My citrus trees are healthy, two years old and approximately 5' tall. They are all covered with ants thriving on them moving all about. Since the trees are remaining so healthy, I am wondering if I should do away with the ants? The trees are bearing some fruit and the trees and the fruit seem unaffected by the ants. Maybe the ants are the reason the citrus trees remain healthy? Does anyone have knowledge concerning the effect of ants on lemon, lime and orange trees?
Lemon, Lime and Orange Trees:
Tress, I would post your question in the Tropical Fruit forum, this isn't really the right place. I can tell you in general though that ants don't hurt plants, often though they are a signal that your plant is infested with aphids or scale, these create honeydew that the ants like. Or some plants are naturally attractive to ants, maybe they are attracted to the sweetness of the fruit. Either way, I doubt that they're helping or hurting your trees themselves.
I have been having trouble with my Meyer lemon and have recently been hunting for more information on the problems. One of the things that I read is that ants are not good for citrus trees because they destroy the natural enemies of the mealy bugs, aphids etc. that tend to be a problem on these plants. I also read that the use of Tanglefoot is a good way to prevent the ants from traveling up and down the trunk of the tree. I am in NY and I take my lemons in for the winter. Sometimes there are ants and bugs in the soil and I find that the leaves are being infested and eaten by a variety of critters even after the plants are inside.
I just wrapped the plant stems in several inches of plastic wrap and taped together the ends. Then I applied the Tanglefoot. I will see if this helps at all this winter and will report back.
Ants will cause a problem over time with your citrus. They will bring scale and other insects. To keep your trees healthy, it would be best to keep the ants out.
I tried Tanglefoot, but it didn't take too long for the ants to bridge it. Plus, whenever I wrap the trunks in anything, snails or slugs get up under the wrap and eat the bark. Almost lost a couple of trees that way, because they ate almost all the way around before I realized what the problem was.
What works best for me is to make a small ring of Diazonon granules on the ground around the trunk. Also, I trim the trees so that no leaves or branches are touching the ground or house--anything the ants (or snails) can crawl up into the tree.
Tanglefoot has worked like a charm for me, but I grow my citrus trees in containers. SB
If your citrus is in a pot, the ants may have set up residence in the pot. I would submerse the pot in a bucket of water for about 2 hours and spray the plant with a brug spray that can be used on veggie plants.