Dear friends, This small and young seedling of Katsura was planted about 20 days and already had young and vigorous leaves. In matter of minutes ants made it to the plant (photo). Never had problems with ants in my garden and now they just attack the new plant :( The young tree will survive? Thank you all, Guilherme
Your ants are much different than mine. When I see ants, they are moving aphids up the tree on to tender growth to farm their sugar filled poop. You clearly have the ants I see on documentaries of the rainforest, where ants cut leaves and carry them away. Pretty wild...Since I know nothing about garden pests in Brazil, let me offer some advice that may help. I would put the tree into a pot and grow it off of the ground to minimize the chances of the ants finding it. Let the tree get a few years of growth before trying it in the ground again (if it must be planted in the ground, be sure you have the ant situation under control). If the current location is close to the ant colony, then consider planting it in a new location in the future. I use a garden safe ant repellant and spray the radius of the trunk with it. This stops most of the ants from going up the tree and causing damage. But what works for my little some-what harmless ants may not work on the "Brazilian monster ants from hell". Defoliation is something that a healthy Japanese maple can survive. It will push out secondary buds and leaf out again in about one month; providing it was healthy before the defoliation occurred and that additional stress is minimized after defoliation occurred. Try to minimize environmental stress and do not let the roots get too dry. Not to be too confusing or contradicting, but make sure the soil does not get too moist for extended periods of time either. Understand, that the leaves are gone now, so they are not loosing water to transpiration and the roots will not pull up as much moisture as they would if the tree had leaves. Extra attention should be given to the soil condition so that it does not stay overly saturated and that it does not dry out due to general evaporation either, do everything to keep the roots healthy / happy. When a healthy tree is defoliated, it usually dies from over saturation (from a blind watering schedule) or water starvation (people neglect it because the tree has no way of communicating or showing signs that it needs water) due to an overall lack of attention to the soil. Pay extra attention to this tree and water accordingly as needed to keep the tree healthy and increase the overall chances of survival. Good luck and keep your maples away from those crazy ants!
