I'm no meteorologist but I know the rain is about to dominate the days! Want to know how I know? The "Hormigas" told me. Every year before rainy season starts my property is suddenly littered with little trails of "leaf confetti". The leaf cutter ants make these trails while starting to prepare for the winter. These pequeño pest cut the leaves from trees and haul them back to their nest. There something sort of special happens. The ants don't eat the leaves, instead they use them to create a compost to grow a type of fungus that doesn't grow anywhere else. The fungus is then used as food for the ants. The whole business is pretty cool & yucky all at the same time.
Now I'm all for the "Hormigas" doing their thing to support their colony, but I draw the line when they begin to attack my fruit trees. Our first attempt to thwart the leaf thieves was to spray the trails and anthills with an organic pesticide. That did diddly-squat. It was sort of insulting to see them continue on their business as if I had just offered them a spray of perfume to make their journey more pleasant. We were stumped until one day a neighbor with a finca schooled us. He informed us that the best way to rid ourselves of the ants was NOT to kill the ants. Instead, we should kill the fungus. Genius!!!
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