UPDATE: Soooo glad I went out tonight. A few days ago I found a company of ants inside a fig, and jumped to a conclusion. The wrong conclusion. I've been living in a fool's paradise of sorts. I wondered why there was so little evidence of ants in the other damaged figs. Now I know why. They were simply opportunist follow-up marauders after the figs had already been extensively damaged by another pest - SLUGS!!!

I found several tonight at various stages of progress up the trunks of my trees. They are now all taking a well-earned rest in salt hell. Then I remembered the ripe fig ready for picking tomorrow on my TbF, and bingo - a slug just 1" away. That clinches it, and I feel so much more optimistic now about preventing further damage. And I'll be picking that ripe fig tonight anyway now I know it's on their menu. 

No wonder I found another damaged fig that wasn't even fully ripe. Slugs are a lot less fussy about that kinda thing. But this is the first time my figs have ever been damaged by slugs. Did the class of '14 just graduate from slug uni? If not, how did they suddenly get so savvy about this new food source? Makes ya kinda wonder, dunnit?

So I assume that Tanglefoot is no longer relevant, right? My guess is that they can just slime their way past that. I don't want to use toxic pellets, so I reckon we're back to alcoholic beverages again. I recall starting another thread about slug damage in a different context, so it might pay me to review the suggested solutions.

So, who woudda thunk it, right?

PS Hmm.............I wonder. It occurs to me that the coarsest sand/glass paper I can find wrapped around the trunk might just make their upward journey uncomfortable enough to discourage them from trying it. Any comments/other ideas?

You can use Sluggo. I don't think it's toxic.

FF - If it's got metaldehyde, then it is potentially toxic. But I'll check it out anyway. Thanks.

Metaldehyde toxicity and as an environmental polluting agent, especially of the drinking water supply:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2013/jul/10/slug-pesticides-metaldehyde-drinking-water

FF- OK, I checked, and it appears to be metaldehyde-free and fairly safe/non-toxic, so def. worth a try. I'll be going down our local hardware store/garden center tomorrow on other business, & hopefully they'll stock it. Thanks again for the suggestion. 

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. The fruit tree grease is a definite barrier to ants. It was quite amusing observing a few of them trapped between 2 rings and unable to go any further either way. 

If any slugs get past the bait, I've also put a 5" band of coarse wet/dry silicon carbide paper around the main stem. That should make for a very uncomfortable ascent, and if I see any slugs just below the band tonight, I'll know that it works. If I see any above it, I'll then try the coarsest paper I can find before I trash the idea.

I think my fig trees are now back in business again - hopefully fruit damage-free henceforth. 

Hey Chuck - Thx for the suggestion, which sounds very much like the poor man's Tanglefoot to me. But don't worry, I'm not too proud to try it!

Having said that, I think you musta missed my post at #52 above. I've discovered that ants are not the primary pest here. It's the slugs what dunnit. The ants then come in just to clean up after the initial slug onslaught. I'm trialing several slug control ideas before I go out to get some Sluggo, and so far my wet/dry paper idea seems to be doing the trick.

I'll report back when I have more results to go on. 

No worries mate. Yeah, the beer solution is a well known method for controlling the little blighters, but as someone mentioned above, it appears that eventually they can learn to drink without falling in. Seems they're not as dumb as we might think.

Many people use corn meal for ants, dry conditions . Find it to be 90per cent effective. 9 out of 10 mounds eradicated.
Be careful with permethrin. Horse solution is .004 or .ooo4 . I get the termite concentrate and make 200 gallons with a quart. We have many horses..too many.
Terry

Thanks Terry, but once again (as mentioned in my reply to Chuck above) I've since discovered that the main culprit is slugs, not ants. Spraying is the last method I would resort to if I wanted to control ants. There are many more eco-friendly suggestions above to try first.

Yes, I got that,,many are fighting ants,,permethrin can kill plants and animals, horses included. Proper dosage is a must

Terry - Thx for the clarification, but this is the UK. Thankfully, we don't have your exotic species over here. And as I said, spraying is the last option I would consider.

