Ants, any harm to palms???

[Mohsen]

I noticed that some ants are waking continuously on my palms ? it seems they are not eating it but I wonder if they could bring any harm to palms?

[Alicehunter2000]

Don't ants farm scale/mealybug?

[Mohsen]

  On 12/17/2015 at 1:54 PM, Alicehunter2000 said:

Don't ants farm scale/mealybug?

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Thanks David, I thought so...but I could not see any scale or mealybug there...so I just became suspicious if they are doing something else there...

[Pal Meir]

The ants I had on another plant (not a palm) were feeding aphids …

[Pando]

Everything in my garden appears to be much healthier now that I got rid of ants completely. They farm and nurture scale and attack other beneficial insects. They even destroyed a hummingbird nest with just-hatched chicks inside, which prompted me to use the nuclear option. I haven't seen a single ant for 6 months now.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Pando

[PalmWarbler]

I have them in droves in my yard despite efforts to annihilate them at every opportunity. A bit of a history, when we bought our place it was basically a sand dune with no organics in the soil at all. But there were also no ants. Truckloads of topsoil, compost and palms/plants later, we have ants.

I find them building a home at the base of our citrus, as well as a lot of the palms. Right at the trunk. I believe they are mining the organics out of the soil the plants are surrounded with.

I would like to burn them or better yet bomb them into oblivion but it would ultimately harm the plants so I stick to less invasive means of destruction.

[Mohsen]

so I will try to root them out...any suggestion how should I do that?is  the chemical incidence harmful to plants/ palms as well?

[DoomsDave]

Ants were here before us.

They are here now. California comes from an old ant word, meaning, "welcome to our home." (Might as well be "Earth." Except Antarctica.)

They will survive many things that would kill us. (Megatons, schmegatons! Asteroids, what-ever!)

So, annihilation is only temporary. Apparent control, for a while, maybe.

They do farm scale, and do a lot of other things. But, I haven't had direct trouble with them in my yard. And, I have a lot of them. Oh yes, they love to [expletive] with bees.

Mohsen, I don't think ants had anything directly do to with your plant's apparent injury.

 

[Moose]

  On 12/17/2015 at 4:30 PM, PalmWarbler said:

I have them in droves in my yard despite efforts to annihilate them at every opportunity. A bit of a history, when we bought our place it was basically a sand dune with no organics in the soil at all. But there were also no ants. Truckloads of topsoil, compost and palms/plants later, we have ants.

I find them building a home at the base of our citrus, as well as a lot of the palms. Right at the trunk. I believe they are mining the organics out of the soil the plants are surrounded with.

I would like to burn them or better yet bomb them into oblivion but it would ultimately harm the plants so I stick to less invasive means of destruction.

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Are you related to Robert S. McNamara ?

[Laaz]

Here most ants are fire ants, good for nothing. 

[Pando]

  On 12/17/2015 at 8:44 PM, Mohsen said:

so I will try to root them out...any suggestion how should I do that?is  the chemical incidence harmful to plants/ palms as well?

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Not sure what you can or can't get or do in Sydney, but I used Termidor SC. Add a few drops to water in a small spray bottle and squirt on the lane of ants in only a few spots. They will carry it back to the nest and all be gone after a few days.

It's not harmful to plants, but it is *very* harmful to other insects, especially bees. Keep it the heck away from any flowering plants in your and your neighbor's yard (ants can carry that stuff up to the pollen where bees are foraging). Use it very carefully, and you'll be successful in keeping ants in check.

[PalmWarbler]

  On 12/17/2015 at 9:12 PM, Moose said:

Are you related to Robert S. McNamara ?

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No but I do really love one of Norman Schwarzkopf's responses to a ridiculous reporter asking "how accurate are the 'dumb' bombs?" during the gulf war. His response: "100% accurate, we hit the ground every time".

[Moose]

  On 12/18/2015 at 12:12 AM, PalmWarbler said:

No but I do really love one of Norman Schwarzkopf's responses to a ridiculous reporter asking "how accurate are the 'dumb' bombs?" during the gulf war. His response: "100% accurate, we hit the ground every time".

