the cherry tree out front has for some time had many ants coming in and out of it and i am a fool i did not think it through i might have used too much oil around the area the ants were coming in and out of... could this go into the roots and hurt the tree, ? i know better to dilute it but it might not have been enough as i was distracted...
Have i used too much peppermint oil?
- Thread starter berry289
- Start date
Ants carry aphids up the tree. The ants actually "farm" the aphids. The aphids suck the juices from the leaves and form a sweet clear nectar which the ants then consume. Check the leaves for aphids then spray in late evening with neem oil to kill them. The ants will be greatly reduced and you can finish them off with either Sevin dust or some ant baits.
The peppermint oil shouldn't be harmful.
The peppermint oil shouldn't be harmful.
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2021
- Messages
- 3,799
- Reaction score
- 2,408
- Country
The aphids need things that are in short supply in the plant juices, so extract them and excrete the sugars they don't need, and Annie is right, the ants will not only collect that, but actually farm them by carrying the aphids to new leaves.
Boiling water is a good, non poisonous way of destroying an ant nest, in fact it will do for a lot of things.