How to treat a pear from ants: 14 effective remedies

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.

Barrier methods

To protect the harvest of fruit trees, pest control measures must be taken in a timely manner. An effective method is to install barriers at ground level. You can do this in several ways:

1. Using a car tire. Cut it in half, dig a ditch under the tree and place part of the tire there, digging it well and fixing it with earth. Pour water inside: ants cannot swim, so the tree will be reliably protected.
2. Through chalk. To get rid of ants on a personal plot and protect fruit trees, crushed chalk is scattered on the ground at the roots, and the trunks are rubbed with this powder. White particles stick to the paws of insects, impairing grip, so the pests simply fall from the tree and cannot reach the branches with young shoots.
3. Using foil. To prevent pests from climbing trees, a kind of “skirt” of foil is formed around the trunk. It is difficult for insects to crawl on a slippery surface, so they fall to the ground.

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.

Important! The red ants on the pear are at war with the black ones, exterminating their fellows. There is no need to worry about their appearance in your garden.

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.

Barrier method

Protecting trees from ants and aphids involves installing barriers at ground level.

• You will need an old car tire. It is cut into 2 parts. They dig a ditch under the tree, place a tire there, and secure it well with earth. Water is poured inside. Ants can't swim. A distance of 10 cm is insurmountable for them. Fruit trees and fruits are protected from invasion.
• You can get rid of ants and aphids with chalk. Scatter it near the tree and coat the trunk. Chalk particles stick to the legs of insects, depriving them of their tenacity. Pests simply fall from the tree, unable to reach the branches and damage young seedlings.
• To prevent ants from climbing the tree, tie foil around the trunk in the form of a skirt. Insects have difficulty crawling on slippery surfaces and are not flexible enough to overcome the sharp edges of the foil. The pests fall to the ground.

Trees can be saved in simple ways if taken care of in a timely manner.

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.

On a note! Timely destruction of aphids will protect the area from ant colonies. To deprive black workers of food, after flowering, the pear is treated against ants with the insecticides Fufanon, Fitoverm, Agrovertin, Iskra.

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.

Important! The use of insecticides and sprays in the form of aerosols does not lead to the desired result.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Decoction of tomato tops. The more concentrated the liquid, the faster the ants will leave their home.
5. 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.
6. 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:

1. Mix burdock oil and tar in a 1:2 ratio. Boil the mixture for 4-5 hours.
2. Mix crushed rosin, petroleum jelly and pine resin (in a ratio of 1:4:8) until smooth.
3. 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.
4. 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.

Preventative work

Following basic rules for maintaining cleanliness and order in the orchard helps to significantly reduce the number of aphids and other pests and reduce the risk of developing diseases. Work is carried out almost daily - the common phrase “cleanliness is the key to health” directly applies to fruit trees and shrubs.

1. Before winter, when the harvest is harvested and the leaves have fallen, all garden waste, including fallen leaves, dried out weeds and cultivated plants, is collected and disposed of.
2. At the very end of winter or early spring, before the buds open, trees are treated with preparations aimed at destroying aphids or their larvae.
3. Between the trees, it is advisable to plant annuals or perennials whose aroma repels pests: tansy, calendula, garlic or onion, mint, marigolds, lavender.
4. During the season, the grass is not allowed to grow, especially weeds; the space under the trees is regularly watered with infusions of wormwood and tansy.
5. They attract natural enemies of aphids - ladybugs, hoverflies, birds. Entomophagous insects will be attracted to bushes of dill or leaf celery; feeders, drinking bowls, and nesting houses are installed for birds.

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.

Plant repellent

Ants do not like the smells of some plants. They can be planted directly in the garden, or periodically scattered around the garden plot or tied on trees.

• sagebrush;
• tansy;
• elder;
• peppermint;
• pharmaceutical camomile;
• calendula.

You can prepare a saturated cinnamon-based solution and spray the garden.

Great results are achieved in the fight against ants using a combination of folk and professional means. Insecticides are recommended for use in special cases. There are many safe ways to get rid of pests. If the location of the nest is known, pour boiling water, boric acid, or gasoline.

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.

Causes

New insect colonies arise thanks to the queen ant. These are females with wings. They can fly long distances in search of a suitable location.

In the selected area, the female builds a nest and lays larvae, from which worker ants are born. They are the ones who improve and expand the anthill.

A large queen ant lays eggs.

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.

Folk remedies

Recipes for solutions inherited from ancestors work less effectively, but they are non-toxic for people, animals, birds, and therefore they can be used more often.

