Fruit trees are affected by insect pests which are not easily noticed by farmers making their control difficult. But promoting weaver ants protects fruit and nuts from fruit flies and other pests.
Weaver ants are reddish ants that protect fruit trees by in and living in large numbers against intruders
Life cycle
Larvae produce silk threads which stitch and put leaves together. Also weaver ants protect fruit trees both during day and night.
Weaver ants colony or family live in nests occupying several trees and work as a team however in a colony, there is only one queen that produce offsprings.
To introduce ants to new orchard simply collect all nests from young tree at beginning of rainy season but be sure of the presence of queen to promote them or else ants will not maintain their presence.
Help ants spread to more trees using string but dont mix colonies as ants may fight and kill each other and help ants keep strong during dry season by providing food
Reducing weaver ants nuisance
Use long sticks to harvest fruit, put ash on body to avoid weaver ants from climbing and bitting your skin and also sprinkle ash on branches to ease fruit picking.
