Leaf Cutter Ants Bite the Dust

Leaf Cutter Ants are a constant battle around here but I've never seen this before. You powder their holes and they usually just move a little way or a long way and they'll be back in a few weeks. These guys made their nest underneath my sidewalk so hard to notice their holes and no large excavation mounds. I noticed them yesterday, put powder on them and this is what I found this morning.

Literally thousands dead

Put down a little new powder

My poor Almond tree

Leaf cutter ants don´t often bother almond (almendra) trees but last night they did. I thought rain sends them in hiding but it rained all night and it didn't slow them down a bit. In the dry season the homes of these ants are pretty easy to find but now the weeds (sacate) are high. I wondered why they went to the top of the tree but then realized that is where all the tender new growth is. Gonna have to get out there with a flashlight tonight but if it's raining the normal powder won't work.

Maybe I'll have to resort to using them as protein.

Atta species are a popular ingredient in Mexican cuisine, particularly in the southern states such as Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz. It is considered a delicacy, as well as a food of high protein content, therefore it is often served as a main dish, not as garnish, despite its small portions. They may be eaten as the sole filling in tacos. The Atta (a leaf cutter ant species), the type of ant most eaten in Mexico, has a nutty flavor.

Almond tree from my roof

What to look for in the dry season

On a lighter note

Two of the three Neem trees I've planted on the Plaza

Winged Invasion

No bugs like the rain it seems, especially the heavy rains we've had for the last 4-5 days.  My house is crawling with sow bugs, flies and ants that were not to be seen a week ago.  Also some ants swarm with the first heavy rains - that is they grow wings and try to fly - by the thousands.  All the ones I've seen have not been very successful, they are just all over the yard and left behind wings flutter around like little kites.

Local gringo talk is they are termites but I've had a constant battle with leaf cutting ants.  I just asked my drinking water guy today and he says they are leaf cutters that get drowned out of their underground nests.  The termite story is some of the tribe are thrown out of the nest to go make a new colony.  I'll go with flooded leaf cutters.  In my back patio there were thousands of little ones, 20-30 wasp looking ones and a few beetle like creatures - all with wings. I did my best to end the lives of as many as I could with the rational of saving my garden.

Some of the small ants on my back patio


Termites but they look similar


Mine had the two part body is another reason I think leaf cutters

Man, I got bugs

As if the leaf cutting ants weren't bad enough - now I have these, whatever they are. They're in the avocado tree. Not all the way up (big tree) but on the trunk about head high. With the 1000 or so tightly grouped it looks like a nest just burst - or do they swarm and stick together ?? Not sure they are old enough to fly but look like winged creatures to me. They had started eating leaves on a small branch so I sprayed them.

BTW ... the ant powder I've been using on the leaf cutting ants works but without bodies I can't tell if it's just chasing them away. While I was in Melaque for a week my house keeper ran into another nest and poured a 1/4 bottle of Cloro (bleach) down the hole. Hundreds of bodies lying around when I came back

I'm tempted to call them aphids .... but this is Mexico

So .... they are stink bugs.  Not much to worry about.  They do eat fruit but I have no fruit now.  They also may stink but I didn't smell anything. Neighbors recognized them because they've had them

Leaf Cutter Ants in my garden

Leaf Cutter Ants in Jocotepec Mexico

My neighbor had some Leaf Cutter Ants in her garden but I'm not sure she had a nest there. She did track their trail to a nest in front of my house on the street, dumped a poison powder on them and we thought that was the end of it.

Little did I know that the volcano of dirt under some shrubs and extending into my lawn was from the same critters. I just kicked the dirt back and eventually the mound didn't grow any larger. I knew they were ants but not these guys.

Then there's the issue of a number of my plants not doing so well but I thought it was due to previous neglect, lack of water and I'm new to this climate. Maye some plants were going dormant for the winter.

So two days ago I was working in the garden and noticed the line of ants carrying parts of leaves much bigger than themselves. I followed them back home and sure enough it was where they had been pushing dirt into the lawn a few months before, yikes!!

All I have is a powder that I used on termites down in Melaque so I don't know if that will eliminate these or not. I found the following in an article on Yucatan Living. We'll see in the next few days.

The ultimate solution is pictured here. It is often called padrón by the locals, but this particular brand is called Extermirex. Only use it if you can find the entrance to the colony. Then, while wearing rubber gloves, pour the granules into any holes the ants are using and cover with dirt. The entire colony will be dead within five days. It is the most effective solution we’ve found.

Two openings to the nest with ant powder

The ant train

An undisturbed nest entrance

So they don't like Bouganvilla eh?

Box shrubs are not immune