DIY: Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants in a Tree
Carpenter ants can be a problem both inside and outside your home. These ants are also unique in how they prefer to have two sets of nests: a parent colony and satellite colonies. Carpenter ants can dig tunnels to their nests in the trees, woodpiles, and other wooden structures in your yard.
The average DIY homeowner can easily handle getting rid of carpenter ants inside of a tree. A combination of pesticides, ant baits, and prevention of excess tree moisture and decomposition are the best methods for keeping carpenter ants out of trees.
Homeowners need to be able to recognize when they have a carpenter ant problem. These ants can also be found within the home in places like baseboards and basements. This guide focuses on getting rid of carpenter ant infestations inside of trees outside.
Without ant control, carpenter ants can cause significant damage to the trees in your yard, leaving them invisibly unstable. If you can’t get rid of your carpenter ants or want an expert opinion, call an exterminator or pest control professional for recommendations tailored to your home.
- Carpenter ants prefer wood that has an ample amount of moisture and is easy to tunnel through, which usually means rotting wood.
- Proper identification of the pest and knowing what signs to look for in and around a tree are crucial steps in assessing treatment options.
- Once you confirm the activity of carpenter ants, there are a few different treatment options you can consider.
- Pesticides and ant baits are the best methods to use once you have confirmed that the problem is indeed carpenter ants.
Why Are Carpenter Ants in My Tree?
Like termites, carpenter ants are a pest that is closely associated with wood. Unlike termites, this species of ant does not eat wood but tunnels through the wood to establish its nests.
Carpenter ants prefer to nest inside of wood due in large part to the moisture content and prefer wood that has an ample amount of moisture and is easy to tunnel through. These ants prefer rotting wood or decaying wood, and are often found at the base of the tree. Once the ants find moist wood, two types of nests will typically be developed.
The parent nest or the main nest, houses the queen and workers who forage for food sources to feed the queen and the colony. Satellite nests are secondary nests scouted by worker ants to expand the colony once a parent nest fills to capacity. These nests can be hundreds of feet apart, or even just several feet away.
Once a decomposing or moist wood structure like a tree is found, the worker ants will excavate tunnels into the wood to build their nests. Therefore, if you find carpenter ants in a tree, the tree is likely decomposing or has sections that are rotting.
For this reason, a carpenter ant nest is unlikely to be found inside of a living, healthy tree. Carpenter ants are likely in your tree or stump, because it’s unhealthy, dying, or dead. Acting quickly to kill carpenter ants in your tree is the best way to try to save the tree.
Steps To Identifying Carpenter Ants In Your Tree
Getting rid of carpenter ants in a tree can take some work, but it’s manageable if you have the right products. Proper identification of the pest and knowing what signs to look for in and around a tree are crucial steps in assessing treatment options.
You can take these four steps to determine carpenter ant activity and then some suggestions for treating the problem.
1: Properly Identify the Ants
The first step to take is to make sure that carpenter ants are in the tree. These ants share many common traits with termites, including infesting of wood, tunneling, and creating exit holes, producing frass, as well as causing slow deterioration of wood from their activity.
You will typically see red, brown, or black carpenter ants, and they measure upward of 13mm in length. This species is larger than house or fire ants, and if you see ants crawling around wood, and especially inside of wood, this is a good indication of carpenter ants.
2: Look for Frass
Carpenter ants produce a substance known as frass, as the ants tunnel through wood. Frass is essentially pulverized wood, soil, and even parts of dead ants that are expelled from the inside of the nest. Frass resembles sawdust, and this is basically what it is since the ants shred wood as they burrow deep within a structure.
You can find carpenter ant frass along the base of a tree or even around tiny exit holes on the surface of a tree.
3: Look for Entrance Holes
Carpenter ant entry points are also a tell-tale sign of an infestation. The holes are small and can be found on the outside surface of the wood. The ants use these holes to leave the nest and to eject dead ants and frass outside.
Looking for entrance holes may not be enough proof, since termites also leave entrance and exit holes for the same reason.
4: Look for Signs of Deteriorating Tree Health
Lastly, you can also observe the overall health of trees. Trees that have dying branches or discolored leaves are a sign of poor health, and can be from tunneling carpenter ants.
Additionally, this can be observed if a tree was previously in good health but now shows signs of decomposition. This could be a carpenter and satellite nest causing the damage.
How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants
Once you confirm the activity of carpenter ants, there are a few different ant-killer options you can consider. Pesticides generally will not harm surrounding vegetation.
Pesticide Sprays
Phantom is a powerful termiticide that can also be used to treat carpenter ants. This pesticide works well because carpenter ants cannot smell or detect the chemicals. If you spray the product on entry point holes, along the tree, and the ground surrounding the base, the ants constantly crawl through it and transfer the poison to the interior nest.