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LOL. I have tons of mulch and compost in my garden as well. Yes, I've got the ants to go with it. Interestingly they stay in the Garden in their habitat, rarely entering my home. Only when I find them becoming shepards to palm aphids or Croton scale do I treat them. As long as they remain foragers, they have their niche in the Garden. 

[topwater]

Gotta love the ants, gotta love the ants.........as I count 20 plus healing fire ant bites on the tops of my feets 

[topwater]

And feed Laaz ammo.  Nice form bro.

[Mohsen]

  On 12/17/2015 at 9:01 PM, DoomsDave said:

Ants were here before us.

They are here now. California comes from an old ant word, meaning, "welcome to our home." (Might as well be "Earth." Except Antarctica.)

They will survive many things that would kill us. (Megatons, schmegatons! Asteroids, what-ever!)

So, annihilation is only temporary. Apparent control, for a while, maybe.

They do farm scale, and do a lot of other things. But, I haven't had direct trouble with them in my yard. And, I have a lot of them. Oh yes, they love to [expletive] with bees.

Mohsen, I don't think ants had anything directly do to with your plant's apparent injury.

 

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Thanks Dave

yes, I know ... Those I think been burnt under direct sun and hopefully will get acclimated to full sun there finally ...

[DoomsDave]

  On 12/17/2015 at 9:22 PM, Laaz said:

Here most ants are fire ants, good for nothing. 

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They're the ones you notice, and it's impossible not to notice them, one way or another.

If you took the time, you'd see many more.

We have fire ants out here too, and one good thing about the drought is that it makes it tough on fire ants. They have to have a lot of water.

Thank heaven for Phorid flies, too.

[Jubaea]

Kill the ants.  They will farm and protect other harmful insects.  I have seen ant nests at the base of my palms and aloes and later noticed that some of them had cracking and other damage at their base and stems.

[Mohsen]

  On 12/17/2015 at 10:43 PM, Pando said:

Not sure what you can or can't get or do in Sydney, but I used Termidor SC. Add a few drops to water in a small spray bottle and squirt on the lane of ants in only a few spots. They will carry it back to the nest and all be gone after a few days.

It's not harmful to plants, but it is *very* harmful to other insects, especially bees. Keep it the heck away from any flowering plants in your and your neighbor's yard (ants can carry that stuff up to the pollen where bees are foraging). Use it very carefully, and you'll be successful in keeping ants in check.

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Thanks Pando

I remember once we had Ants in our apartment and we used some powder ( like sugar) , Ants took them to their nest and we never saw them again...I think we have some left...I might try that one ...as I think I need to destroy them in their nests and not on the plants ?

[edric]

I go to great lengths to work around these creatures, they are as much as protected here at edric's, esp. the minuscule tiny, tiny black ants we have here in FL., yes including the fire ants, but if you don't like the fire ant here at edric's, you sure won't like the massive nest of Yellow jackets I  have living here, Ed

[Pip]

I can't imagine what life in Australia would be like without ants. There are so many different species. I can only control them when they decide that they need to forage for food in the house. Out doors I just can't see anyway of controlling them.

[topwater]

If I didn't know better, I would suspect that I have been accused of racially profiling my ants.  

[Mohsen]

  On 12/18/2015 at 10:48 AM, Pip said:

I can't imagine what life in Australia would be like without ants. There are so many different species. I can only control them when they decide that they need to forage for food in the house. Out doors I just can't see anyway of controlling them.

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That's true Pip...If they are our of your inside home don't disturb them as they might move closer...that's make it difficult how to deal with them?

[Tropicgardener]

Ants are going crazy here at present........must be a big weather event about to happen here in the Queensland tropics. I have little black ants that harbor scale and bite like buggary.......... However our tropical green weaver ants that live in trees are actually good at cleaning pests up. They tend to leave me alone unless I brush a nest then I get covered in them !!

