Are ants good pollenators?

Question

I know bees are good for your garden, but I dont see many bees in my garden. there are lots of ants crawling on my flowering plants, though. will ants transfer pollen from flower to flower like bees do? will my tomatoes and peppers have fruit on them if they have not been pollenated by bees in the blooming stage?

Answer 1

Tomatoes don't need bees for pollination. They are self-fertile so the pollen doesn't have to be transferred to a different flower. However, they do need wind to shake up the flower and move the pollen from the stamen to the pistil. If you don't have any wind, then you can give the plant a good shake every day.

Answer 2

there are very few species of flower that depend on ants for pollination.... ants don't fly for one thing, so the cross pollination is limited to where they can walk to and from.... they don't carry pollen in something like the bees' 'basket's',  and don't have furry bodies to hang on to any..... plus, they're too good at piercing and stealing nectar and not going down into the flower where the pollen is, to start with.... so,  no, they're not good at it....