Content
- Do ants need to be fought in the cherry laurel?
- Nectar glands attract ants
- Ants love carbohydrate-rich foods
- Ants and aphids, a symbiotic partnership
- Tips against the ants
- Tips & Tricks
Do ants need to be fought in the cherry laurel?
If you have planted a cherry laurel, you may observe the following: On the underside of the leaf, there are small brown spots eagerly visited by ants. But what attracts the little creepy-crawlies almost magically and what do these so many on the laurel cherry?
Nectar glands attract ants
The small brown dots on the underside of the leaves are living glands from which the cherry laurel excretes sugar-rich plant juices. These are called extrafloral nectarines, because they are not like many other plants in the flowers, but at the bottom of the leaf blade. Due to the escaping juices settle at these points in the course of time soot throats, which color the glands almost black. However, this is not dangerous for the laurel cherry and requires no treatment.
Ants love carbohydrate-rich foods
In addition to protein, the beneficial ants feed on sweet plant juices and sugary excretions from noxious insects. Therefore ants roads often lead a cherry laurel up to nectarines where animals receive separate sap. The path to the coveted food source is marked with fragrances (pheromones) so that all workers find it good.
Ants and aphids, a symbiotic partnership
If you notice damage to the cherry laurel, this is not the responsibility of the ants themselves. Most then the plant juice sucking aphids are not far. The ants are magically attracted to the smell of honeydew that the lice secrete during digestion. They milk and care for the pests and also protect them from predators such as spiders and other insects. Aphids are among the animals that multiply without mating and thus can form large colonies in no time. Fighting the lice in the laurel cherry also drastically reduces the number of ants in the plant.
Tips against the ants
To expel the ants, you can attach caterpillar glue rings in the affected cherry laurel bushes. If possible, combat the ants and aphids without chemicals as biocides are not only harmful to the animals. The funds are also released into the air and rainwater into the soil and damage the environment through their longevity.
Tips & Tricks
If you find several ant colonies under the cherry laurel, you can easily relocate them. Fill a large flower pot with soil, wood wool or straw and put it over the nest in reverse. Once the ants have colonized the pot you can pick it up with a spade and place it in a place where the beneficial insects do not disturb.
SKb