The San Diego Ant Problem and Rapid Palm Death

[palmaddict]

I have resisted spraying my yard for ants but San Diego is known for the enormous problem with Argentinean ants who long ago invaded the shores of California. Unfortunately, there is no really effective predator for the ant and they thrive everywhere here. Anytime I am working in my garden which is rather thick with vegetation if you brush up against anything you come in contact with them and they are on you. Turn a rock over and you find a nest. Open a sprinkler box and there is another nest.

I have lost several smaller palms this summer to what I would attribute directly to the ants in that they work in the following manner:

1. They are found in high populations throughout the yard.

2. Having no predator they have nothing to fear.

3. They actively farm aphids (or other secreting insects) on any soft tissue vegetation. They will with great tenacity defend the aphids against any benefitial insect seeking to make a meal of the aphids.

4. The ants harvest a sweet secretion that the aphids produce and thus are a important nutrient source for the ants.

5. The sweet secretion is the perfect substrate for fungus to grow. Active colonies of aphids virtually guarantee the plants will be covered by a black fungus.

6. On young palms this black fungus along with the stress of being fed on often lead to palm or spear pulling and likely death.

I know my neighbors hire the exterminator companies that come in and spray everywhere but I just do want to do it. Just up the street a beautiful dog went into convulsions and ultimately died as he got into the yard too soon after it was sprayed. Well I have been frustrated with the occasional losses of small palms although as palms mature the ant invasion seem to subside quite a bit. Well as a preventive measure I am now going to spraying my yard every three to four weeks with neem oil to try and keep the aphids and fungus under control. It takes a couple of hours to cover everywhere. I have a feeling that the ants would just swim laps in the solution but if I can get rid of most of the aphids the fungus will also disappear. Neem oild works on many insects and fungi. I am hoping with the aphids and fungus gone, the ants will largely be an inconvenience I can live with.

I even refuse to spray insecticide on the inside of my house as every August/September I get several invasions of them. I just cut off whatever food source they have found and spray the trail of them with simple glass cleaner. What I really admire about the ants is that you don't even have to remove the dead ones. Come back the next day and the survivors have carried the carcasses way as if it was a sign of respect for the dead.

What are others doing to deal with them??

[Steve the palmreader]

Try terro ant baits . they seem to work for most ants

[granadahillsmike]

When you decide to get serious with ants buy this product (google it) Termidor SC

[Walter John]

We use ant dust over here, it works a treat.

[palmaddict]

So I looked up Termidor SC. It is clearly potent material and is not legal for homeowners in a number of states to purchase and apply themselves. Here is a feedback from someone who used it for Argentinean ants and the user knows something about ants.

After 3 years of battling Argentine ants with over the counter products I was starting to lose my mind. These are not your garden variety black ants. They are characterized by non-mounding multiple colonies, containing multiple queens, making genetically indistinguishable worker ants that can cohabitate multiple colonies and are remarkably resistant to common pesticides used by homeowners to treat the endogenous ants of north Texas. They drove out the common fire ant from the yard, and while they don't bite like the fire ant, their frequent invasions of the house are far more offensive. Treatment with indoor pesticides buys a day or two of peace. If you can find the individual colonies outside, they can be destroyed with an over the counter termiticide, but you won't find them all. The response to this kind of approach seems to be a super-compensatory production of queen ants and a massive colonial expansion, followed by an almost retaliatory invasion of the house. A moderately successful approach was to set 0.5% boric acid/25% sucrose bait traps around the perimeter of the house. This causes a slow decline in Argentine ants over a couple of weeks but does not eradicate them and they rebuild fairly quickly once the bait stations are depleted or removed. As it turns out, this is all well known to the myrmecologists and the pest control communities. There are several published studies which examine the efficacy of several treatment protocols (Klotz et al. Sociobiology 2007, Getty et al. Sociobiology 2009). Termidor was high on the list, with efficacies well over 90%, owing to its horizontal transfer properties. Unfortunately it is not available at retail stores, presumably due to environmental concerns.

Results:
20 oz of Termidor was purchased from Amazon.com (via Pest Mall) and received within 4 days. A solution of 0.8oz/gallon of water was prepared and administered via a pump sprayer to the edge of the foundation, perimeter of the flower beds, interior of bushes, fence line, and edge of side walk. Within 48 hours, ants were virtually indetectable. After years of frustration, I couldn't be more satisfied.

[PALM MOD]

There was an article in "Palms" a few years ago detailing this product and how well it worked on Argentinian Ants. If you had been an IPS Member you would be way ahead of the game by now.

[Gonzer]

I use Optigard with great success.

[BS Man about Palms]

Been happy with Termidor when I use it.

