How and how to get rid of ants on a cherry: methods and methods of struggle

Many gardeners seek to get rid of ants on cherries by any means, classifying them as malicious pests. They are partly right, because if ants scurry along the trunk, aphids will definitely be found on the cherry. But not everything is so clear.

Ants on the cherry: is it good or bad

Gardeners have an ambivalent attitude towards ants on cherries and other trees. In fact, these are wasps that lost their wings in the Cretaceous period. They have preserved the wasp way of eating: protein for larvae, carbohydrates for adults.

To feed the larvae, working individuals carry all the protein that they can find:

• caterpillars;
• Zhukov;
• different larvae;
• pieces of meat from dead animals.

Destroying other garden pests, ants bring tangible benefits. But adults also want to eat. They can eat seeds, juice and nectar of plants, but their main source of carbohydrates is honeydew. This is the name of the excrement of aphids, scale insects and mealybugs because of the high content of sugars. Gathering is an unreliable business, cattle breeding is more profitable. And the ants found a way out: breeding aphids on trees and bushes.

As a result of evolution, some species even have a caste of “cattle breeders”. The ant “cattle” spends the winter in warm underground barns. In winter, the owners also take care of the “calves” – eggs, licking and cleaning them.

Since any cattle must be grazed, the ants carefully bring their “cows” to the pasture in the spring. The role of the latter is often played by fruit trees in the garden. Aphids graze on their pastures, giving sweet “dew” to the ants as payment.

Because of the developed “cattle breeding” gardeners and enrolled ants as pests. If the “livestock breeders” are not interfered with, their “cows” are capable of killing young trees, and the old ones will surely lose their crops. However, without ants, aphids will also appear on trees, since they also fly. This means that you should not fanatically ruin anthills and destroy their residents. Enough to block their way to the trees.

The appearance of ants on a cherry tree does not mean a catastrophe if it is not a leaf cutter

Why do ants appear on cherries

Strictly speaking, they appear on all trees. From the moment the ants wake up, they need to start storing food, and, therefore, including transferring aphids to trees in order to get honeydew. Naturally, they transfer their wards to the trees that have already begun to wake up. In early spring, there is still no suitable grass. And not even all the trees have yet budded. At this time, stone fruit crops are actively blooming. Ants carry aphids on them. And then they just run back and forth, collecting their prey and transferring it to the anthill. Since cherry is one of the early waking trees, the appearance of ants on it is natural.

The life cycle of a pest

The ant is an insect with complete metamorphosis. This means that in its development it goes through 4 stages:

• egg;
• larva;
• pupa;
• an adult.

The ant grows only in the larval stage.

The life cycle begins with the egg. The sex of the future ant depends on whether it is fertilized or not. Fertilized eggs hatch into females, unfertilized eggs hatch into males. Eggs are usually stored in small “packages”.

The hatched larva is inactive and looks like a worm. You can see an analogue of an ant larva in a wasp or bee nest. The working females feed the brood. It depends on the type of nutrition whether the result is a queen ant or a working individual. Since the external integument of the larva can only stretch to certain limits, the future ant is forced to molt. During growth, the larva passes 4 molts.

At the last stage of growth, the larva pupates. These cocoons, usually lying loose, are popularly called ant eggs by mistake. It is their ants who frantically save when the anthill is destroyed.

If a male emerges from the pupa, its lifespan will be limited to only a few weeks. He will die immediately after fertilization of the female. The uterus can live up to 20 years, supporting the existence of the colony. The life span of a working individual is 1-3 years. Under natural conditions, the population of the anthill is completely renewed in a year.

White oval cocoons are pupae, not eggs

Signs and causes of appearance

A sign of the appearance of ants on a cherry tree is a path of these insects that scurry up and down the tree trunk. If there is no path yet, and aphids have flown onto the leaves, ants will soon appear.

There are only two reasons for the appearance of ants on fruit trees: aphids and ripe fruits and berries. The time of the first reason is spring or early summer, the second is the period of cherry ripening. Ants do not mind eating sweet fruits and berries. Most gardeners have probably seen these insects swarming on fruit in gnawed holes.

What is the danger of the appearance of ants on cherries

These insects are not able to cause harm to the tree itself. The danger lies in the aphid spreading too quickly on the tree and damaging the ripe fruits. Cherries with damaged skins will quickly rot, which means a loss of yield.

Methods for dealing with ants on cherries

Fighting ants in the garden is an exciting and endless activity. Because getting rid of ants forever is possible only in two ways:

• salt the soil well and renew the “salting” annually (rains wash out the salt);
• fill the area with oil products so that they soak the soil 20 cm deep (also update periodically).

Well, nothing will grow. But the goal was to get rid of the ants, and not to grow anything on their site.

