Cacao Ant Pest Problem in Costa Rica

[professor]

Hello Everyone, this is my first post.  I have noticed the past 2 years that my Cacao and Guanabana trees in the more shaded areas of my farm are being infested with black ants.  As far as I can tell they nest at the base of the trees and or in other nearby larger trees, but the problem is that they make small nests at the top of my Cacao fruit (and the Guanabana also) and over several months will totally dry up the fruit and the trees will produce nothing.  The trees when they are not fruiting these ants will resort to chewing on the new leaves at the top of the tree slowing the growth.  I have lost whole sections of my farms production (several hundred trees) to these ants where the trees have produced nothing even when they may have been full of fruit a month or two earlier. 

I have read that doing the whitewash calcium carbonate based latex paint on the trunk may stop the ants from climbing due to then being unable to follow their pheromone trail, but wanted to check with the knowledgeable people on this forum if that is true or if any of you have experience with this type of ant and know of a successful natural way to get rid of these, as I am essentially doing organic here and don't want to harm my land or my family with pesticides.

Thank you much, professor

[jako9403]

If you can, i would suggest laying out ant traps at first. Ant traps can clear out quite a few ants.
Also you talked about being organic i would reccomend cinnamon. Ants can’t stand cinnamon and will try to avoid it. Cinnamon can be applied around the trunk of the tree to maximise efficiency.
Cinnamon also disturb their Pheromone trail making them confused and scattered.
I hope you find a solution.

[Dane]

Wrap the base of the trunks with hessian and a sticky substance. Usually keeps there ants at bay.

[pineislander]

Learn as much as you can about the particular species of ants you are dealing with. Make careful observations about what might be encouraging them. Compare your situation with somewhere else which is not having the problem. Make some changes perhaps emulating the other place. Maybe you have a mega-colony and could destroy it with a bait like boric acid but beware of creating another problem by doing so.
Just a few thoughts, nothing specific.
I know CR has leaf cutters and a diverse set of other ants. Guanacaste has some fairly dry seasons. Is the problem realted to dryness or lack of other foraging places? Is there something attracting them which could be eliminated? Is ethere something restricting their habitat like water, a wall, roadway so that they can't move on elsewhere to forage? There are a few from CR on the forum hopefully they will have some suggestions.
This might be a good place to start, Guanacaste specific at least to identify and understand who your enemy is. Maybe even communicate with the researchers.:
http://expeditions.fieldmuseum.org/ants-diet-diversity/media/costa-rican-ants
Pura vida, Tuanis!

[MangoCountry]

Works like a charm.
https://youtu.be/1dLyJJxbEV8

[professor]

Hello and thanks for the suggestions so far.  The ants are a small variety of black ants (pretty standard looking) that do not have stingers, only bite a little, they aren't the leaf cutters which here in my area are a red color.  I have noticed these do have colonies which tend to be in dead wood and the ants don't like to be in the sun at all.  They seem to be located closer to the edge of my farm on one side where I have a forest.  I have one shed where there is a large colony living in some wood the termites left behind, I need to deal with this group also, but I think there are several colonies because I don't see them travel too far from one location (less than 100'). 

I don't think "Tangle foot" is sold here in this country, but i could search for it.  Possibly this could be a solution if I could make a home made version of "Tangle foot".  I'm still looking to identify the ant and as Tuanis suggested maybe this can help me know more about them so I can take out the colonies.  I may also try a paint mixed with cinnamon powder and calcium carbonate to paint the trunk with (thanks for the suggestion) if I don't come up with anything else better to experiment with.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that is looks like these ants are farming aphids as well on my trees, so they do like sweets and that is why they are also on my soursop/guanabana fruits.

Update...  It looks like what I have are The common black garden ant (Lasius niger).  I like the idea of the Borax ant traps, if I can find Borax or Boric Acid here in CR, and then make a crystallized solution they should take it back to the colony and kill it.  I am in hopes the natural beneficial bugs will take out my aphids that have developed.

