Trees offer visual appeal, fruit, and shade for outdoor spaces everywhere. These massive plants are typically an upholder of life, attracting numerous birds and insects. When a tree infested with ants is in your yard, it is usually due to other insects like mealybugs creating an abundant amount of honeydew, something ants love.
Honeydew: The Reason For a Tree Infested with Ants
Ants love honeydew. When they find a steady supply, ants will do anything to protect it. This reason is why ants tend to sap-feeding insects and to safeguard them from their natural predators in plants and trees.
Meanwhile, the pests are taking nutrients right from your trees.
Ants aren’t the only insects attracted to honeydew. Sooty mold colonies usually grow on the extra that ants leave behind, darkening the trunks and limbs of severely infested trees.
Sap-Feeders
Ants can turn into pests in trees when sap-feeders are plentiful. For the health of your tree and to get rid of visiting ants, sap-feeders must be destroyed. In little trees, you can usually wash them from the canopy with a garden hose or spray the pests with horticultural oil or insecticidal soap.
Large trees or severe infestations might necessitate a systemic insecticide such as imidacloprid to get rid of sap-feeding pests completely. Make sure to wait to put on this substance until the blooms have fallen since it can be deadly to bees.
Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants are the only ants that might be a risk to trees. When multicolored carpenter ants are on trees, it could be a sign that the tree is suffering from decay. These ants go into trees where decay is present.
In nature, carpenter ants aid in wood breaks down more swiftly. In landscapes, carpenter ants create problems.
Ant Control
Covering the tree with a paper tree band and putting a sticky barrier on the band prevents ants further access out or into the tree.
Use sweet ant baits to handle the ants sneaking across the ground. If you keep the bait stations filled, you should see a massive drop in the ant population in five days. Contact Durham Tree Service to perform a tree inspection for ants in your trees.