If you need a harvest, you will have to do with half measures and wage an endless fight with the ants:

• treat tree trunks with insecticides;
• dig the ground on the site;
• clean the area from plant debris;
• build ant traps;
• treat trees and soil with insecticides.

But in any case, no way will allow the gardener to permanently get rid of ants. Yes, and it is not necessary. From these insects, the benefits are greater than the harm.

In the photographs, the belts are fixed on the trees so that you don’t have to worry about the lives of ant foragers: in the cracks of the bark of old trees under the bandages there is enough space for passage

How to save cherries from ants: traps and devices

Insecticides act only on those insects that come into contact with them one way or another. This means that the use of chemicals will destroy some of the working individuals, but will not seriously affect the life of the anthill. Therefore, it makes little sense to treat the garden from ants with insecticides. Is that in parallel with the destruction of other pests.

But it makes sense to make traps or devices that do not allow ants to climb the cherry trunk. You can also try to get rid of insects with smells.

How to repel ants from cherries with smells

All attempts to scare ants away from cherries with the help of smells are folk remedies. With the exception of “natural” preparations with the smell of lavender, manufactured in an industrial way.

If the room can be treated with aromatic oils, then for the garden it is an expensive pleasure. Gardeners are trying to scare away ants with strong-smelling garden crops:

• garlic
• onions;
• celery;
• dill.

Sometimes they also try to get rid of insects by planting flowers like marigolds or calendula. Unfortunately, practice shows that illiterate ants are excellent at crawling over all these “terrible” repellent plants. And if you plant dill, garlic or onions too close to the cherry, then they also use the flower shoots of aromatic herbs as a path to the tree.

Ammonia, vinegar and vodka “work” for a couple of hours. Exactly until the moment when the liquid dries. Therefore, getting rid of ants on trees with the help of aromatic substances will not work. Cherry traps, when properly looked after and upgraded, are much more effective.

Such a rag on a young cherry – quite effectively repels ants

How to get rid of ants on a cherry with traps

All ant traps involve wrapping something around a tree. Appropriate name: hunting belt. The principle of all these traps is the same: the ant gets on a sticky or viscous surface and cannot get out. You can buy hunting belts in the store, or you can make your own. Trapping belts can be:

• from a special tape purchased in a store;
• from ordinary tape;
• from sticky tape for flies.

The hunting belt is wrapped around the tree trunk, closing the line. Scotch tape is wound on the cherry trunk with the adhesive side up. Making such traps is not difficult, but the main thing here is the preparation of the tree trunk.

Preparing a section of the trunk for a trapping belt

Ants are able to crawl into the slightest gap, so the place on the cherry trunk for installing the belt must be prepared. From a section of a tree 10-15 cm wide, dead parts of the bark are removed. Particular attention is paid to old cherries with a clumsy bark. All irregularities on the trunk are covered with clay or other plastic material.

The purpose of preparing the cherry trunk is to block the ants from going under the trapping belt.

Belt Disadvantages

All adhesive surfaces of the belts will quickly become dusty and lose their ability to catch insects. In addition, ants have long mastered the art of making their way over the corpses of their fellow tribesmen. Therefore, the action of trapping belts on trees is unlikely to last longer than a couple of days. The only way out is to constantly update the adhesive surface or use a new belt. Scotch tape has another unpleasant feature: it does not like water. The tape may peel off due to rain.

A properly made belt will help get rid of ants on a cherry

Other ways to deal with ants on cherries

It is believed that bleaching the trunk with lime or chalk helps to get rid of ants. In fact, they are one and the same. But practice shows that ants do not run on bleached tree trunks only for the first day or two. Therefore, additional strapping is used for safety net. Often, a rope dipped in some fatty substance is used for this purpose.

Since a full-fledged belt is not made in this case, the rope is tied directly to the trunk. As a deterrent, use:

• vegetable oil;
• tar;
• petrolatum;
• grease.

But, according to gardeners, unless vegetable oil harms trees. Yes, and it’s not accurate. But they have already checked for sure that tar and grease kill trees, burning the bark under the rope.

Similar methods of protection in trees can only be used by tying a rope over some kind of protective material. Usually polyethylene or cling film. But from the heat, all oil products turn into a liquid state and flow down onto the trunk of the cherry. In fact, this is the same as applying them to a tree without any protection.

Skirt

If you can do everything right, it allows you to get rid of ants on cherries in the most gentle way. “Skirt” does not scare or kill them. It just does not allow the ants to climb up the trunk to the cherry tree. The section of the tree where the skirt will be fixed is prepared in the same way as for trapping belts.

The skirt itself is usually a plastic bottle cut along. It is fixed on the cherry trunk so that there are no holes on the upper edge. The incision must be sealed, also leaving no way to get out through it. The bottom edge of the skirt should not fit snugly against the trunk of the cherry so that the ants can crawl under it. That is why this device is called a skirt. It looks like her in shape.