Thanks

[MangoCountry]

Another option is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth, food grade, around the base of the treeand on the trunk.

[pineislander]

Remember that conditions in Costa Rica are extreme compared to the US and our solutions might not be as effective.
Here in Florida I had one guava out of 15 in a row which had the ants farming scale and aphids. After trying other remedies I pruned  every leaf off of it and used neem to be sure no aphids or scale were left. I could only use that solution because the guavas are still very young and no big loss pruning one back. I'm still wondering why the ants chose that single plant out of the whole row?

One thing that sparks my questioning was a recent article I read about a disease problem in Cacao and this fellow who used a non-traditional approach with success. Generally, he looks at pests differently, as "AGENTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF OPTIMIZATION OF LIFE PROCESSES”.

https://lifeinsyntropy.org/en/pests-agents-otimization/

[Coach62]

Look closer - seriously.  Ants are VERY OFTEN a sign of an insect infestation that the ants are "farming" such as aphids or other honeydew producing insects.  It is usually these insects that are doing the damage, and the ants are guarding them and farming them. 

Large black ants in the states are usually carpenter ants, and they are known to farm harmful insects.

[professor]

Hello Bruce,

I'm not sure if they are carpenter ants, as they are pretty small, but yes you are exactly correct on the bugs.  I looked tonight and confirmed I have at least two types of bugs hanging out with my ants, I believe both are aphids.  The small one lives on the top of some of my trees and eats holes in the new leaves from the bottom.  The ants then run up there to take their dew.  Other cacao trees have I believe have aphids living on the stem of the fruit and the ants are all covered on top of them, even building little covered sheds over them for added protection while they work on my fruit.  These adults are fancier looking with a black and white pattern looking like a small turtle pattern and pop away off of the stem when you disturb them too much as when I try to knock them off. 

In my soursop/guanabana trees they don't have the aphids, but the same type of ants and they find little holes and eat directly on the fruit itself at the stem from what I can tell.  I made an acid solution for bait, I was able to find pure boric acid in powder at the store today, I think this will work the same as the Borax brand even though I read it is a different version of the chemical.  I made the formula 1 TBS boric acid to 1 cup of sugar and then boiled that with 1/2 cup of water and then when cooled I put an inch inside the bottom of a bottle, drilled 4 of the 1/4" holes towards top and put a strip of cardboard inside for a ladder.  I screwed on a piece of plastic to cover the holes if it rains and put 9 of the bottles out tonight with 4 directly at the trunk of the tree where the largest colony is located.  I sure hope it works.  Just not sure if I will need to address the aphids also afterwards or if I will get some help from the good bugs.  I am going to watch the nearby trees that are infested to see how it goes once I get the colony.  I'm a newbie, this is my first fruit farm, so its all a learning process for me.  Here are some pics...

Thanks, professor

[Coach62]

It resembles a carpenter ant, but they are usually pretty large.

You can just use some insecticidal soap on the aphids for now. 

The bait is a good idea long term, but you might use the sticky traps on the trunk others mentioned.

Good luck

[OCchris1]

Tangle Foot is b.s if you have a "real" ant problem. Ever watch Planet Earth? You will see ants building bridges across small streams to get to the other side. I've used "Tangle Foot" and the ants just build bridges out of ant bodies to get what they want...every-time.

[Coach62]

Tangle Foot is b.s if you have a "real" ant problem. Ever watch Planet Earth? You will see ants building bridges across small streams to get to the other side. I've used "Tangle Foot" and the ants just build bridges out of ant bodies to get what they want...every-time.

Yeah - Army ants. But those clearly aren’t army ants. You have to replace it from time to time.

[professor]

Hello,

I was thinking this bug is an aphid, but can anyone confirm?  It jumps and can fly a short distance.  I have seen the aphids on the Cacao as well, but not sure about these exotic looking little "suckers".  They are lined up all along the stem of the fruit as in my prior pics with the ants farming them or at least eating the sap they are sucking.  However, just wondering if I need to address these differently if they are not aphids.  (An African voodoo mask or an alien face comes to mind).  Here is a close up...