[KennyRE317]

I've gotten a few plants from the SD area and a coupleof palms were just swarming with ants, I just soaked the plant in soapy water for a bit and then flushed ot with fresh wawater

[ghar41]

  On 10/13/2013 at 12:11 AM, BS Man about Palms said:

Been happy with Termidor when I use it.

BS Man do you purchase online or locally? Do you spray it yourself?

I'm ready to use this stuff!

[BS Man about Palms]

Found on line a couple years ago.. yes I spray it myself.

[avb]

I have been using Bayer Advanced 12 month granules for a few years. The ants and other pests, mealy bug in particular, have been very successfully kept at bay and I'm extremely happy with the results. The ants and aphids are gone and don't return if you use it as recommended.

It's expensive, but I haven't found anything I like better. I also like the fact that it doesn't have to be sprayed, which means I'm not breathing any stray vapors or mist.

[MattyB]

I highly recommend. Termidor for Argentine ants invasion. Please spray ground trails only. DO NOT SPRAY NEAR ANY FLOWERING PLANTS.! The ants will go up and transfer the TSC to the bees and kill an entire colony of bees.. just spray a little bit on a trail and that'll kill the whole colony. Bee responsible.

[richnorm]

You could try burying a bag of sugar. An old timer recently told me of this trick but I have not tried it yet. We get Argentine ants too but not so many.

[Justin]

What does burying the bag of sugar do?

[Gonzer]

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:55 PM, Justin said:

What does burying the bag of sugar do?

Sweetens the soil.

[ghar41]

Vendor on ebay told me they cant ship to CA. Am I ordering correct: Termidor SC Termite Ant Control 9.1% Fipronil Insecticide?

[richnorm]

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:55 PM, Justin said:

What does burying the bag of sugar do?

Becomes their food source so they leave your plants alone and stay out of your house! Could be mixed with DE I suppose. Not saying it works, never tried it.

[ghar41]

  On 10/10/2013 at 12:48 AM, granadahillsmike said:

When you decide to get serious with ants buy this product (google it) Termidor SC

After trying almost all of the other products mentioned here and from other sources, I tried this stuff a couple of years ago. It worked very well and even in this the second year, I have been outside in my garden all summer and I can't remember seeing a single ant! This is no exaggeration.

[ghar41]

I followed MattyB's advice and restricted the spraying of this product to ground trails of Argentine Ants. I am now after spider populations especially those from the genus Pholcidae (Daddy long legs) and their messy webs.

I am heavily in favor in using the most benign product to control them and am looking for experienced advice out there about effectively spraying products above my head to control these pests.

[DoomsDave]

Accept the arthropods. They are inevitable. Attempts to destroy, in my experience, mostly backfire in the long run. The only controls that really work are the natural enemies which every critter has.

Wonder what the natural enemies of Argentine ants are? They have one, somewhere. (Phorid flies did a number of Red Imported Fire Ants.)

[Gtlevine]

Use Merit with active chemical Imidacloprid on all non flowering plants and palms. Since your issue is small palms this is the right choice. This systemic will kill all sucking insects, Aphids included, and work up to one year. With this treatment ther ants can just stay and do whatever they want. The negative is if you treat a flowering plant the bee's will also die from the pollen and possibly infect their whole hive. I have had to use this before on a flowering palm, but I immediately cut off the inflourescence before it opens so the bee's wont get harmed.

Gary

[Phoenikakias]

  On 7/16/2015 at 8:53 PM, Gtlevine said:

Use Merit with active chemical Imidacloprid on all non flowering plants and palms. Since your issue is small palms this is the right choice. This systemic will kill all sucking insects, Aphids included, and work up to one year. With this treatment ther ants can just stay and do whatever they want. The negative is if you treat a flowering plant the bee's will also die from the pollen and possibly infect their whole hive. I have had to use this before on a flowering palm, but I immediately cut off the inflourescence before it opens so the bee's wont get harmed.

Gary

Gary, do you mean that imidacloprid remains effective for a whole year after just one application?!?! I do not know if the rpw is also a monster in terms of resistance to insecticides, but protection through foliar application of imidacloprid lasts barely one month. Only advantage of imidacloprid compared to two other common neonicotinoids according to one survey is that its activity increases as time passes by since application...

[_Keith]

If you have bees, your neighbors have bees, or you care about bees, I would encourage you to do some research on this. Like the climate, opinions are all over the place, so all I encourage is to do your own reading and form your own opinion.

Oh, I have a gallon. The label lists effectiveness at 6 to 9 months. I have yet to use it because of what I have read and am unsure at this point. If I do use it, I will be careful to avoid it being effective during flowering. But that is just me. I'll leave you to your own decision after reading.

[Gtlevine]

Ive used it many times and its super effective for a whole year after one application. But im referring to a soil drench delivery, not foliar. Nothing i have found better, but like i said and Keith repeated, dont use it on flowering palms.