Sometimes there suddenly is a plague of ants in the garden. One day there is nothing and the next day the garden is full of them. There is a very nasty one called the leafcutter ant (formiga cortadeira). These ants cut the leaves of the shrubs in small pieces and bring them to their nest. Sometimes you have to track these ants to locate it because it doesn’t have to be in your own garden. These ants are able to cut a complete shrub in one night.
There are some ways to get rid of these ants. One method is the use of chemicals and destroy the nest. It is a harsh method but when you want to save your garden it is the only way. Another method is to tie a plastic bag around the stem of the shrub. The ants don’t like it and avoid the shrubs. It saves them but the ants are still there and will attack on another place. On the photo you see that we put plastic bags around the stem of the shrubs. Damage was already done but we hope that the shrubs recover without being attacked a second time.
