Something eating my oaks.....

[greenloon]

Hey guys, I have a problem that is really eating at me.....no pun intended. I have several oaks in my yard ranging in age 60 and up. After a few very mild, virtually non-existent winters, the insect population is out of check. I have either carpenter ants or termites or both, digging away at the base of atleast 5-6 trees. I have called people in to look at them, but they did not really think it was too much of a problem and said if I was worried to call an exterminator. Well, I cannot find an exterminator that will treat trees.............they all seem to think I am crazy. Any suggestions as to how I can help these beautiful old trees? I am really pissed about this.....there are definitely carpenter ants and also what I believe to be termites......this just plain sucks

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I'm going to talk about ants. I can't help you with the termites, I live in WI, and we are only just starting to see termites here. I really haven't taken the time to learn about them.
Anyway ants don't eat into good wood. They need wet rotting wood to make their homes. They just don't damage trees.
In a home, carpenter ants are bad, it means you have wet rotting wood in your house.
In an oak tree, ants are not bad. There are some pockets of decay in almost all mature oak trees. The ant just go in there and hang out in the rotten spot. At least they're are not in your house.

 

[Jay Banks]

The formosen (sp) termites will attack trees. Catch a few bugs an take them to the extension office for a positive ID and some control suggestions that you can take.