Not knowing what type of ants are in the fig tree, I'm wondering if an ant bait sprinkled at the base of the tree might work better? Ant baits have the benefit of ants taking the poison back to the ant nest so as to kill the colony.

I been having ants and aphids on my blackeyed peas, I put DE on the plants themselves and around them. Look up DE (I don't know the spelling of the long name. It's not a poison like sevin

You could try spraying Neem around the base of the tree. It doesn't kill them but I've noticed ants will not cross Neem treated soil. I suppose you could spray the entire tree with it but for heavens sake don't use it on the entire garden. Area spraying with anything that kills insects throws everything in your garden out of balance.

With figs, you must harvest often and regularly. The ants are going after the sugar in the ripe fruit. If you use pesticide, you won't be able to safely harvest & eat the fruit.

You need to break up the chemical trail the ants are leaving/ following. Any type of oil should work I have used wd-40 it is made from fish oil. there is a good chance that cooking oil spray applied in a narrow band around the trunk of the tree would work and would not be toxic. The ants seem to get lost even the ones in the tree can not find the way back to the nest

Curt

You should be able to use sevin at the base of the tree without worries, however as was suggested above, ant baits are a more focused solution. If the ants are going after the sweet fruit, they'll really go for ant bait.

FYI, WD40 is not made of fish oil.

I have used wd-40 it is made from fish oil

LOL! Why would anyone even think that? It is a petroleum oil base.

WD 40 is great stuff for lots of things but I don't think it would work in this case. It evaporates in a fairly short time leaving almost nothing behind. If you just want to keep them out of the tree Tanglefoot would work. They get stuck trying to cross it. Figs have thin bark so you would want to put the Tanglegoot on a paper band and tie or tape it around the tree. Tanglefoot can damage thin barked trees and shrubs.

try asking in the fig forum---the people there have huge amounts of experience and give great advice!

Here's the link for the Fig Forum. If it were me I'd avoid sevin but then that's me. If you go there and ask your question it would be interesting to know what they have to say.

Greg
Southern Nevada

Here is a link that might be useful: Fig Forum

Oh I hold my head is shame I rechecked wd 40 indeed a petroleum based product. the good news is that it works. And I recommend cooking oil did I not, or did you people forget that part lol.

Curt

It's not necessary to spray the whole tree for ants. Hose them off and then just spray the bottom foot or so of the trunk. They can't get into the tree without climbing up the trunk.

If the fig is in a pot, just spray the outside of the pot.

If you've got ants in your tree, keep a sharp lookout for aphids.

can you use sevin on the fig tree for aphids