Every spring I have a huge aphid explosion on my peach trees and the ants are more than happy to help them along. I use dish soap to control the aphids and usually have to apply 4-5 applications to get things under control. This always bothers me and if I don’t spray they can do a lot of damage to the trees. I curse the ants for farming the aphids; However today I realized that they might be good at keeping peach tree borers away. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Today when I went to weed around the trunk of one of my trees and check for borers I was swarmed with ants. My first thought was there is now way a borer or any other insect could make it on that trunk! As it turns it was the only tree that didn’t have borer damage on it, coincidence?
I’ve never heard of ants protecting against anything but Ladybird beetles,when farming Aphids.
If Tanglefoot is not used,the ants will usually try to get inside my ripening fruit.bb
I get them moving aphids in the apple trees, so I treat the trunks and the aphid problem goes away. If you think they are protecting the trunks from borers, you could maybe spray higher to protect the foliage.
I see them gathering from the glands on the leaves of my plums and peach tree. They smell candy-sweet when I gently pinch them. The glands; not the ants.
I have a terrible ant problem in my yard. They’re everywhere. Bringing aphids to plants and every time I water my mulched plants they come out in droves. Absolutely hate them!
Ants and termites are mortal enemies there are some benefits to having them around the house.