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Old 05-08-2007, 09:41 PM 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?

Ants stall decay by limiting moisture.


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting 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.

"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
...
symplastless wrote:


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.


I 100% agree in leaving ants alone if at all possible. I am skeptical
about your statement implying that they only come into your house if there
is rotting wood. I'm also skeptical that they halt the rotting process.
How does the formic acid ants exude do that? I'd think it further breaks
down the lignite in the wood - that is ants destroy wood rather than make
it last longer.

Near me there is an ancient Indian city named by the whites Chaco Canyon.
Abandoned by Indians due to changed climate (dried out) you can go there
and find large pieces of wood which were trees over 700 years ago. The
ranger there told me that the wood still exists because there are no ants
(no water) to digest the wood. Was that information wrong?

-paul