my reply was to luigi when i said "they are not"
i was not contradicting you.

OK Frank, I misunderstood the reference.

taabarang wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2017 8:12 pm My wife's uncle, our next-door neighbour, killed off the n'kroang population in her prize mango tree 4 years ago. No mangoes at all since then. They rounded up some red ants to repopulate the tree about a month ago. As my old Cajun bait salesman used to say, I tell you true."

Well there are a 100 mango trees in my hood. This just happens to be right outside the door. If I can spot the nest I'll give the torch a lite & see what happens next.

Luigi wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2017 8:46 pm

taabarang wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2017 8:12 pm My wife's uncle, our next-door neighbour, killed off the n'kroang population in her prize mango tree 4 years ago. No mangoes at all since then. They rounded up some red ants to repopulate the tree about a month ago. As my old Cajun bait salesman used to say, I tell you true."

Well there are a 100 mango trees in my hood. This just happens to be right outside the door. If I can spot the nest I'll give the torch a lite & see what happens next.

What method was used to eradicate the ants taabarang?

"If I can spot the nest I'll give the torch a lite & see what happens next."

Oh Luigi it just gets worse and worse. I have never seen a mango tree with a single nest, there are always several in one tree. Look fir 3 leaves folded together bottom side out. The locals claim the leaves are held together by ant piss, but I doubt it. Whatever you do don't brush against the nest.

I don't know what my wife's relatives used to kill the ants, but it was a commercial insecticide.

the article i cited mentions that they are encouraged as a biological defense in southeast asia against some insect pests- caterpillars i would imagine.

mangoes are one of the toughest trees around so it probably won't matter much what you do as far as the tree is concerned.
wasps, hornets and ants- kill them with fire

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2017 7:02 pm they are bad. look for a nest of leaves in the tree and burn it with kerosene rag on bamboo.
or show your khmer friends, they like to eat those.
ants are not the friends of plants

I am fairly sure that they protect the tree from any defoliating insects and are considered symbiotic. Where did you get this information from, or did you just make it up ?
True they may harvest aphids and mealybugs but a healthy tree can still produce even under these conditions. I would like to see any animal or plant that is free from pest, and disease , generally it is the young and the old who are susceptible.
Glad I am still young.


Edit : Scientists at Charles Darwin University have developed techniques for using green ants (also known as weaver ants) as biological control agents in tree crops, such as mango and cashew.http://www.expertguide.com.au/news/article.aspx?ID=132

But who knows you could be right.

I still maintain from my experience that they help pollinate the mango flowers. Our trees get attacked from time to time by insects against which the ants are useless. The worst is duong si
(sorry no translation) and tnd the next worse are termites. And they are certainly vulnerable while young. I do agree with fLB however that in general they are strong and while not totally resilient are long lasting under adverse conditions.

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Sun May 14, 2017 8:30 am the article i cited mentions that they are encouraged as a biological defense in southeast asia against some insect pests- caterpillars i would imagine.
mangoes are one of the toughest trees around so it probably won't matter much what you do as far as the tree is concerned.
wasps, hornets and ants- kill them with fire

Well the S2 layer which is the tree's major defence against fungi attack and pathogens is known to be weaker than the trees which are more resilient against termite and fungal attack. Now you are just making it up.