Phantom can be mixed in a one-gallon sprayer, allowing you to spray all areas where the carpenter ants crawl for superior horizontal treatment. This termiticide has a strong residual effect, transfers to an entire nest, and can be sprayed on every surface on which the ants crawl. The drawback to this method is that it takes time to destroy an entire nest.
Demon WP is another great option to consider if you prefer spray insecticides. The product comes in the form of a powder that can be mixed with water in a one-gallon sprayer. The main chemical in Demon WP is cypermethrin, which attacks the central nervous system of carpenter ants, resulting in death within minutes of exposure.
The best aspect of this product is the strong residual effect once it dries onto applied surfaces. The residual remains effective for up to 3 months and will spread to carpenter ants that cross through it and pass the chemical to other ants within the nest. Demon WP has a 3-month residual, can kill an entire carpenter ant nest, and one packet makes 2–4 gallons of solution. Alternatively, it leaves a powdery residue on surfaces.
Foams
Fuse Foam is a great option to consider if you’ve found entrances to the tunnels and want to get the fastest results possible. The product is a foam formulation that contains fipronil and imidacloprid that attack the central nervous system of insects.
Not only can this work to destroy an active nest, but it can also help to prevent reinfestation of a tree once a nest has been destroyed. Fuse foam contains two powerful chemicals, is easy to use, and is perfect for entrance holes and tunnels. This method only treats inside tunnels and galleries, though. The foam doesn’t treat the outside of the tree.
Additionally, you can also consider using Diatomaceous Earth to treat carpenter ants, but this product is most effective on surfaces and structures that are not wet. However, the product can regain its effectiveness if it is allowed to dry out.
Carpenter Ant Bait
Treating your tree can be easy to do since applying pesticides around it should do the job. If that’s not where the main carpenter ant colony is, however, you’re likely to have carpenter ants come back. Using carpenter ant bait is a great option that gives you the best chance at wiping out the entire colony.
Using a product like Advance Carpenter Ant Bait is a great way to follow an ant trail back to the main nest. You can drop the granules or a piece of food along a carpenter ant trail and keep following the trail all the way to its endpoint which is likely the main nest.
You can apply the granules all around the nest slowly, but this won’t destroy the nest entirely. Try and keep the bait as close to the main nest as possible since outdoor ant baits can also attract other types of ants.
Carpenter ant bait can kill an entire nest within a matter of days, is easy to use, use dual-action chemicals, and can lead you to the main nest. Unfortunarely, they may also draw other outdoor ants.
After Treatment: Monitor the Tree’s Health
Another important step to take is to watch a tree’s health. Carpenter ants are not typically equipped to make a nest in any regular, healthy tree, which means that there is likely some excess moisture or rot that draws the ants to the tree.
Calling on an arborist to come take a look and give an assessment of your tree is a smart move at this stage.
Natural Methods to Get Carpenter Ants Out of a Tree
Natural methods for treating carpenter ants are not often successful but can certainly be tried. As mentioned, using DE powder is one natural option to consider.
Diatomaceous earth is ineffective when wet, but you can cover the tree and all entrance holes with the product. You should be prepared to wait a while for the process to work. To coat the areas with the powder, you can use a dust applicator or you can even apply DE powder as a wet application but the product will need to dry to become effective.
Additionally, you can also use a DIY borax bait, using boric acid, to apply along the trails. The workers can spread the product to the nest that will eventually reach the queen. It may help to add sugar or some sort of protein to the mixture to encourage the ants to spread the product to the nest. Carpenter ants regularly crave either sugar or protein, so a combination is best.
FAQs About Getting Rid of Carpenter Ants
Do carpenter ants eat trees?
Carpenter ants do not eat trees or wood of any kind. This ant species eats sugars and proteins, much like many other species of ants. The destruction to trees comes from the ants tunneling into the tree to build and house their nests.
Do carpenter ants damage trees?
Yes, carpenter ants damage trees. Even though they are not eating the wood, the constant tunneling slowly destroys a tree by stripping it of its components. The ants will tunnel enough into the tree to support a nest of thousands of ants before moving on to find another satellite nest.
Do I need to cut down my tree if it has a carpenter ant nest?
You do not need to cut down a tree that is infested with carpenter ants. Trees can sometimes regenerate once the problem-causing decomposition is removed. By using pesticides and baits, you can slowly destroy a carpenter’s ant nest and avoid having to cut down the tree just to solve the issue.
Final Thoughts
In summary, getting rid of carpenter ants in a tree takes time but certainly can be done. Pesticides and ant baits are the best methods to use once you have confirmed that the problem is indeed carpenter ants.
Also, remember to monitor a tree’s health and keep an eye out for any moist or rotting wood on your property to keep the ants from infesting nearby trees.
