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Sunday, May 21, 2017

Carpenter ANTS!

As I got into the car, I noticed the ground was almost solid with ants about a half inch long. They looked like carpenter ant but not as long. I rushed to get into the car.

The next day, all those half inch ants were gone. However, there was carpenter ant about an inch long, no kidding, on the top of my car heading to the open door. He would have come in, I fear!

There is a tree nearby that I have noticed is looking rough at one place at the bottom. I fear the carpenter ants and other ants are eating up the tree. When a tree is stressed, it cannot resist insects. With the drought last year, this may have contributed to this apparent demise of the tree.

This happened to one in the back yard and I made ex spray the ants every day since it was very apparent it was being killed. The tree actually healed and covered the hollow place. I had the hickory tree taken down before it fell in a wind. The inside was hollow, about a 12" hole in the tree.

Then, ants started in on my oak in the front yard. So, I went out and sprayed several times each day. Eventually, the ants and the destruction stopped. It never got into the horrid shape the hickory in the side yard did. I did save it.

For what it's worth, if carpenter ants invade my car, I am selling the car. Or, maybe the flame-thrower idea will work. I have not seen one ant in my car or on me the last few days!

By the way, I do not poison ants until they are an invasion. My next door neighbor, a young woman of 20, told me that when summer came, she would have her bf spray the whole yard and all the trees with insect killers of all sorts because she hated ants and bugs. I WAS HORRIFIED!!! Her yard is about three inches higher than mine. Thankfully, she moved in the spring because she wanted to be in an apartment with a pool. Last time I heard of her or saw her, her mugshot was in the paper for dealing drugs. So, another good reason I am glad she left....

Your turn
Have you ever had ants started destroying a tree or other plant? I know they will eat houses, but mine was treated to prevent that. Do carpenter ants strike fear into you as they do me?

7 comments:

  1. YES! We had carpenter ants destroy a tree at the RV park we are staying in and a huge limb fell and missed our RV by about 2". Literally, all the limbs scrapped our RV, but the trunk part barely missed. It was very scary!

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  2. bummer about the ants. good luck with this .

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  3. I am not thrilled with carpenter ants and hope they stay away. I'm not thrilled with the fire ants either and they are springing up about as fast as I put Amdro out on an existing hill.

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  4. We don't have ants like that, I don't think, although termites can do a lot of damage to any timber that is already dead: dead trees, fences, houses etc

    I would be deeply distressed by a neighbour spraying poison on everything in sight

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  5. We get termites and have had them eat away the wood structure of walls of a room. We needed to rebuild the room and it cost a lot to get rid of the termites. Most ands here don't bother us.

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  6. We have small harmless ants in the UK but people still feel the need to kill them and anything else that crawls or creeps. As a teacher before I retired I was called to another classroom to remove a bee that was terrifying the teacher. It's how you're brought up I suppose!

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  7. I had friends with carpenter ants spend thousands to repair the damage to their home. They never noticed the ants, until the husband saw a few by the fireplace, tapped the wall, and was rewarded with thousand swarming in the den.

    I don't have carpenter ants, but termites are prevalent, and require spraying to keep them from my house.

    I do have fire ants, which too can find their way into the house, but treating for termites keeps them away, which is good. they've been known to cover a sleeping person, and actually killed a hotel guest a few years ago, with their poison sting.

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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.