North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Kevin Moore <aleguy33@yahoo.com>]

Different ants have different behaviors which may or may not be harmful. You need to identify the species and its characteristic behavior before you decide. I seem to remember that red ants are generally predators, and so should be left alone as they may protect your tree. Here in Louisiana, we have imported fire ants that are supposed to be predatory, but in my experience they are scavengers not hunters. They sting pretty badly, and they will swarm up your legs, so I try to get rid of them, but they seem to have developed resistance to everything I have thrown at them so far.
Good luck with your new squatters.

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From: T Phillips <canineaficionado@yahoo.com>
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 3:17:33 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Ants Under the Apple Tree

I have a colony of small red ants making a new home in the rocks that form the bed of a 6' Honeycrisp planted last year. Should I evict them now or wait for bad behavior? Last year, we erected a Frankenstein hoop house close to one side of a Stella cherry. The impaired air movement made for a nice place for mites and aphids, and the ants had a field day. Don't want to repeat that experience. I'd prefer to not kill them- I don't know if they are doing something good in general that I can't see (nature's garbagemen?).  DE is all I would ever use for 'control'.. They refused to put down a security deposit, so they really have no leg to stand on. All opinions welcome.