Ants and trees

davidryan820

We have ants in our garden and for most of the season they have stayed in the beds and away from any of my "bonsai" trees. I have noticed the ants have moved onto a alberta spruce I have near my trees and they are all over it! I have also seen these ants completely cover an aspen sapling that is a sucker from one of our larger trees. The sapling was brown and shriveled the next day. So you can understand my concern. I should also mention that I have seen these ants on larger spruces in my backyard and it seems they have an affinity for the sap-- I think. I have even found my dog with ants on around her mouth-- she doesn't know what to leave alone as she's still a pup.

So-- my question is-- what do I do to rid our garden of ants and keep them from my trees. We have just finished a monsoon and have received a healthy 8 inches of rain in a week so things are eager to grow and likewise, I have seen a ton of bugs, too.

Just to be clear, the ants are not on my bonsai trees yet but they are all around them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

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zube

David, look closely at the trees. Very often when you have a lot of ants it's because you have an aphid problem, in my experience. The ants 'herd' the aphids and get nectar or something similar from them.
zube

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davidryan820

Hey zube--

I do know about the aphid farming ants do. And I checked just for that and haven't found anything. I have found the ants hoarding around sap deposits on the spruces but have no idea why they'd ravage and kill an aspen sappling (except that maybe for the sugars). How small might aphids get-- I have looked very closely but nothing. Also, do aphids dwell on things as spruces? I always thought they'd choose a leafy, softer tissue to tap. As I mentioned we had a lot of rain recently and the bug population is way up but this week we're to get warmer and dryer conditions. Aphids don't last long in Colorado, I have seen-- but then again this is my first growing season here and this state is FULL of surprises.

zube

I'm sure you'd see aphids if you were looking for them. I usually thought of them on maples and trees like that as well, but this spring I had two small mugos absolutely covered with them, both aphids and ants.
Good luck,
zube

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Sorry doesn't put thumbs back on the hand, Marge.
H. Simpson

davidryan820

Then learning has occured here :-) I hate aphids. When they are numbered in the man, they make my stomach turn. I had no idea they'd attack conifers/evergreens like that. How did you rid your trees of the ants? Just remove the aphids?

Alasdair

A good stiff blast from the hose will serve to remove both aphids and ants. Sitting the feet of your pots in a small conatiner of water can create a barrier against ants (unless it dries out). Alternativly you could try wraping one of those sticky bands around the pots. The kind used to trap moths as they climb up fruit trees. Kind of like fly paper. That'll stop 'em.

Al

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rockm

Ants also farm scale insects, which are harder to spot, but also produce "honeydew" sugar secretions.. Ants don't harm trees. They are a symptom of something else. I would look harder at the trees to look for scale--they look like little limpet mines usually on stems...Follow the ants, they will start futzing around when they reach a scale

Mcspeed

One thing you can use is (Sp? is questionable) gardening variety of diotomaceous earth, sprinkle it around you stands, it's like the bugs having to crawl through broken glass, it shreds them and they aren't a problem anymore. You can put it around your house too to help keep the little bug(gers) in control.

Trying to beat someone to the punch, No I don't think it would be a good idea ontop of the bonsai soil, it pretty fine and would end up clogging the soil.

Da dunt da dunt da dunt dadunt da da da dada dunt. Or get an ant eater LOL

Good Luck
Bill

ElGringo

I work as a marine biologist and i just had to reply..

Diatoms are usually large phytoplankton that secrete a hard silicon shell to defend against herbivorous zooplankton, but is transparent enough to allow light into the cells for photosynthesis. When they die they sink to the sea floor and create the diatomeceous earth you describe.

In fact the crushed shells could technically be considered as a form of glass.

Bonsai related -

I have found ants all over my horse chestnut trees as they produce copious amounts of sap around new buds in the spring. The ants must like the sugary smell; there are no aphids. As soon as they touch the sap they get stuck to it and die! Just like the mosquito in 'Jurassic Park'.

But I have found that the water barrier works very well in any case, as there is a risk that ants may deliberately transport aphids to the bonsai from surrounding shrubs.

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Richard