More on Controlling Leaf Cutter Ants

Dr. He. E. Hostmark, director of research at Fundacion Hondurena de Investigacion Agricola writes, “The most practical method until recently was the use of insecticide baits manufactured in Brazil. The actual insecticide ingredient is low (usually 0.005%) and the bait is applied in a small area near the nest so that environmental contamination is minimal. This bait is now off the market, leaving us with no effective bait to my knowledge. I’ve used Tanglefoot, but lost two Yland-ylang trees when some ingredient in the Tanglefoot girdled the trunk. Perhaps tying a piece of plastic or plant material around the trunk of the tree to be protected and THEN placing a ring of Tanglefoot over it would work.”

“Local Hondurans tell me that if you pour a shovel full of earth from one nest into another, the leaf-cutter ants in the second nest will desert the nest (and make another somewhere else?). The Mosquito indians pour a quart of gasoline in the nests and light it with a long flaming pole.”

“Neem does not work. The ants will sometimes defoliate neem trees, but strangely, will reject the leaves outside the nest after carrying them into their nests.”