Insecticide made for carpenter ants available in a handy dust version

Carpenter ants are commonly found in trees and in buildings. If they have taken up residence near a tree in your yard, check your home to see that they have not invaded.

Satellite colonies can be found in firewood piles, logs and even in just a dead tree limb. Carpenter arts can travel more than 100 feet from a tree to a structure, so other houses and garages may need inspections, as well.

Carpenter ants are not especially harmful to most trees. They merely remove the existing soft, rotting wood, which is the sawdust normally discovered near a colony.

Once in the tree, the colony is protected and difficult to treat. However, you can apply a powdered or dust version of an insecticide (that mentions carpenter ants on the label) into as much of the tree cavity as possible and around the base of the tree. This is perhaps the best way to get rid of the insect.

In some cases, you may want to also apply the insecticide around the base of your home. If carpenter ants are inside a building with a food source, they don't have to leave. If there is a queen, the colony will grow indoors.