But the other day my daughter came running inside screaming, "The patio is swarming with ants!" I went out to see what was going on and I see a ton of ants making a line across the lawn and headed directly for the pomegranate tree. They were climbing up the trunk and crawling all over the leaves! By nature, I'm the "live and let live" type when it comes to insects outdoors. So I left them alone, assuming they could do no harm. But this morning I noticed that many of the tree's leaves have shriveled up and I'm afraid that ants will kill the tree or at least ruin the fruit.

Does anyone have any information that can help me?

First of all, why are the ants suddenly attacking this tree?

Can they do real damage?

If so, what is the simplest way to get them to stop and keep them off of the tree?

I prefer a natural remedy to using chemicals, but if only chemicals will help I'm willing to go that route.

able to go into the garden and weed, etc., so I can't crawl into the garden to do that. Any suggestions??? 2 years in a row they have ruined our crop and it is our kids favorite veggie. Thanks!

COMING IN. HOWEVER MY HUSBAND HAS THEM ALL OVER HIM AND DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO EXCEPT SCRATCH. HE DOESN'T LISTEN WELL, NOR TAKE SUGGESTIONS EASILY-WORTH A TRY. I AM SURE WE ALL HAVE THE PROBLEM FROM TIME TO TIME.

showing up). In the last few weeks, there are ant hills appearing daily. Many ant hills. What is the best way to get rid of them at this stage? Would a liquid spray work better than a granular bait? I am going to use a barrier treatment around the house, but feel I need to do something on the hills themselves. All the rain we are having isn't helping matters, either.