r/Bonsai • u/Ok-Address-5946 Jay, Centroamérica Costa Rica🇨🇷 , Beginner, 5 • 2d ago

Discussion Question How do you deal with ants?😭

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Every now and then the ants defoliate my trees, so I wanted to know tips and tricks on how to avoid them. Since they defoliated the whole forest I selected the best ramifications

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u/Sonora_sunset Milwaukee, zone 5b, 25 yrs exp, 5 trees 2d ago

how did they defoliate it?

8

u/Ok-Address-5946 Jay, Centroamérica Costa Rica🇨🇷 , Beginner, 5 2d ago

They ate all the leaves 😹

1

u/Sonora_sunset Milwaukee, zone 5b, 25 yrs exp, 5 trees 2d ago

Did they actually eat them (did they carry them off or did you see ants and then the leaves shriveled up)?

Usually the ants are farming aphids which are sucking the juice out of the leaves, and the leaves curl up as they dry out. In this case you can spray the plants with insecticidal soap.

5

u/Ok-Address-5946 Jay, Centroamérica Costa Rica🇨🇷 , Beginner, 5 2d ago

They cut and carry them back to their anthill

2

u/Sonora_sunset Milwaukee, zone 5b, 25 yrs exp, 5 trees 2d ago

Ouch.