Landscaping and......

[Treamayne]

Well, spring has sprung adn I'm starting to try to get some color in the new yard (other than brown of course) and I go out to the nursery, pick up a couple trees and bushes, come home (having already picked out the perfect spots) and proceed to teh front lawn, between two large mature pines. I set rake to soil, in order to clear the pine needles the builders put down, and find.... a two foot+ diameter ant nest right where I planned to put my Weeping Pussywillow sapling (insert bad joke here).

So, the question du jour, does it matter if I still plant here? Will the ants kill or hurt the tree? As far as subspecies, all I can say is that they are small and black, so I know they *aren't* fire andts or carpenter ants. I beleive most ants don't bother trees and help aerate soil, but I don't want to risk it without research. However, I'm not finding much on the topic - lots of info on carpenters and ants with bushes or grass, but not much about ants and hardwoods (insert worse joke here).

Anybody with info or experience?

-K-

 

[Rob_k]

i used this stuff from the local home depot and is a powdered ant killer. i think it is called seven or something like that.
the stuff worked, had a similar problem, only was in a stump i was digging up.

 

[AVB]

I have a spot in my yard with a large colony. I planted a bush about 2 feet away from them and so far nothing has happened. You really don't need to kill them, just move your spot a bit and everything will be fine.

 

[Martin2D]

As long as they're not the huge carpenter bastards you should be fine, we have ants everywhere at home.

 

[Treamayne]

Thanks for the info

I don't want to kill them if I don't have to, just don't know if they would damage the tree I was hoping to plant.