Carpenter Ants in my Corn?

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) May 16, 2011

So, Followed the companion planting guide someone (paul grow, perhaps? or Lane Cockerell?) put up (look for 'happy together' article) awhile back.

Planted my corn seedlings in a raised pile (didn't have materials to actually make a raised bed), put two sunflowers per eight corn plants (read sunflowers help corn - and so far, so good).

However, I went to water them this evening, and darned if I didn't see a whole bunch of those large carpenter ants milling around the dirt! they weren't crawling up the plants; they were just around on the dirt. I pinched off and killed as many as I could see (thank heavens they're not as fast as the red/brown ants in the main garden).

Just curious if the corn plants attract the carpenter ants or if it was only coincidence. Do the carpenter ants pose a risk to either the sunflowers or the corn, by chance?

thanks.

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HoneybeeNC Charlotte, NC(Zone 7b) May 17, 2011

SoFlaCommercial - as you know, I used to live in Palm Beach County.

I used to see large ants that were not carpenter ants - they were just very large ants! Maybe that's what you have?

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) May 17, 2011

well, I THINK they're carpenter ants - all i know is they're about half-inch long, front half red/brown, bottom half black.

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HoneybeeNC Charlotte, NC(Zone 7b) May 18, 2011

SoFlaCommercial - here's a link that might help you identify your culprits.

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/fl_carpenter_ants.htm

Evidentally, the large ants I was thinking of are what we used to call "Bull Ants" - which are actually Carpenter Ants. So, I learned something new today :)

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) May 18, 2011

Well, (darnit)!

they looked like the dealate with brood, but their back ends were so...full. They looked skinny (maybe they were on a diet?).

It was just very curious, as about twenty of them came out when I started watering the raised 'garden' where I planted the corn (didn't have materials to make a proper bed, so I just created a 2 x 3' raised area of dirt and planted the corn seedlings).

I got about 20 or 30 of them before I just gave up. Squished them....so far, the corn is the only thing not getting attacked by something; wanted to protect it. :)

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May 31, 2011

I had all my corn eaten by ants 2 years ago. I got the ant problem in check with the bait from Amdro. That's after I paid 1 whole year treatments with a professional big bug company. They couldn't get rid of them in the house and the garden......

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tommyr2006 Poughkeepsie, NY(Zone 6a) Jun 06, 2011

I feel your pain. I just paid ($1,135) for a years treatment for Carpenter ants this past Saturday. I don't have a really big infestation but enough to get it treated professionally and they guarantee the work. They can really damage the wood on your home.

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