Queensland fruit growers are also using green tree ants as a creative method of organic pest control. For instance, Far North Queensland durian grower Andrew Kang has actively used green ants for five years to get rid of sap-sucking and fruit-spotting bugs, and even larger animals like cockatoos.
Kang does not spray his orchard but said he would sometimes use a drone to help move the birds. To create a pest-management system, he moves groups of green ants from an existing colony to new trees and gives them food to get started.
Innisfail farm manager Gavin Eilers said he had also noticed green ants warding off pests from his tropical fruits like rambutans and mangosteens. "Green ants play a vital role in our orchards," he said, "just keeping some of the pests and diseases at bay naturally, rather than spraying with herbicides and pesticides. Most definitely, where there's green ants the fruit's a hell of a lot cleaner [of bugs]."
Source: abc.net.au
