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Can Ants Kill Maple Trees?
Can Ants Kill Maple Trees?. A maple tree (Aceraceae) swarming with ants can appear to be under attack, but the biggest danger is that the ants will invade nearby homes from their main nest in the tree. Carpenter ants (Camponotus) are pests in ornamental and shade trees, especially silver maples. Nests can grow as large as several thousand ants,...
A maple tree (Aceraceae) swarming with ants can appear to be under attack, but the biggest danger is that the ants will invade nearby homes from their main nest in the tree. Carpenter ants (Camponotus) are pests in ornamental and shade trees, especially silver maples. Nests can grow as large as several thousand ants, which bite with powerful jaws and spray stinging formic acid into the wound.
Carpenter Ants
Carpenter ants nest in damaged, decaying wood or the center heartwood, particularly of maple trees (Aceraceae). They don't eat wood, but excavate it to form galleries and tunnels that don't kill the tree. They penetrate by gnawing through soft, wounded wood caused by insects, disease, pruning or environmental conditions. The biggest problem they cause is to weaken minor limbs, which break in high winds. If the tree is within 100 yards of your home, they establish a satellite colony inside and weaken wooden structures.
Description and Recognition
Carpenter ants are among the largest ants in North America. The all-black C. modoc and black and red C. vicinus range from ?- to ?-inch long, with queens exceeding 1 inch. Carpenter ants differ from termites by their bent antennae, narrow waist and back wings, which are shorter than the front wings. Carpenter ants leave fibrous sawdust, while termites produce six-sided pellets.
Life Cycle
Carpenter ants eat insects, nectar, fruit juice and honeydew. They love honeydew-producing aphids, which are attracted to maple trees. Carpenter ants establish a parent nest with up to 40 queens in a live tree or wood pile. Every few years, new reproductive ants grow wings. Males and females swarm in mating flights after heavy rains in the spring. Males die and inseminated queens establish satellite colonies by excavating a birthing cavity in wood damaged by water or decay.
Locate and Control
Carpenter ants are nocturnal and do most of their foraging between sunset and midnight in spring and summer. Workers search for food up to 100 yards from the nest. Locate a nest by leaving out bait of sugar and milk or cut-up mealworms, and follow worker ants on their trip back. Check for fibrous sawdust piles at the base of the tree; then locate holes above the deposit where ants enter the nest.
Remove nests by pruning the tree to remove the infested wood, if possible. Eliminate aphids and scale insects that produce honeydew, which attracts ants. Or drill into the tree through the entrance holes to reach the nest and deposit desiccants that dry up the colony and eliminate queens.
