About 2 year ago, I had a large (3-ft diameter trunk) ant-infested locust tree taken down from my front lawn. Now, two years, later, there are literally hundreds of locust trees growing all over the yard.
I presume this is from the root system that was left after the tree was removed. I am trying to figure out what to do. Roundup does no good at all on these things (it kills it, but it also kills all the grass around it).
Any suggestions on what to do to eliminate the problem?
Thanks.
H
Mow your lawn. It'll eventually give up.
My roommate did his Ph.D. thesis on leaf-cutter ants. They are pretty surprising. They only cut certain kinds of leaves, and they cut off crescent-moon-shaped pieces, which they take back to the ant hill, and feed to the ?? bigger than bacteria, maybe fungus, and the fungus grows and the ants eat the fungus, not the leaves. They are little farmers. And they have a garbage pile at one exit to the hill where they pile, not sure what, the parts of the leaves that the fungus won't eat, or the parts of the fungus that the ants won't eat. I think it is the first of these.
Anyhow, it can be observed that the ants won't cut off all the leaves on a bush. Maybe it is only a third before they go on to a new bush. Sometimes the trail from the anthill to the bush is very long, and you can watch them going out empty on one trail, and each coming back with a piece of leaf in his mouth on a trail a half-inch away.
So as some sort of a control, he thought they should remove the leaves from one or two similar bushes and see how it did. How to do this as much like an ant would as possible? Can't use herbicides, that's for sure. He and his fiancee did it by hand, picking each leaf off of bushes so high they needed a 6 foot ladder to do the whole bush. They did every leaf, and like you say, it grew the leaves back, though not quite as many iirc. Then they picked off every leaf again. The second time, I think it only managed to generate a few leaves. And I think after the third time it was dead.
So it's pretty clear that if the ants didn't "know" enough to go on to another bush, they'd kill bushes, ruin their habitat and have to move the whole hill, which is a lot of effort, especially since I think the queen is too heavy to move.
I don't remember what kind of bush, but I'm sure it wasn't a locust tree.
This was in Costa Rica, on the central plain, where it was warm all year, and plenty of sunlight. I think this part only took 2 to 4 months. He was there a year. A whole "ranch" set up for grad students and other researchers. Sort of like a motel, with a room for each of them, and a central dining room for 3 meals a day.
Cut the bottom off a plastic gallon bottle and also cut a slit from the bottom to the lid. Throw the cap away. Use this as a shield to spray your RoundUp. Or you can use a cellulose sponge dipped in RoundUp (made with 1 part concentrate, 3 parts water) and rubber gloves. Make sure all the leaves are wet with the solution and do the application on a dry sunny day. They will die in 2 to 6 days.
Years, but it will work. The good part is that you are going to mow the lawn anyway.
Agree with this approach. But would suggest using a stronger herbicide designed to kill brush in a strong concentration. You can also use a paper towel tube as a shield.
It is true that the lawn gets mowed, but these "trees" grow at a rate of three or four times the grass growth rate. so in order to have a reasonable looking lawn, I'd have to mow three or four times a often.
What a mess.
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