Ants "borrow" a rose garden

They came in the night --- but to gather fertilizer rather than to eat, and to borrow rather than steal

Leaf cutter ants borrow a rose garden
photos by Eric Jackson

The roses were stripped of leaves and flowers overnight

But the roses soon replaced the lost flowers and foliage

Why do leaf cutter ants do these things? Because they are fungus farmers, who take the foliage they strip from plants back to their nests, where they grow the fungus they eat on substrates of cut-up leaves and flowers.

You could put out poison, and there are plants that you can grow that put out leaves that the ants will crop and take back to their nests, but which are toxic to the fungi that the ants eat. You could attack the anthills and underground farms in any number of ways. But if it's just a rose garden and not your means of subsistance that the ants are stripping, why not just let them do as they will? These are the tropics, and it's generally better to get along with nature than to try to conquer it.

Panama Hotel: Luxury apartment rentals in Casco Viejo, Panama City
Panama Real Estate: Original travel and investment articles on The Panama Report
Make the Executive Hotel your headquarters in Panama City
Find the boat of your dreams through Evermarine