[DoomsDave]

  On 12/18/2015 at 7:06 AM, Mohsen said:

Thanks Pando

I remember once we had Ants in our apartment and we used some powder ( like sugar) , Ants took them to their nest and we never saw them again...I think we have some left...I might try that one ...as I think I need to destroy them in their nests and not on the plants ?

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You only THINK they're gone.

[Mohsen]

  On 12/19/2015 at 3:57 AM, DoomsDave said:

You only THINK they're gone.

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Possible Dave...any way at least we are gone from there for sure  

[Daryl]

In my experience, ants can harm your palms for sure. The little black ants (Argentine?) farm scale and a bunch of other pests. Then other conditions are introduced like Sooty Mold.  Also, I have had ants build a nest near the new spears and rot them out.

Having said that,  a lot of the other, larger ant species don't seem to do any harm at all...except maybe Hoppy-Joe Bull Ants that like to harm me!

 

Daryl

 

[PalmWarbler]

Here's a pic of what we're dealing with on the homefront. Fire ants. Those in the know realize they are good for nothing and need to be destroyed without mercy. Consider them the ISIS of the bug world.

 

Every plant I put in, they immediately build a trail to and start mining away. This is a pic of just one of 35 Viburnum Awabuki we just put in, and darned if they didn't build a trail and colonize each and every one of them within 2 days. Persistent little b*stards they are.

I've just done another full-one spreading of Amdro and hoping it takes a toll on them.

 

 

[Pando]

  On 12/28/2015 at 11:05 PM, PalmWarbler said:

I've just done another full-one spreading of Amdro and hoping it takes a toll on them.

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If that doesn't work - get some Termidor SC. You won't see them again for quite some time.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Try using something natural like Insecticidal Soap or EcoSmart Organic Isecticide that isn't harmful to the environment, like the synthetic chemical pesticides are.  Using the harmful synthetic insecticides and herbicides always have horrible unintended consequences.  I would venture to say that there are some pretty good organic products available in Australia too.

[Mohsen]

 I know ants farm harmful insects ...but I thought they wouldn't  allow other harmful bugs get near the plant , something like  "RPW" or "paysandisia"? Can it be true?

[PalmWarbler]

They're trucking their way through a recently planted Syagrus schizophylla.. Hoping the Amdro takes effect soon.

 

 

[Pando]

  On 12/29/2015 at 10:13 PM, PalmWarbler said:

They're trucking their way through a recently planted Syagrus schizophylla.. Hoping the Amdro takes effect soon.

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I hope this works for you. I used Amdro and other different baits for a few months, they had zero effect. Ants were laughing and just completely ignored all of them.

[PalmWarbler]

  On 12/18/2015 at 5:36 AM, Jubaea said:

Kill the ants.  They will farm and protect other harmful insects.  I have seen ant nests at the base of my palms and aloes and later noticed that some of them had cracking and other damage at their base and stems.

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Jubaea, funny you say that as I peeled back some leaf bases on a Cocos Nucifera over the weekend to check the trunk and was shocked at what I found. Palm was infested with ants around the base, and lo and behold, the trunk has a big crack in it. Coke can is one of the smaller 1/2 size ones, for reference. Anyone have any idea what this means for the palm long-term? It's withing 15' of my house so I'm a bit concerned.

[EJ;)]

"Ants in mounds at the base of trees are probably not causing any damage to well-established trees. ... However, very young, tender trees can be damaged by the ants girdling the plants and allowing roots to be exposed to the air, thus drying out root systems."

I recently lost a palm i planted last year. It slowly declined. When i removed it this weekend, i noticed a colony of ants had moved in at the base. Perhaps they were after they rich soil I used in planting? But i think this was to blame for the decline of my palm. despite watering it, it appeared to be drying out! the ants had made tunnels around the roots, exposing them to air thus drying them out! Poor palm tree. 

Ants are fine when there are a pleasant few walking around the leaves. however, colonies under your roots are devastating to young trees!!!!

Edited June 8, 2021 by EJ;)
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