A properly made skirt reliably blocks the ants from reaching the cherry tree

Foil

Somewhat similar to a skirt, but has serious flaws. For the device of this device you will need a strip of foil. About 2 cm from the edge that will be the top, bend at a right angle and make small cuts. The latter are needed so that the foil lies more evenly on the cherry trunk. After that, the material is wrapped around the tree and fixed.

Theoretically, ants cannot get over the bent edge and fall down. This is provided that the insects went on top. The photo clearly shows that the foil never lies flat on the tree trunk and there is enough space under it for the ants.

But if the trunk section is also smooth, the rope that will need to tie the foil to the cherry will block the way for insects between the trap and the tree. But there is no guarantee that it will be possible to get rid of ant foragers.

Foil on an untreated cherry trunk is just an imitation of a struggle

Belt-pool

Made from a wide strip of rubber. This trap will require a fair amount of work. First, the rubber is attached to the cherry with the upper end, just like a skirt. The lower edge is folded up so that a rubber groove forms around the tree trunk. From below, the structure will have to be supported with wire struts or something else. Purpose: to prevent the rubber from turning around.

Vegetable oil is poured into the chute. It must be changed as it becomes contaminated with the corpses of ants. It is recommended to use vegetable oil in case of an “accident” if the ring unfolds.

Idea with synthepon

This is a safety option, the second line of defense after an oiled belt on a tree trunk. The synthetic winterizer is tied on the main branches of the cherry tree above the deterrent belt. It is not known whether this material will help to get rid of ant forager visits to cherries, since there are no special statistics. Some believe that the ants will pass through the synthetic winterizer, others that they will get confused.

How much the synthetic winterizer protects the cherry can only be established empirically

How can you treat cherries from ants

To get rid of ants, cherries are sprayed with insecticides or repellents. But it must be borne in mind that the remedy will only affect working individuals.

Folk remedies

Folk remedies usually mean infusions and decoctions of herbs:

• garlic;
• nightshade tops;
• celandine;
• tansy;
• wormwood.

But, in fairness, getting rid of ants is unlikely to help. From non-herbal remedies, they often go into business:

• wood ash;
• laundry soap;
• ammonia;
• vinegar.

These substances can work well on insects that do not live in colonies. The death of even a few hundred workers will not significantly affect the life of the ant colony.

Plants with tall flower shoots or stalks are more likely to act as a bridge to the cherry than to help get rid of ants

Biological products

Biological products do not destroy ants, but their “cattle”. Therefore, you can treat cherries with any bioinsecticide that acts on aphids. The most popular of them;

• Fitoverm;

  

• Akarin;

  

• Healthy garden.

  

Use drugs according to the instructions, which are usually written on the package or attached to it.

Chemicals

Chemicals are a controversial issue. To get rid of an ant colony, one must either apply potent insecticides with contact action, or the struggle will be endless. From ants in the country, you can use either spraying or granules. The most popular brands are:

• Raptor;
• Karbofos;
• Klaus.

When choosing a drug, one should pay attention not only to the inscription indicating the exterminated insects, but also to the composition.

There are drugs designed to exterminate ants in the house, and there are for the garden. They can differ not only in the size of the package, but also in the active ingredient.

Raptor

From ants in the garden, granules that contain fipronil are usually used. The pesticide has the ability to penetrate chitin, and special additives attract insects. Upon contact of ants with granules, the poison penetrates inside, and the working individuals die. The duration of the granules is 2 months.

How to use: scatter the granules along the ant tracks

Carbophos

A potent insecticide, the liquid solution of which treats trees from pests. You can apply it only in the spring, when there are no berries on the cherries yet. With the help of karbofos it is possible to get rid of ants. But it must be sprayed on the ground. The drug is diluted according to the instructions. To destroy the anthill, a set of measures and a lot of work will be required.

To begin with, they track down where the foragers carry supplies. Next, they dig the anthill as deep as possible and treat it with karbofos from above.

The granules also allow you to get rid of the entire ant colony. After tracking down the anthill, the working individuals block the way to the cherry to their favorite aphid. Next, karbofos microgranules are scattered near the anthill. It is assumed that the starving ants will sooner or later feed their queen with poison. But, given the diversity of the food supply of these insects, the method is doubtful.

dr Klaus

From ants on the site, the product is released in two forms: spray and granules.

Spray composition:

• lambda-cyhalothrin 0,1%;
• synergist;
• stabilizer;
• emulsifier;
• water.

To process a summer cottage from ants, an anthill is first found. Then they dig it up, getting to the larvae. Spray the soil. All ant tracks are processed. After 2 days, the ants should disappear.

