Almond growers that are seeing ants on their orchard floor need to determine the species of ant before treating. Some species are not worth the time and money involved in treatments.
Because almonds are on the ground for a short period of time on average, growers need to determine if they need to treat the orchard floor for ants or not. Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Kris Tollerup says determining what kind of ant species are on the ground is the first step to making that decision. Tollerup says the current recommendations don’t take into account the species of ant, and treatments can be avoided all together even though they are relatively inexpensive per acre.