Thanks, professor

[OCchris1]

I don't have Army ants. Ants find a way- that's what they do.

[Coach62]

Hello,

I was thinking this bug is an aphid, but can anyone confirm?  It jumps and can fly a short distance.  I have seen the aphids on the Cacao as well, but not sure about these exotic looking little "suckers".  They are lined up all along the stem of the fruit as in my prior pics with the ants farming them or at least eating the sap they are sucking.  However, just wondering if I need to address these differently if they are not aphids.  (An African voodoo mask or an alien face comes to mind).  Here is a close up...





Thanks, professor

Never seen that. I’d just try insecticidal soap first to see if that’d work.

[pineislander]

Hello,

I was thinking this bug is an aphid, but can anyone confirm?  It jumps and can fly a short distance.  I have seen the aphids on the Cacao as well, but not sure about these exotic looking little "suckers".  They are lined up all along the stem of the fruit as in my prior pics with the ants farming them or at least eating the sap they are sucking.  However, just wondering if I need to address these differently if they are not aphids.  (An African voodoo mask or an alien face comes to mind).  Here is a close up...





Thanks, professor

Costa Rica is an amazing place when it comes to biodiversity and those are strange looking insects. many with colorful patterns might be full of toxins yet others are using camouflage still others are mimicing something which have toxins while not being toxic.
There was an insectarium/butterfly museum in CR which had the most fantastic display.

I have a friend who is an entomologist and have asked for an identification. Her best guess is family Membracidae, treehoppers and thorn bugs. They do suck and get farmed by ants and hop/jump. They can also be vectors of disease via their sucking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehopper

Here is some info about them, what they do, their predators and controls.
https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/garden-pests/leafhopper-control/

[Doug]

I sure wouldn't want to try to make my living in CR in ANY agro business. The insect and fungus pressure is powerful here. And I thought it was difficult growing fruit organically in NC, where we at least had a !ong winter to dampen the enthusiasm of the "pests". However, I know organic growers here who do quite well working with nature, even growing cacao, which is tough. One thing about insects I've learned on my farm here is that if there is a plant or tree out of place, that is, not growing in its preferred environment, or if that plant or tree is weak for some reason, the so-called "pests" will come to do their job. They are agents of evolution. . . survival of the fittest. BTW, the CR agro research institution CATIE has lots of expertise with sustainable agro in CR. Growing coffee and cacao is a focus, and they have varieties which show promise in high resistance to "pests".

[professor]

OK, thanks much "Pineisland", I will look into that and it sounds probable you are right.  Today I did notice when I took some of the bugs off they hopped about 5" and then opened their wings and flew away.  You can smash them but their bodies are a bit solid so I prefer to wear gloves.

Hi Doug, I have learned that as well, that anything out of its environment will get attacked.  My mangoes and avocados do great but the cacao are a bit harder because of the bugs and longer dry season I have at my altitude.  My two varieties of cacao they said are resistant (my yellow B1 a CR variety) and the well known red (ICS-95), however I'm not sure if this is resistant to just fungus, or pests as well.  I will have to check into it with CATIE, however at this point it may be a bit late in the game on varieties as I don't want to start over changing them all out as I am already established with my trees now at 5 years. 

Update...

You were correct Pineisland.  I'm not sure exactly which sub family but I think it is one of these three as the body shape and other characteristics all match.  Here is photo of the last one you can see how similar it is.  Now since I never see these by themselves, only with the ants help I guess I'm back to trying to get rid of the ants.

Stictopelta marmorata · Stictopelta nova · Stictopelta pulchella · Stictopelta varians
 Treehoppers (Membracidae) » Smiliinae » Polyglyptini » Publilia » Publilia brunnea

Treehoppers (Membracidae) » Smiliinae » Smiliini » Ophiderma » pubescens or definita, per M.S. Wallace (Ophiderma pubescens or definita, per M.S. Wallace)