repellent mode of action — Ants don’t detect it, so they continue foraging and transfer it through the colony.
- Great for honeydew‑dependent ants — Ideal for Argentine, White‑Footed, and Acrobat ants that follow plant trails.
Available on Amazon!
Dominion 2L (Imidacloprid 21.4%)
Professional non‑repellent concentrate for ants, termites, and plant pests like scale, aphids, and mealybugs.
- Perimeter ant treatment — Mix 0.6 fl oz per gallon. Spray around the foundation, entry points, and along edges where ants trail.
- Ant trails on vegetation — Mix 0.6 fl oz per gallon and spray shrubs, branches, and plant trails leading to the home.
- Scale, aphids, mealybugs on ornamentals — Mix 0.6 fl oz per gallon and spray foliage, undersides of leaves, stems, and trunks.
- Systemic soil drench for scale — Mix 0.2–0.4 fl oz per gallon and pour at the base of affected plants.
- Termite trenching — Mix 0.8 fl oz per gallon and apply 4 gallons per 10 linear feet of trench.
- Non‑repellent mode of action — Ants don’t detect it, so they continue foraging and transfer it through the colony.
- Ideal for honeydew‑dependent ants — Excellent for Argentine, White‑Footed, and Acrobat ants.
Competitive pricing + Fast Free shipping on all orders!
These two products are the same active ingredient at the same concentration. Pick whichever is cheaper or in stock. Mix at the label rate (usually around 0.6 fl oz per gallon for general ant control, but read your label) in a pump or battery-powered sprayer.
Where to spray:
- A 3-foot band along the foundation perimeter, 1 foot up the exterior wall
- Around all windows, doors, and utility entry points
- Mulch beds and landscape borders touching the structure
- Under and around pavers and stepping stones
- Driveway seams and edges
- Tree bases, trunks, and as high into the canopy as your sprayer reaches
- Tree crotches and rotted wood pockets
- Shrubs, vines, and any plant touching the house
On tree height: the Argentine ant network lives up in the canopy with the scale. A foundation-only spray leaves the satellite nests 20 feet overhead untouched. A battery-powered backpack sprayer that reaches 25 to 30 feet into the canopy is what professionals use for properties with large mature trees, and it’s worth renting or borrowing one if your situation calls for it.
Imidacloprid is non-repellent. The ants don’t detect it, so they walk through it, pick up the active ingredient, and transfer it through the network like the bait does. Used together, the bait, the granules, and the perimeter spray hit the supercolony from three directions at once.
What Doesn’t Work
A few things that come up over and over online that waste time or make Argentine ants worse.
- Spraying Raid or any repellent insecticide on outdoor trails. Causes the network to reroute and pop up somewhere else. Doesn’t kill anything that matters. Save Raid for the emergency indoor ants you can see.
- Vinegar, peppermint oil, lemon juice on the trail. Disrupts the pheromone trail briefly. The supercolony reroutes and the trail comes back the next day. Vinegar is fine for wiping ants up off a kitchen counter in the moment. It is not a treatment.
- Indoor baiting in the kitchen with thousands of ants on the counter. This is the most common DIY mistake. Indoor bait recruits more workers from outside. The trail explodes. Bait outside, always, even when the ants are inside.
- Treating only the foundation while ignoring the trees. This is the #1 reason DIY Argentine ant treatments stall. The supercolony’s food supply is up in the canopy. Treating the ground while leaving scale-infested trees alone produces a temporary dip and a permanent reinfestation.
- Single-property treatment in a supercolony neighborhood. In neighborhoods with continuous canopy and active irrigation, the supercolony can span a whole block. One property’s treatment helps, but ongoing pressure from neighbors means perimeter maintenance has to be seasonal, not one-and-done.
How to Keep Argentine Ants From Coming Back
Ranked by impact.
- Treat trees and shrubs for scale and aphids every spring. Single biggest long-term lever. A property with scale-free landscaping is dramatically less attractive than one with chronic honeydew production. Make BioAdvanced granules part of your spring routine and most Argentine ant problems never restart.
- Trim all branches and vegetation away from contact with the house. No branch should touch the roof, siding, or gutters. This single change cuts ant access to the structure significantly.
- Cut back on irrigation around the foundation. Argentine ants love moist soil. If your sprinklers run daily and the soil stays wet, you’re maintaining ideal habitat regardless of what you spray.
- Pull mulch back 6 to 12 inches from the foundation. Creates a dry zone they don’t want to cross.
