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Black ants on a pear tree can cause great harm to the tree. Timely measures will help save the seedling. If you are carried away by the fight against black ants, you should not exterminate their red counterparts. These predators hunt pests, protecting the garden from death.
Features of garden ants
Ant colonies live everywhere. Their main feature is fertility and high adaptability. Ants feel great and reproduce under any conditions.
Up to 10 thousand ants can live in a colony at the same time.
In each family, individuals adhere to a strictly established order. Ants diligently guard the queen. They raise offspring and selflessly fight with other colonies.
What harm do they cause?
Ants happily eat leaves and sweet pear fruits that have fallen to the ground.
The main harm that ant communities cause when they settle on a pear is the reproduction of aphids. It is in the interests of black ants to create conditions on the pear tree for their normal functioning, provide them with food and protect them from ladybugs.Aphids feed on the sap of the plants on which they settle; pear is one of them.
In areas where ants settle in large families, they can damage the root system of a young pear seedling. In search of food, they build underground passages and carry weed seeds. Ants harm not only young seedlings, they can destroy an already rooted tree.
Reasons for appearance
The main reason why ants attacked the pear is aphid colonies. It is important to detect the appearance of insects in a timely manner and to fight in two directions at once.
How to get rid of ants on a pear tree
To protect the pear from the appearance of ants, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures in advance, and not wait until the insects destroy the garden trees.
Spraying against aphids is carried out several times, maintaining a two-week interval.
Chemical remedies for ants on a pear
In the fight against ant colonies, broad-spectrum insecticides have proven themselves to be effective. Once in the insect's body, they block the functions of the nervous system, leading to paralysis and then to the death of the pests. Preparations that are popular among gardeners: Medvetox, Barguzin, Muraviin, Grom.
If the anthill has grown greatly and is very close to the pear, the drug is scattered in the fall. It will have time to fulfill its function, but will not get into the fruit through the root system.Having chosen this method of fighting ants, it is recommended to strictly follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Only the worker ants die from them, and the queen remains unharmed in the depths of the anthill. Helium insecticides received good reviews from gardeners:
- Raptor;
- Storm;
- A great warrior;
- Fas.
The product is squeezed out closer to the anthill, its aroma attracts insects. The gel sticks to the ants' feet and spreads throughout the home. The toxic substance destroys the chitinous shell, and after a few days the insect dies.
Folk recipes
Gardeners resort to traditional methods of fighting ants when they need to get rid of unwanted inhabitants at the time of pear ripening. The drugs included in biological agents do not pose a danger to the human body.
Proven recipes:
- Sweet solution. Add 250 sugar or jam to 10 liters of water, pour the mixture into the anthill, making a hole on top. These insects store their food reserves in the form of carbohydrates and sugars. Natural yeast that is in the soil begins to grow rapidly, filling the anthill. Insects leave their homes.
- A mixture of linseed oil, soot and table salt. The ingredients are mixed well and applied to the tree trunk in a dense layer at least 15 cm wide.
- Soap solution. Pour 500 ml of sunflower oil into 10 liters of water, the same amount of vinegar and shampoo. A hole is made in the upper part of the anthill, the mixture is poured in and covered with plastic wrap for several days.
- Decoction of tomato tops. The more concentrated the liquid, the faster the ants will leave their home.
- Impregnation of the pear trunk with garlic juice.The bark of the tree is rubbed with lobes or arrows of plants from the Onion family. For a better effect, a protective belt is made from greenery around the pear trunk.
- Ground cinnamon. Ants cannot stand its smell. The spice is sprinkled over the anthill, after which the insects run away from the house. Knowing that ants do not like strong odors, gardeners place leaves of anise, mint, parsley, wormwood, tansy and smoked fish heads in places where they accumulate.
Boric acid, lime or wood ash is poured into the tree trunk circle, and the soil is dug up. These components are harmless to humans; the ashes feed the plant with nutrients and help remove ants under the pear, making them forget the way to the tree. The only drawback of this method is that insects can choose a place under other plants.
Mechanical methods
Another option to remove ants under a pear tree is to use mechanical means of protection. These include glue belts and traps.
In recent years, more and more gardeners have resorted to mechanical methods, since good insecticides are expensive
Belt-skirt for pear
At a height of 25-30 cm from the ground, the trunk is coated with a mixture of sawdust and mullein or clay. The width of the strip is 15-20 cm. In the same place, attach flexible tin, foil or a plastic bottle to make a skirt. Such a barrier prevents ants from crawling along the pear trunk or getting close to the fruits and leaves.
Hunting belt
To install a hunting belt on a pear, its trunk is coated with a mixture of clay and sawdust, and a thick fabric with an adhesive layer applied to it is attached on top of it. As in the previous case, it will not allow ants to damage the fruit crop.
Ready-made sticky belts are sold in garden stores.Some gardeners use fly sticks for this purpose.
Options for adhesive composition for a belt around a pear, made with your own hands:
- Mix burdock oil and tar in a 1:2 ratio. Boil the mixture for 4-5 hours.
- Mix crushed rosin, petroleum jelly and pine resin (in a ratio of 1:4:8) until smooth.
- A glass of sunflower oil is brought to a boil, 100 g of grease and beeswax are added. The mixture is mixed well and brought to a boil again.
- Castor oil and crushed rosin in a ratio of 7:5 are simmered over low heat for 1.5-2 hours until the mass becomes homogeneous, thick and viscous.
The hunting belt is systematically inspected, cleaned of adhering ants, and the adhesive layer is refreshed as necessary. It is especially important to update sticky belts after precipitation.
The hunting belt protects the trunk of an already large tree well. To save a young pear from ants, use a water barrier. A tire cut lengthwise is buried around the tree and filled with water. An ant will not cover a distance of more than 10 cm on water. In addition, the waterer will attract birds that feed on garden pests.
How to remove an anthill
If a colony of ants has already built an anthill near the trunk of the pear tree, use a shovel to load it into a bucket or garden wheelbarrow and take it away from the site. When digging out an insect house, you need to get to the queen, otherwise the ants will come back again.
It is recommended to move the anthill outside the site in the evening, when the entire colony has gone home
After the anthill is moved out of the garden, the area is sprinkled with salt or quicklime. Another effective method: the area where pests used to live must be watered several times with boiling water.
What benefits do ants bring to the garden?
Ants in the garden are not only a nuisance. Some consider them to be orderlies. Useful functions of ants:
- loosen the soil, provide the roots with oxygen, saturate the soil with potassium and phosphorus in a form that is easily absorbed by plants;
- destroy harmful insects, caterpillars, their eggs and larvae;
- attract birds to the garden, providing food for them.
Ants carry plant seeds from place to place, but given that gardeners have to constantly fight weeds, this is more of a minus than a plus for insects.
How to protect a pear from ants
Carpenter ants destroy not only the root system of the pear. In old trees they settle in hollows or cracks in the trunk. If insects have settled in the tree, the pear should be thoroughly cleaned of tenants, and then the trunk should be treated with an insecticide against ants. A highly effective drug that helps cope with this problem is Anteater. After processing, the hollow on the pear is sealed.
If ants attacked a pear seedling and settled right under the young plant, the tree may die in a few years. The plant will lack moisture due to excessively loose soil under the roots. You can try to save the pear by providing it with frequent and abundant watering.
Conclusion
Ants on a pear tree can destroy the tree. Their appearance becomes a problem for the gardener. If you find insects on a pear, you should quickly get rid of them, otherwise the fruit plantings will be in danger of dying.
