Help!! Ants invading my Fukien

[BonsaiQueen]

Hi! Any idea why ants would invade a fukien tea? They’re all over my fukien tea. Anything I should be looking out for? Suggestions on getting rid of them?

Otherwise the tree looks healthy.

Any and all advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Tiki]

Ants on fukien tea, probably means you have aphids on your tree as well. Check the new growth stems that are bright green for little green sap suckers, blackish soot on the tops of leaves are also a sign. Any number of sprays will fix this problem. For small collections or isolated outbreaks a strong blast of water from the hose will keep them in check.

Without any pictures to see the offending bugs this is all I can suggest. When I get ants in my trees its usually fire ants and they move into the soil in the pots, different ant which requires a different solution.

 

[BonsaiQueen]

Ants on fukien tea, probably means you have aphids on your tree as well. Check the new growth stems that are bright green for little green sap suckers, blackish soot on the tops of leaves are also a sign. Any number of sprays will fix this problem. For small collections or isolated outbreaks a strong blast of water from the hose will keep them in check.

Without any pictures to see the offending bugs this is all I can suggest. When I get ants in my trees its usually fire ants and they move into the soil in the pots, different ant which requires a different solution.

Thank you! I have attached pictures below.

 

[GGB]

ants on leaves usually mean aphids, ants in the soil mean your soil is too retentive. Ants are the best, they let you know where the problems are. As far as I can tell they've never actually bothered any of my trees directly.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Ants are known to "farm" aphids for their honeydew.

How Ants and Aphids Help Each Other

Some ants and aphids have a mutualistic relationship. Learn how ants benefit from caring for aphids.

www.thoughtco.com

 

[Tiki]

Thank you! I have attached pictures below.

Ok yep they would be the ants that farm aphids. Depending on how you feel about chemical use and pesticides there are a handful of items on the market that will take care of this issue. My go to chemical lately has been Bayer 3 in 1 (with mitecide). https://www.bioadvanced.com/products/rose-flower-care/3-1-insect-disease-mite-control Its strong and kills most problems on the first application. It will also kill honey bees so only spray late in the evening when the bees are back in their hives for the night.

A less aggressive approach could be something like safer soap. https://www.saferbrand.com/safer-brand-insect-killing-soap-concentrate-16-oz-5118-6 A much more forgiving product on your local bee population but may require multiple applications to finish the job. Also like I mentioned before, a strong jet blast from the water hose will take care of alot of insect problems or at minimum keep the numbers under control so other predatory insects can come in and finish up the rest.

Hope this helps. Both of the products I mentioned should be available at your big box stores and "most" garden stores. As always follow the instructions printed on the labels for application strengths and replication intervals.

Edit: Fukien teas are known to be pest magnets so your experience here with these insects are no wrong doing on your part, bugs just love the taste of this plant.

 

[BonsaiQueen]

ants on leaves usually mean aphids, ants in the soil mean your soil is too retentive. Ants are the best, they let you know where the problems are. As far as I can tell they've never actually bothered any of my trees directly.

Thank you!! This is very helpful information!

 

[BonsaiQueen]

Ok yep they would be the ants that farm aphids. Depending on how you feel about chemical use and pesticides there are a handful of items on the market that will take care of this issue. My go to chemical lately has been Bayer 3 in 1 (with mitecide). https://www.bioadvanced.com/products/rose-flower-care/3-1-insect-disease-mite-control Its strong and kills most problems on the first application. It will also kill honey bees so only spray late in the evening when the bees are back in their hives for the night.

A less aggressive approach could be something like safer soap. https://www.saferbrand.com/safer-brand-insect-killing-soap-concentrate-16-oz-5118-6 A much more forgiving product on your local bee population but may require multiple applications to finish the job. Also like I mentioned before, a strong jet blast from the water hose will take care of alot of insect problems or at minimum keep the numbers under control so other predatory insects can come in and finish up the rest.

Hope this helps. Both of the products I mentioned should be available at your big box stores and "most" garden stores. As always follow the instructions printed on the labels for application strengths and replication intervals.

Edit: Fukien teas are known to be pest magnets so your experience here with these insects are no wrong doing on your part, bugs just love the taste of this plant.

Thank you SO much for taking the time out to explain all of this to me! I will be ordering both products you mentioned. I really appreciate your help!

 

[Paradox]

Cant see any aphids in those pictures, but I did see ants and a couple of scale.
Look at the bottoms of the leaves and where they meet the stems to see if there are aphids.

Aphid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BonsaiQueen]

Ants are known to "farm" aphids for their honeydew.

How Ants and Aphids Help Each Other

Some ants and aphids have a mutualistic relationship. Learn how ants benefit from caring for aphids.

www.thoughtco.com

Thank you for taking the time to share this with me!

 

[BonsaiQueen]

Cant see any aphids in those pictures, but I did see ants and a couple of scale.
Look at the bottoms of the leaves and where they meet the stems to see if there are aphids.

Aphid - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thank you and will be sure to check bottom of the leaves for aphids!

 

[sorce]

With a harder leaf like a Fukien has, scale is a much more likely pest.

Mechanical removal and Centipedes in the soil to eat the eggs and crawlers.

Sorce

 

[BonsaiQueen]

With a harder leaf like a Fukien has, scale is a much more likely pest.

Mechanical removal and Centipedes in the soil to eat the eggs and crawlers.

Sorce

Yikes. Where can I find centipedes? Also, by mechanical removal - should I just remove with gloved hands? What do you suggest?

Anyway to prevent this from happening in the future?

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

 

[sorce]

Yikes. Where can I find centipedes? Also, by mechanical removal - should I just remove with gloved hands? What do you suggest?

Anyway to prevent this from happening in the future?

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

I like metal tweezers, good ones.

I think centipedes come automatic with moss. These that work well are never much longer than 3/4in and about 1/4in as white babies.

Check well, and then again in a week or so.

Sorce




Sorce

 

[BonsaiQueen]

I like metal tweezers, good ones.

I think centipedes come automatic with moss. These that work well are never much longer than 3/4in and about 1/4in as white babies.

Check well, and then again in a week or so.

Sorce




Sorce

Will do!! Thank you very much, Sorce!!