The following compositions are common for spraying pears against aphids.

• Dandelion or chamomile flowers (0.5 kg/1 liter of water) are infused for 24 hours, boiled for 15 minutes, and “seasoned” with two chopped heads of garlic. The resulting solution is cooled, filtered, and diluted with water 1:10. For better adhesion, add 30 g of soap, preferably green - it is a reliable insecticide in itself.
• Wormwood, celandine, as well as garlic or onion shoots, and tomato shoots are used to prepare a repellent at the rate of 1 kg of fresh green mass per 10 liters of water. They insist for a day. The composition is suitable for weekly spraying of trees after sunset.

Dusting branches with tobacco dust or wood ash, spraying with infusion of tobacco (shag), to which green, laundry or tar soap is also added, also help to cope with aphids.

Folk remedies are not used during flowering and ovary formation.

Signs of infection

The presence of aphids on a pear can be determined by visual inspection of the tree. Symptoms of infection are:

• The tops of young shoots “curl”, darken and dry out.
• The leaves turn yellow, curl and fall off. Sometimes purplish-red swellings appear on the leaf blades (when affected by red gall aphids).
• Flowers and buds are deformed.
• All parts of the infected tree become covered with sticky insect secretions.
• Plant growth and development slow down.

The consequences of an aphid invasion on a pear tree are very disastrous: the tree loses its decorative effect and weakens, its productivity and winter hardiness are noticeably reduced. In addition, sooty fungus and pathogens of other dangerous infections readily develop on the sweet secretions of aphids, which means that instead of just one problem, you risk getting a whole “bouquet” of troubles.

Prevention

Gardeners begin preventive measures against ants and aphids in the fall. Anthills are destroyed using insecticides or folk remedies.

• A small ant heap located far from plantings can be easily destroyed with ordinary boiling water. Pour a bucket of boiling salt water into the stirred up anthill. The procedure can be repeated every other day to destroy even those individuals that were absent.
• Dig up the soil around the trees and sprinkle with insecticide.
• Cut off damaged bark on trees and treat with an antiseptic.
• Collect and burn plant waste, leaves and dry branches.
• In the spring, update the hunting belts on the tree before insect activity begins.

Hunting belts

This method of eliminating pests involves tying tree trunks with special belts. Their width varies for each method, the average is 20 cm. Options for creating fishing belts:

• the clothesline is generously treated with Vaseline and wrapped around the trunk at a level of 20 cm above the ground (Vaseline interferes with the movement of insects and is absolutely harmless to plants);
• trunks in the garden are covered with film and coated with grease, resin or birch tar;
• double-sided tape or adhesive tape will help protect garden crops; aphids, ants and other pests stick to the base;
• To combat ants, they also use cotton wool soaked in a carbolic solution: they tie it around the trunk for 3 days, after which the bandage is changed (three such procedures are enough throughout the summer).

Use of plants

You can get rid of ants in a simple way - by scattering certain herbs on the area, the smell of which insects cannot stand. Bunches can also be hung from trees or used to make rich infusions and sprinkled over the garden. Insects do not like the following types of plants:

To avoid the pest returning to the garden, it is important to carry out spraying procedures systematically. In addition, in order to get rid of ants for a long time, it is necessary to periodically replace scattered and hanging herbs with fresh ones.

Insecticides for insect control

to use store-bought insecticides to control insect pests on fruit trees.

, which have a number of advantages. The advantages of such funds include the following:

• Excellent efficiency.
• Ease of use.
• Universal action of insecticides.
• Long lasting effect.
• Affordable price.

All such insecticides are usually divided into highly specialized and complex. As the name suggests, complex ones are capable of affecting various insect pests, while highly specialized ones destroy only ants. We can recommend that you give preference to contact poisonous baits and insecticides, which are highly effective and easy to use.

Today in specialized gardening stores you can find various dry poison powders, all kinds of poisonous preparations and insecticidal gels, which are characterized by maximum durability of use

.

We can recommend that you use drugs such as Thunder 2, Muracid, Anteater. These insecticides effectively destroy adult ants and larvae, which ensures that you will get rid of these pests.

We can also recommend that you use various insecticidal gels, which are easy to use. Such gels are characterized by long-lasting action, which guarantees that you will get rid of ants and other pests for several months.

special adhesive double-sided belts on sale.

, the operating principle of which is extremely simple. Insect pests, moving along the trunk, will end up on such an adhesive belt from which they will no longer be able to get out. It is necessary to attach several of these adhesive belts to the tree trunk, and soon the problem with ants will be solved.