To treat the area from insects, the company offers a replaceable cylinder with a special ejector

The composition of the granules:

• lambda-cyhalothrin 0,05%;
• synergist 0,15%;
• stabilizer 0,8%;
• emulsifier;
• food attractants.

When using pellets, rubber gloves must be worn. The drug is poured on the paths along which insects move. Food components attract ants, which carry the pellets to their storage. Consumption of funds 15 g per 1 m². After 2 days, the insects die.

Validity of granules up to 2 months

Muratox

Sometimes there are also recommendations to use this drug to get rid of crawling insects on trees. But it is more suitable for indoors than for open spaces. Active ingredient: diazinon 60%. Released in the form of a liquid concentrate. The solution is used in places of accumulation of ants.

In other words, this drug will not save you from raids on cherries.

How to remove ants from under cherries

The most popular means of tillage are lime and ash. True, here the main task is not to overdo it with these substances. Lime neutralizes soil acidity, but this may not be necessary. Ash is a natural nitrogen fertilizer, which should also be used very carefully. Provided that the gardener needs cherries, and not a beautiful green tree.

There is one more thing. Gardeners who have experimented with these substances say that the method only works for the first days. Then the ants stop paying attention to lime and ash.

It is good if the gardener knows that his trees lack copper or iron. In this case, the soil under the tree can be shed with a solution of copper or iron sulfate. The tree will receive the missing element, and the ants will die.

Another option: drive the anthill with oily rags. The entrance is covered with oiled rags. After a few days, the insects will dig a new entrance away from the old one. Cover again with a cloth. And so gradually “drive” the ants from the cherry.

Ants don’t like ash very much, as it stains their antennae.

Rules for processing cherries from ants

Like other fruit trees, it is necessary to treat ants and other pests for the first time in the spring, when the hibernation of trees is still ongoing. Usually this is the first decade of March. Provided that the air has already warmed up to 5-6 ° C. At this time, the cherries in the garden are sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate and tree trunks are whitewashed. With an eye on ants, you must also take care of preparing a place for trapping belts on the tree trunk.

Young cherries are sprayed with a 1% solution of vitriol. For old trees prepare 3%. Since blue vitriol can be mixed with lime, after spraying the trunks of cherries are whitened. Vitriol can also be added to lime mortar to enhance the effect.

You can whiten cherries later, but you should not add vitriol anymore, as it is poisonous. In late spring, before the ripening of cherries, trees can be treated with industrial chemicals for systemic and contact action. But during the ripening of cherries, that is, by about mid-June, you will have to do with either biological products or folk remedies.

It is during the ripening period of cherries that the use of ant traps on tree trunks will be the best solution, since it does not affect the quality of the berries at all. After picking cherries, trees can again be treated with pesticides. Systemic drugs are needed to get rid of ant “cattle”. To get rid of ants on trees, it is more advisable to use contact poisons.

How and when to spray trees

Before spraying cherries with any means, including folk, it’s a good idea to check the weather forecast. There should be no rain for the next 3 days so that the insecticide is not washed away. It is better to process trees early in the morning or in the evening and always in calm weather. The latter is necessary, first of all, for the safety of the gardener. Even if folk remedies are used when spraying cherries, getting infusion or decoction into the eyes will cause a lot of discomfort.

To work with industrial insecticides, you need to use:

• rubber raincoat with a hood;
• mask with respirator;
• protective glasses;
• latex gloves;
• rubber boots.

The raincoat can be replaced with a chemical protection suit.

The grossest violation of safety regulations when spraying cherries with insecticides is fraught with severe poisoning

Frequency of processing

This factor directly depends on the means used last time. “People’s” should be updated at least once a week, and some of them even more so every day. When processing cherries with industrial preparations, you need to look at the instructions for their use. Some products have a period of protecting trees from insects for 2 weeks, while others – up to a month.

Preventive measures

Measures to prevent visiting cherries by ants include:

• deep digging of the earth next to the trees;
• the complete absence of plants under cherries, especially dill, onion and garlic that “repel”;
• regular cleaning of the garden from dry plant residues;
• systematic check of slate sheets, boards and other similar debris lying on the site;
• spring and autumn treatment of trees from pests;
• sanitary pruning of cherries;
• timely harvest.

Ants are very fond of arranging anthills under something that is heated in the sun. Often these are sheets of roofing iron or slate. Insects bring pupae under these sheets when it is necessary to increase the temperature in future adults. Similarly, they can arrange a “kindergarten” under dry foliage. If you do not litter the garden with garbage, or at least move the trash regularly, you can seriously complicate the life of the ant colony.

Conclusion

Getting rid of ants on a cherry is not as easy as we would like. The best way to get rid of insects is to use barriers on tree trunks that only block the way for foragers to cherries. Let them look for food elsewhere and catch harmful invertebrates, and not breed their “cows”.