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Old 05-08-2007, 12:10 AM posted to rec.gardens
symplastless symplastless is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,318
Default Chrerry Tree Infested w/ Ants or Termites?

I forgot to sign what I wrote:

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

"symplastless" wrote in message
. ..

"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.