- Reapply the perimeter spray after heavy rain. Rain washes imidacloprid out of the top inch of soil over time. In rainy seasons, refresh the perimeter every 30 to 45 days.
- Talk to your neighbors. Argentine ant supercolonies don’t respect property lines. Even one neighbor on a similar bait and granule schedule cuts your long-term pressure substantially.
Edge Cases Where DIY Hits a Wall
For Argentine ants themselves, DIY handles every case I’ve seen in 25 years when the bait + plant treatment approach is followed correctly. The bait is slow but the result is durable, and most homeowners just need patience to let the network die from the inside out.
Where DIY genuinely struggles is the neighborhood scale problem. In areas with continuous tree canopy and multiple untreated properties feeding one big supercolony, one homeowner doing everything right will still see periodic pressure rebuild. That’s not a failure of the treatment. That’s the geography of the supercolony, and it requires ongoing seasonal maintenance rather than a one-time fix.
The other thing to watch for: if you can’t reach the canopy of large trees with any sprayer you have access to, the BioAdvanced granules around the root zone are the answer. They’re slower (allow a couple weeks for full systemic uptake) but they reach the scale where a homeowner-grade sprayer can’t.
Dominion 2L Label – Domion 2L MSDS
FAQ’s Argentine Ants
IDENTIFICATION & BEHAVIOR
What are Argentine ants?
Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) are an invasive ant species originally from South America. They form massive supercolonies with multiple queens and no territorial aggression between nests. They are found across warm, humid regions worldwide and are one of the most difficult ant species to manage because treating a visible trail does not address the network driving it.
How do I know if I have Argentine ants?
Look for a wide, well-organized trail of small, uniform light-brown ants — typically 2.2 to 2.8 mm — moving in large numbers. They have no heart-shaped abdomen, no strong odor when crushed, and no stinger. Trails are often found along pavement edges, plant stems, window frames, and sill plates. The trail volume is often the most noticeable feature — Argentine ant trails look like ant highways compared to what most species produce.
Why are Argentine ants considered invasive?
They form enormous supercolonies, don’t fight each other, and can overwhelm native ant species. Their ability to merge colonies makes them extremely difficult to eliminate with small, localized treatments.
Do Argentine ants sting or bite?
No functional stinger. They can bite but almost never do in normal circumstances. They are a nuisance and structural pest — not a medical threat.
Why do Argentine ants show up after rain?
Rain saturates outdoor nest sites and forces foragers to move. The nearest dry, food-containing environment is your home. Expect indoor activity in the days following heavy rainfall on any property with established Argentine ant pressure nearby.
How do Argentine ants differ from acrobat ants?
Acrobat ants have a distinctive heart-shaped abdomen and raise it over their head when disturbed. Argentine ants have no such feature and show no such behavior. Acrobat ants nest primarily in moisture-damaged wood. Argentine ants nest in soil, mulch, and landscape vegetation. Treatment approaches differ significantly — see the comparison table above.
Argentine ants move in smooth, organized trails and are more uniform in size.
If you crush one, Argentine ants give off a musty or greasy odor, which is a reliable confirmation. Acrobat ants have a faint unpleasant smell too, but the trail behavior is the quickest way to separate them in the field.
How bad can an Argentine ant infestation get?
They can be a serious problem. In heavy infestations, Argentine ants can be living in virtually every tree surrounding a home, trailing constantly across the structure, and farming honeydew pests throughout the landscape.
It stops being a minor nuisance and becomes something affecting the whole property.
Because their supercolonies can span entire neighborhoods, one yard can be heavily infested while the problem is actually rooted much further out.
Why do Argentine ants come inside after heavy rain?
Heavy rain and flooding can displace Argentine ant colonies that were nesting in low-lying areas, under mulch, or in soil that gets saturated.
When their nesting sites flood, they get on the move and start looking for higher, drier ground — which sometimes means inside your home.
This is true of many ground-nesting ants, not just Argentine ants.
If you see a sudden surge of ant activity during or after a heavy rain event, flooded outdoor nesting sites are likely the cause.
NESTING & ROOT CAUSES
Where do Argentine ants nest?
Primarily outdoors in moist soil — around irrigated landscape plants, in mulch beds, under pavers, along irrigation lines, at tree bases, and in tree crotches. Indoor sightings are foraging extensions of outdoor colonies. The main colony is almost always outside.
Why do Argentine ants keep coming back?
