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Ants Inside a Tree? (1 Viewer)

Johnny Angell

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My wife pruned a branch off our beautiful Japanese Maple and very small ants came crawling out. We also see them in the crotch of the tree. Are they damaging the tree?

I forgot to mention these are tiny ants and the tree is close to our house.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Not sure if they will damage the tree, but they WILL get into your house. The Ortho Home Defense works pretty well with these li'l bastards; spray it around the outside bottom edge of your house, all the way around. Also look into a way to get at 'em at the source without hurting the tree, if there is one.
 

Clinton McClure

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Carpenter ants would definitely cause a lot of damage to the tree but I don't know if sugar ants (I'm assuming that's what you are talking about) would cause much damage. I normally see them in the ground here and not in trees.
 

Johnny Angell

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I found one article that stated that ants don't kill trees. They are interested in the dead wood, they don't eat the living wood.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Carpenter ants would definitely cause a lot of damage to the tree but I don't know if sugar ants (I'm assuming that's what you are talking about) would cause much damage. I normally see them in the ground here and not in trees.

There are certain trees that they like. There were two orchid trees in my yard that are like sugar ant Meccas; one was removed by the previous owner, while the other we need to keep an eye on because it's too nice of a tree to destroy.
 

Aaron Silverman

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I found one article that stated that ants don't kill trees. They are interested in the dead wood, they don't eat the living wood.

Carpenter ants don't eat wood the way termites do; they just like to make tunnels. That's why they're a hassle but not quite the property threat that termites are.
 

Stan

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My wife pruned a branch off our beautiful Japanese Maple and very small ants came crawling out. We also see them in the crotch of the tree. Are they damaging the tree?

I forgot to mention these are tiny ants and the tree is close to our house.

Similar situation a few years ago. Beautiful Japanese Maple, loads of ants. Sprinkled Diazanon on them (totally illegal, it's been banned for years, but my grandparents had a container of it). Worked great, until I discovered all they did was move after their buddies died. Ended up living under my patio. Older home, crack in the patio and they moved in. Bringing up piles of sand as they built their new homes.

They also snuck in under my back door, went straight for the cat food. Just this little line of hundreds of ants coming in and carrying whatever they found back outside.

Didn't want to poison my dog, so poured boiling water into the crack. Took a few tries, but worked surprisingly well. Killed most of them. The few survivors cleaned up their nests, hauling out the dead bodies of their friends, literally thousands of dead ants, but the neighborhood birds loved it and cleaned everything up. Fascinating how nature works.

Finally got rid of them and have been ant free for years.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I suggest that as soon as you possibly can you screen Phase IV...



I really don't have anything else here other than you could also get a pet aardvark and name him Arnie...

aardvark.JPG


aardvark 2.jpg
 
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Winston T. Boogie

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Wow, that is one ugly animal. Must have been at the back of the list when God was handing out genes and cuteness to the creatures we live with :cool:

Well, I am sure when one aardvark regards another aardvark there is a sense of joy that another of his/her kind exists and he/she might get to know them. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and understanding even aardvarks get the blues...
 

Aaron Silverman

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Another option that has been working well for me on occasion is the Amdro pellets.

A few days ago, I sprinkled some around some ant trails, and this crazy horny duck that spent the whole day attacking his own reflection in my sliding glass doors (to the point of bleeding all over them) ate most of it. I expected that to be the last we'd see of him, but the next day he was back!

We taped some plastic garbage bags over the bottom of the doors to block the glass, and he wandered off. We did see him approaching a house a few doors down later, though. :)

I gave it another sprinkle after that. Wish us luck. . .
 

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