Damage – Contrary to popular belief ants do little or no direct damage to your garden plants. They don’t eat leaves (apart from leaf cutter ants in tropical climates – and even then they farm the fungi that grow on the leaves – a far more noble endeavour).

Laurel trees are especially vulnerable to leaf-eating pests during dry spells, so the tree has evolved a cooperative solution: bodyguard ants.

On passing by a hedge of Cherry Laurel, Prunus laurocerasus, we notice ants. By visiting the plant to obtain nectar ants come across herbivorous insects, particularly caterpillars, that might feed on the leaves, and prey upon them. …

The chances are it’s a bad case of Shothole. This fungal disease attacks the leaves which leave small irregular pale brown patches that will eventually fall out, giving the appearance similar to that of a rather large slug or caterpillar that has had a midnight feast on your laurel leaves!

Ants don’t eat plants so they won’t damage your potatoes, they eat aphids so can be a good thing to have around.

They should replace or refund. Laurels dont need stakes, or watering once they are planted and have their first soak. Dont feed them. Chop the thin spindly weak growth off the tops of the remaining ones, they may be saved, and get the others replaced.

Nutritional deficiency – A yellowing bay laurel can be caused by a nutritional deficiency, particularly in iron. If a plant is not receiving enough iron it decreases Chlorophyll which is a vital component of photosynthesis, allowing plants to absorb energy from the sun. This results in yellow leaves at the edges.

When this tree is down in the trenches of a dry season and battling pesky leaf-eaters, it calls upon its trusty allies: ants. In return, the ants protect the trees against leaf-eating critters such as caterpillars, biting at them until they roll over and fall off.

This could be because they were planted poorly or because they haven’t been watered correctly (too much or too little water). Even if you treat all the plants the same, if conditions are difficult, some plants will die before the others.

Excluding Ants Ants don’t directly harm roses, but they may encourage sap-feeding pests by protecting them from their natural enemies. Ants harvest the honeydew that these sap-feeding pests produce in abundance. When ants appear on roses, check the plant thoroughly for sap-feeding pests before excluding the ants.

Curling, yellowing and wilting of leaves, along with the presence of ants and mold, are clear signs of aphids on laurels. These sap-sucking insects are pear-shaped, often wingless, with a pair of projections, called cornicles, near the end of the abdomen.

Chefs and gourmets, however, aren’t the only people who appreciate the tree’s aromatic foliage. If ants stream to your bay leaf — also known as bay laurel — tree, they’ve come to collect the waste of a leaf-infesting insect known as the laurel psyllid.

Caterpillars of several moth species are called cutworms because of the way they feed. On laurel and other shrubs, cutworms climb the stems and feed on leaves and buds. These brown or gray caterpillars grow up to 2 inches and curl up when disturbed. Pesticides are rarely necessary and often ineffective against these pests on laurel.

The pale-brown adults feed on sap drained from leaves and lay their eggs on newly emerging shoots. In Mediterranean climates, they may lay eggs all year. Their powdery, pinkish nymphs protect themselves from predators by rolling leaf edges inward over themselves.