Ants in my...palms

[dp92651]

Has anyone had issues with ants causing deformities with their palms? I have a foxtail thats been throwing off deformed or almost bare spears. I cut through the base a bit (part covered by an old frond) to discover a bunch of ants in there, a lot of white and black material. 

Does anyone have experience with this? How to solve the problem? 

[Las Palmas Norte]

I have a similar situation with P. canariensis., however my problem is / was with a small squirrel. I gathered seeds, nuts etc down it the center emerging fronds also chewing the fresh new growth. It should out grow the deformities.

As for ants, there's lots of remedies natural and chemical to rid it of ants. Applications may have to be repeated after rains or if they persist. Local nurseries and garden centers usually have a selection of these.

You should find their source and eradicate them from there as well.

Cheers, Barrie.

 

Edited March 22, 2016 by Las Palmas Norte

[Bruh]

The ants might be farming or protecting some kind of pest. The black and white material you mentioned reminds me of palm aphids. A photo of whats going on might help some of the more experienced people assess the problem though.

I had a bunch of ants crawling on one of my outdoor potted palms(a Pritchardia of some kind). Turned out to be an aphid problem and insecticidal soap seems to kill them but it has to make contact, which can be difficult when the aphids are clustered in between folds on the new spear/fronds. I used an outdoor liquid ant bait/trap to get rid of the ants and now I see lady bugs walking on the fronds, so I'm hoping they'll be able to control the problem for me now.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Bruh

[Steve Mac]

I have had that, I just insecticide the area, that works well enough for me,

I just work on a reactive basis whenever I see evidence of any insect pests.

I have just had a rat defoliate a whole lot of chamys, it did so much damage in such a short time before I could react to it,

that in future I shall be acting proactively with rodenticide for that problem.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Ants don't hang out for no reason and I've never seen them damage a palm.  I'd bet money they are in the spear eating insects or larvae that are damaging your plant as Bruh suggested.  The only positive of the fire ants that we have  is that they are exceptional pest controllers.  Once the pest is eliminated they move on looking for more food.

[dp92651]

Thanks for the help! 

[Pando]

On ‎3‎/‎22‎/‎2016‎ ‎11‎:‎00‎:‎51‎, dp92651 said:

Has anyone had issues with ants causing deformities with their palms? I have a foxtail thats been throwing off deformed or almost bare spears. I cut through the base a bit (part covered by an old frond) to discover a bunch of ants in there, a lot of white and black material. 

Does anyone have experience with this? How to solve the problem? 

While ants themselves don't damage the palm, they farm and protect scale insects that do cause damage to the plants. They hunt down and kill other beneficial insects that normally feed on and keep scale under control. If you see ants around palms, chances are they are there because of scale, which is probably that white and black material you saw.

Get rid of ants and your palms will be healthier. I use Termidor SC sparingly and carefully, but it's 100% effective.

[dmd]

I bought manganese online and mixed the white powder with water and use it weekly on the base of my palm. It was amazing. Where the fronds were deformed and probably had "Frizzle top,"  they quickly recovered and now the spears are long and full. But I came on to this post because the palm has ants and I was wondering if they are doing damage. We also still have some white and black substance high by the fronds. I think I will try insecticidal soap as someone mentioned. But overall, the foxtail palm is thriving whereas prior to the manganese (5 lb bag for $17 on Amazon and I bought the 1 lb first but should have bought the larger size), we were going to cut it down because we thought it was too far gone.  Good luck.

[joe_OC]

Whenever I see ants in palm crowns, I know aphids or mealybugs are close by.  The ants “farm” these bugs for their honeydew.  

I had a kentia that looked like it had leaning crown syndrome.   I noticed a lot of ant activity on the trunk.  When I got on my ladder and inspected the crown, it was filled with ants, mealy bugs, and scale.  I soaked the crown and each leaf base with an  insecticide.

A year later, the palm fronds are no longer droopy and the crown has straitened up.

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by joe_OC

[Denise Padilla]

My queen palm trunk is damage by ants everyone that comes to my house n see’s it says that…. I need to get rid of it!