Usually because the outdoor network was not addressed, the honeydew source on nearby plants was not treated, or supercolony pressure from neighboring properties is rebuilding after treatment. Argentine ants come back when the conditions that support them have not changed.
How do I know if my plants are attracting Argentine ants?
Look for sticky or shiny leaf surfaces, black sooty mold, visible scale clusters or aphid colonies on new growth, and ant trails running up plant stems and trunks into the canopy. Any of these indicate an active honeydew source feeding the colony.
Can Argentine ants travel through power lines?
Yes. They commonly use power drops and utility lines as highways into homes, especially when vegetation touches those lines.
Where do Argentine ants nest outdoors?
Almost anywhere. They’re not picky. Common nesting spots include under mulch, in loose soil, under stepping stones and pavers, around stumps, under debris, and in leaf litter.
They’ll also nest in tree crotches and vegetation touching the structure.
If there’s a damp, sheltered spot outdoors, Argentine ants will consider it suitable.
That’s part of what makes them so persistent — there’s rarely just one nest to find and eliminate.
TREATMENT & PRODUCTS
What’s the best bait for Argentine ants indoors?
Use Ant‑Trax Bait (best) or Advion Ant Gel. Apply small, controlled placements near active trails or use a ½‑pea‑sized drop on a disposable surface.
Should I bait indoors if I don’t see ants inside?
No. Baiting where ants are not yet trailing can draw them into new areas. Bait only where active trails exist, and place that bait outdoors near the entry point rather than inside the home.
Why is outdoor spraying necessary for Argentine ants?
Because the colony is outdoors. Indoor treatment addresses foragers. Outdoor treatment addresses the source. Without the outdoor program, indoor activity rebuilds continuously from the untreated exterior network.
What should I use to spray for Argentine ants?
Imidacloprid applied around the full perimeter and directly to infested plants. It works as both a perimeter treatment and a systemic plant treatment that eliminates honeydew-producing insects. For indoor bait, Ant-Trax or Advion Ant Bait Gel placed near outdoor entry points.
Should I add a surfactant to my spray mix?
A surfactant is optional but helpful. It improves coverage and helps the spray stick better to bark, leaves, and rough surfaces. The treatment still works without it, but a surfactant gives you a slight performance boost.
Do I need to spray trees and shrubs too?
If scale insects, aphids, or mealybugs are present — yes, absolutely. The honeydew those insects produce is the primary food source keeping the colony active on the property. Treating ants while leaving the honeydew source intact produces temporary results at best.
How do I use BioAdvanced granules as an alternative to spraying trees?
Scatter granules around the base of the plant and water them in thoroughly. Choose a product that contains both imidacloprid and plant food — the fertilizer component drives active uptake through the plant’s vascular system. Allow several days for the product to work upward through the plant. Have bait staged and ready before the scale crashes, because a hungry supercolony will start looking for alternative food sources quickly.
INDOOR ACTIVITY
Why are Argentine ants coming inside my house?
They enter homes when outdoor food sources dry up, after rain, or when they find easy access points like branches touching the structure or utility lines.
Will indoor sprays get rid of Argentine ants?
Indoor sprays may kill the ants you see, but they won’t eliminate the colony. Baiting indoors (only if needed) and spraying outdoors is the correct approach.
How long does it take for bait to work?
Most indoor trails respond within a few days. Larger colonies may take up to a week depending on how many satellite nests are feeding on the bait.
PREVENTION & LONG‑TERM CONTROL
How do I prevent Argentine ants from coming back?
Maintain a non-repellent perimeter treatment, keep scale and aphid infestations on plants treated, reduce irrigation around the foundation, pull mulch back from the structure, trim all vegetation away from contact with the building, and reapply after significant rainfall events.
Do Argentine ants return every year?
In warm climates where they are established year-round, yes — ongoing management is the realistic expectation. In neighborhoods with large tree canopy and consistent moisture, supercolony pressure is a continuous condition. The goal is to keep them out of the structure and minimize their presence on the property, not to achieve permanent neighborhood-wide elimination from a single treatment.
Do I need to treat my plants for aphids or scale?
If you see sticky leaves or black mold, yes. Treating honeydew pests removes a major food source and helps break the cycle of re-invasion.
Other Sweet‑Feeding Ants Homeowners Commonly Mistake for Argentine Ants
If the ants you’re seeing are trailing to plants, moisture areas, or anything sugary, they may be one of the other common sweet‑feeding species that show up when scale or aphids are producing honeydew.