UPDATE: I don't believe it! A ripe fig (Italian Purple) that was intact this morning was eaten ragged by 4.30 pm today. No sign of any ants in the cavernous holes made by this pest, and slugs just don't do that kinda damage during the daytime. 

There is only one pest left that fits the MO, & that's gotta be wasps - the same pest that attacked my G Vashon last year. So I'm under attack by no fewer than three different pests this year! Amazing. What the frack is goin' on?

So if we're now talkin' wasps, there's only one option left. I have to bag every ripening fig. Unless someone knows of a reliable wasp trap? Time maybe for some YTube/Google research as suggested by Chuck.

This seems worth trying:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wasp-Trap

UPDATE II - I'm well & truly stumped. The ants & slugs have been taken care of, & wasp traps are in place, yet there is still damage. It seems to appear very suddenly with no trace of the culprit. If it was wasps, their attacks are normally in progress when the damage is found. Not this time though. I'm now beginning to suspect squirrels. I just need to catch them in the act to be sure, but do I really need to start laying down squirrel traps too?  

EDIT: Just occurred to me - birds also fit the hit & run MO. Gotta get to the bottom of this.

Hey Chuck - Yep, you mentioned this idea in an earlier post, & I haven't forgotten it. Will def. try it when I need to control them again, but ants are not the prob. at the moment (see post #68 above). My current list of likeliest suspects are:

1. Birds
2. Squirrels
3. Wasps (now looking increasingly unlikely).

I just need to catch the culprit in delicto flagrante to be absolutely sure. Reckon it's just a matter of time. Alternatively, I could just deploy anti-bird measures anyway & see what happens.

Currently losing around 20% of my crop to this mystery pest. Grrrrr.

Correct Chuck - much bigger than I initially anticipated. First I saw ants, & assumed they were the primary cause of the damage. Eliminated them, but the problem continued. Then I saw slugs, & assumed they were the main culprit. Eliminated them too, but the problem still continued.

So now my working hypothesis is birds - until I'm proved wrong. The MO is a perfect fit, & dunno why it took me so long to consider this possibility. If I'm right, it comes as a real surprise, coz they've not done this to my figs before. Guess there's always a first time.

UPDATE III - No sign of any birds doing the damage still, but saw a wasp today sniffing around a ripe fig. Normally, I would have left the fig on for another day or two, but after seeing that wasp I didn't wanna take any risks. So much for the wasp traps - not a single wasp caught so far, and it's now obvious they would still rather visit the figs for lunch than take the 'bait' I so generously provided for them.

So you can't entirely blame me for promoting the birds (or 'sqwerls') to suspects #1 & 2. I've now substituted the 'sweet&sour' bait for some meat in two of the traps to see if that works any better. If these traps also fail, then I shall have to use the physical barrier method. A real pain, but I'm stubborn enough to refuse to throw in the towel to these pests.

Try this link:

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/figs/keep-ants-off-fig-trees.htm

You could spay Sevin on the branches, but who would want to eat Sevin?  :-(

Thx for the link Joe, but as reported above at #52, turns out ants are not the primary culprit despite the thread title, which unfortunately is now misleading. Shame I can't edit it to reflect subsequent developments.

I made an assumption after seeing them inside a half-eaten fig, and I was w....w.w....w.wo....w.wro........w.wr.......wrong. Based on subsequent observations, I've now reached the conclusion that slugs & wasps are the main culprits - until I see any evidence to the contrary. The ants were just opportunist marauders after substantial damage was already done by the other pests, which I didn't realize at the time I initiated the thread. 

I've already implemented anti-slug and ant measures which seem to be working a treat, mainly thanks to helpful suggestions made above by boarders. My losses are now down from 80% to around 20%. So that just leaves the wasps to take care of, and if all else fails, I'd rather use the barrier method than spray anything toxic on my figs.

I'll also be layering these trees to make them more manageable as far as pest monitoring is concerned, coz most of the figs are now out of reach without a chair/ladder, etc.

UPDATE IV