Tree cavity care

[kurt k]

I have a 50+ year old dogwood and a few pruning cuts before I bought the house were bad and formed a small hollow in the tree. I have cleaned out the dead material and have noticed ants. I am under the advisement just to let the tree try comparmentalize but can I spray something in the cavity to kill the insects? ANyone

[valleytreeman]

Yes. In fact the tree probably won't compartmentalize untill the ants are gone. They will continually keep enlarging their nest cavity which will continually thwart the tree's compartmentalizing defense.