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Pine Tree infested with ants

bobwilsonbobwilson Posts: 9
in Problem solving

I have an ant infested lawn / garden, and flowerbeds. The whole 300m2 is like one big ants nest. I just traced them to the pine tree and discovered there are possibly tens of thousands in the root system around the tree! It MUST be the main nest!

It's a tall evergreen tree, I'm not sure the exact species but was told by a gardener recently that it's an original ''Christmas tree'' if that helps.

I used a trowel to dig a small hole in the flower bed around the tree and discovered not only ants but loads of larvae that looked bigger than the ants themselves. Could these be something else or are ant larvae bigger than the ants?

I'm concerned that maybe the whole situation maybe indicative of a larger problem, such as aphids in the tree. The tree has been healthy for 20 years and I want to keep it that way!

Should I put Nippon ant killer powder in the nest and treat the tree with an aphid insecticide?

I don't want to kill the tree.

Any advice appreciated! Thanks

Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,312

    Hold it on the death sprays bob, the effects go beyond what you want them to kill. Ants won't kill a 20 year old tree and nor will aphids. Ant eggs/larvae are big in proportion to the ants. They'll be trying to rescue them. 



    In the sticks near Peterborough
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