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Old 05-08-2007, 12:09 AM posted to rec.gardens
symplastless symplastless is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Mar 2007
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Default Chrerry Tree Infested w/ Ants or Termites?


"Mike" wrote in message news:yG5ti.56$jk4.21@trndny01...
Hi, I've got a large cherry tree that's infested with either termites or
carpenter ants.
I noticed at the bottom of tree what appeared to be sawdust, cleaned it up
and the next day it was back


Sounds like carpenter ants. The dust is from their galleries. They control
the environment inside the tree by limiting moisture. Too wet or too dry
stalls the decay pathogen. In this sense ants are a benefit for the tree.
They stay within boundaries set by the tree after wounding.



..
Today I sprayed Bonide Termite and Carpenter Ant Killer into the two holes
they were using and the critters poured out of the tree. They appear to
have two parts to the body (part near the head is smaller than the part at
the rear and fairly large head wiith good sized pinchers. The Bonide
spray seems to work but I suspect they'll just burrow into the tree at a
another location how do I permantely get rid of them?


Ants are good guys. Leave them alone. Even if you have them in your house,
the reason would be rotten wood in your house. They stall the rot process
in building materials as well.

termites also respect boundaries set by the tree. If you are in the south
many times the problem which caused the termites to be present was flush cut
pruning.

Your description does not sound like ants.

As far as your use of pesticides, user beware.

http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/spring.html the web site is down right now.
try later or go here

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/

You really need to let a professional diagnose your issue rather than
applying toxins and then asking questions.

Anyway, the cause of the issue with the presence or organisms is wounds to
the tree. Even termites follow wounds and stay in chemically altered wood
from the wound.