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I don't think I have posted this question before...Down here in the south (zone 7 etc.) we have a very nasty little critter called a fire ant. Do any of you have experience with them, and how to get rid of them, or at least discourage them. They love the compost pile, manure pile, etc., and the garden. Hey, John (Eco.) any products?
I feel your pain, Sister. At least I did when I first leaned back against a pecan tree to eat a peach in the shade last year while in Georgia. Call me a marked man!
They love the compost because they are merely searching for food to bring back to their mounds, queen, subsequent families etc. Your heap of vegetative matter is their Target store. Busting the entry points to their mounts is kinda pointless, they will simply make another one and their below-the-clay nest may go on for 6 feet or more.
A very few things you can do without resorting to synthetic chemicals include:
Find, open and run the hose for a long time to flood their main nests, the later in the day the better. This will save you, any kids, pets or inlaws from being bitten by an outraged pack of ants. Keep doing that for a few days, in due time even ants will give up.
Find their pathways and sprinkle Borax. They really don't like that mineral.
Garlic powder, orange oil, chilipepper also may work but if it rains....
The idea is to move them along, preferably to the neighbors that you don't like.
If they really are a problem, careful use of a more final solution using chemicals may be appropriate but try the workaround first. To combat ants, you have to think like an ant. Where are they, when, why. Disrupt that path and half your problem should be solved.
Ecologicals, I appreciate your reply. They really are nasty little buggers. Guess I'll have to keep interupting their habitat as much as possible. The Borax sounds interesting. I will try it for sure. I really hate the idea of having to use toxic stuff tho I might set out a delicious bait that would include something toxic that they might carry to the queen. Spot treat in other words....By the way I don't qualify as "sister".... :-)
We have them terribly in southeast Texas. I just bought some diatomaceous earth. It is an organic powder (I don't know it's origin) but it has microscopic burrs that scratch up the exoskeleton of the ants, causing them to dehydrate and die. As soon as we are past the freak cold front I am going to dust the ant beds and see if it works. If someone knows more about it and how to use it properly, I know we would all appreciate the info.
I don't know how to get rid of the ant, but if they bite you, I have a wonderful anti-venom remedy for you. Just head for the laundry amonia and rub it on the bites. It will take away the burning and itching and you won't get the little puss sack that you get after a few days. It stops it in its tracks.
Fellow SE Texan here..and am currently cussing our little pests..LOL We don't have ant hills but mountains! LOL Am going to try the product you mentioned .. wish me luck! =o)
Check out this website for a GREAT remedy for fire ants. He also does a good radio program on the weekends in the north central Texas area. On WBAP 820AM
This is interesting indeed. Fire ants and an eco way of gettng rid of them? I'm so glad to here this. I hate having to use the other stuff. But any thing else I've tryed just made them move to another spot in the yard. I have small grandchildren can not have them around. One got bitten last year, I put her feet in the cool creek water then doused her feet in vinigar. This work real good for alot of insect bites.
Well, I've stayed out of this one so far, but having found a mound in my herb bed today...
1) What happened to Citracide? For a while, the local radio gardening gurus here were touting it as an organic alternative. I never could find it on the shelves, and now they don't mention it anymore. Maybe it just didn't work.
2) I have a sneaking suspicion (tongue in cheek, now) that they are a rapidly evolving species. I'm finding them more frequently now *not* building mounds, but being sneaky about it - under mulch seems to be a favorite. I think they've figured out that if they mound, they get attacked by humans. Anyone else noticed the new ads for fire ant killers that you spread on the *entire* lawn? ( I won't use these, of course)
3) I confess that this - fire ant killer - is the one chemical I will use. The one I use only takes a tablespoon per mound and works in a couple of days. And yes, I've tried many other methods. Unlike weeds, I don't feel I can tolerate a few in the yard. When they bite my wife, she has a severe allergic reaction. I seem to remember an article in OG not long ago that suggested something like digging them up and dropping them into soapy water. That's suicidal.
4) Anyone tried small thermo-nuclear devices? (kidding, but it's tempting...)
actually i think i heard that they are rapidly evolving socially. i read in OG years ago that they originally could be dealt w/ by putting a shovel of one mound onto another mound. the reciever hill would think that the transported ants had mounted an attack & they would launch a couter offensive. it would end up that they would wipe each other out. then about 2 yrs ago i read that they've changed their tact. that now they ave linking tunnel systems between mounds & form a super mound w/ more than 1 queen. if you put some from one mound onto anotehr they'd "know" each other & not mount the counter offensive, just go back to their part of the neighborhood. any body else hear about this? any of the old timer OG reader remember when they 1st entered texas? that when i read of the OG cross mound method that doesn't seem to work anymore.
Evil succeeds when good people do nothing. No trees were killed or animals harmed in the sending of this message; however a great many electrons were horribly inconvenienced. Farm's blog: http://allnaturalsimplelife.blogspot.com/
Posts: 608 | Location: SoCal Zone 11. MO Zone 6 | Registered: February 11, 2002
I have had good results with orange oil. Two ozs. in one gallon of water then pour on the mound. I live in east central Mississippi and organic products are hard to find. I found orange oil at a local janitoral supply. Its use for cleaning. Be sure you get the 100% oil. It seems to kill the ants on contact, but may require several drenchings on the mound. good luck!
