Yesterday, when family came over to hang out, we noticed that Abel's tree had had all these ants on it. My first thought was, "Oh, this must be healthy - nature hanging out by the tree". But others thought that the ants were eating the leaves because there were swaths of leaves with holes on the tree.
So, off I went to the trusty Internet to find what is causing this ant "infestation". To my mild surprise, this is a common occurrence where the ants are not eating the leaves, but protecting an insect called aphids that do eat the leaves. The ants, in turn, "drink" out of the butt of these aphids to extract sugar and bring it back the their colony. Gross. I guess that is why, in the movie "ANTZ", the ants order aphid beer. Anyway, I thought that was disgusting, but also at a wonder on how ants work.
The point is, ants and aphids are a problem to apple trees because the ants protect the aphids from their natural predators (like ladybugs) and, as a result, an over infestation of aphids causes harm to the tree. One remedy is to coat the base of the tree with canola/vegetable oil. Apparently, ants do not like oil - can't walk in it, get mired in it - and should stop the ants from going up and down the tree and protecting the aphids.
I just hope the predators are still around to eat the aphids.
Hmmmm - that makes sense. The tree is the only tree in the area so I don't know if the aphids would take off, but we'll see. I put oil on the base of the tree and will check tomorrow to see what the situation is. Thanks for the correction!
ReplyDeleteSo, how to stop the bugs from harming the apples and the tree?
ReplyDeleteI talked to a friend who used to be the head gardener at a nursery and he said that it is best to buy insecticide spray (soap solution) and spray the leaves. The ants "shepherd" the aphids so once the aphids are gone, the ants will be gone too. The aphids are the ones that harm the tree and not the ants. Sorry Paulman... I know you want to protect the aphids, but alas...
ReplyDeleteI have a strange thing happening on my apple tree. The ants are differently holding aphid hostage...quite an interesting thing to watch. However there is a wound in my tree that the ants run to. It seems like they live there and I am worried that they will cause damage to the "inside" of the tree. Any thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe soap solution that I found in the plant store works. After spraying it twice, the aphids disappeared and the ants disappeared.
ReplyDelete