We had a tall jack pine and the tree was showing signs of sickness. It had many big balloon size bumps on it’s trunk. What we found inside was surprising. We had carpenter ants inside the tree and boy did they chew up that tree real good. The inside base was so badly chewed, that I wondered how the tree survived as long as it did. But higher up the tree, there was no damage at all. I guess the ants were chewing down the tree instead of going up.
I have a few other trees that have bumps on the trunks and I wonder if it could be carpenter ants also. Well when they get sicker, and we have no choice to cut the tree down, that’s when we will see. But you know, come to think of it, as long as the ants are in the trees, maybe my house is safe for the time being. This is what it looks like inside a tree when these nasties invade.
Remember that there are things you can do to help yourself. This is not fool proof and there is no guarantees carpenter ants won’t find you, but better to put all chances on your side.
*Clean up all rotting, dead or infested wood. Burn it, or throw it away far away in the bush. Putting it in a garbage bag in the dump is probably not a good idea.
*Do not store fire wood inside the house or touching the wall of the house or the shed or the garage. It would be best to build a wood shed farther away from buildings.
*Try to repair as much damaged wood as is possible
*Any humidity problems in the home should be investigated and fixed.
*Keep all food sealed in containers, sweep and everyday. make sure there are no crumbs on counters and floors.
Professional pest control people say that carpenter ants are the most difficult pest there is to get rid of. With all the training and experience they have, there are some homes that take a long time and many treatments to completely wipe out these destructive insects. Many homeowners will call in a professional after they have failed to solve the problem themselves. This situation is usually more difficult to deal with because the homeowner randomly sprayed pesticides killing the obvious evidence and scattering the satellite nests. Of course this increases the cost. If you are not prepared to spend hours in your attic and crawl space wearing a respirator and a hat, then it would be wise to call a professional to do the job properly.
There are pros and cons with pesticides, sprays and home formulas. Nothing on the market has proven 100 percent effective. Scientists has been searching for years for a solution. What may work for you may not work for someone else. It may work for a little while, but ants will be back, no matter what kind of ant exists, they will never be gone forever. You’ll just have peace for a little while and then it will be back to the drawing board. In Canada, these are the types of ants we have, maybe you will find yours.