fire ants in pile

drh146 · Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:28 am

I pitch forked my compost pile for the first time in awhile yesterday, and its got a section full of fire ants! What can I do to get rid of them so that I can safely use the compost in the spring?

rot · Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:44 pm

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I did a search but that search engine doesn't work for me. I knew there was a thread or two on the matter and I found one back on page 3, "Ants in the compost", dated 2012 02 29.

https://helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42964

two cents
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rainbowgardener · Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:36 pm

The search engine got ruined in the crash. It won't find anything between June 2010 and when the site was rebuilt after the virus attack this summer. It's really sad, because that's more than half of my 12,000 posts and there's a lot of really good stuff in those years from a lot of people and stuff I was more familiar with re what to look for...

I wrote to webmaster about it, but apparently it's not fixable.

GreenPaul · Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:34 am

Try to pitch fork it again and now try to find their main hive, then try the boiling-water method.

Keep pitch forking, turning over the compost and pouring the boiling water every two or three days - hopefully they will decide to leave.

Best luck with that!

rot · Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:06 pm

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Sticking a pitchfork in a nest of fire ants sounds like trouble to me.
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Green Mantis · Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:37 am

This is interesting, as I was sent an e-mail, forwarding information on

"Artificial" Sweeteners---Aspartame. Apparently it is a neuropoison. !!!

Was interesting that it is apparently a "great ant killer"

You add two packets to the Fire ant nest, if the area is dry, make the area slightly wet.

Supposed to killl them completely? Use gloves.

Also two pkts, will kill other types of ants in their nests as well.

IF someone tries this, PLEASE get back to us on here and let us know if it

works???? I found this extremely interesting.

cynthia_h · Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:09 am

rot wrote:..
I did a search but that search engine doesn't work for me. I knew there was a thread or two on the matter and I found one back on page 3, "Ants in the compost", dated 2012 02 29.

https://helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42964

two cents
..

Odd. I just did a search on "fire ants two," since I remembered something about two separate fire ant hills. Got [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=60310&highlight=fire+ants+two#60310]this result[/url] from 2009.

Maybe the search problem has more to do with phone or pad computer vs. desktop or laptop? I've been able to find pretty much anything I want for quite a while now. Approx. a week after the recovery from the crash. So the search isn't "ruined," at least not for everyone. Maybe we can track down some specific common factor among the people for whom it works--or doesn't--to see what's going on.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

bnoles · Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:05 am

I have found Borax to be very effective and non poisoness as well.

PunkRotten · Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:45 am

Try to find their main nest and drop some boiling water on it to try and kill the queen. I just noticed a nest of red ants (not fire ants) in my backyard. I don't know if they are as destructive as the fire ants, but I generally hate ants that are red.

rot · Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:11 pm

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PunkRotten, the red ants in So Cal should be native and good for your garden and soil. It's the little black argentine ants that are invasive and threatening the red ones.

I remember seeing red ants all over the place but not so much anymore.
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rot · Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:12 pm

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PunkRotten, the red ants in So Cal should be native and good for your garden and soil. It's the little black argentine ants that are invasive and threatening the red ones.

I remember seeing red ants all over the place but not so much anymore.
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rot · Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:22 pm

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cynthia_h, I didn't say it was ruined. I said it didn't work for me. I don't know why. It just didn't.

I wasn't thinking of the post you retrieved but it seems helpful.

Did your search return the one I found? That one was from early this year and was one of the one's I was thinking of. Rainbow mentioned something about the search not finding stuff after June 2010 so I am curious if you found anything after then.
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rainbowgardener · Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:29 pm

I'm the one that said that. Maybe ruined is too strong. It still works, but it will not retrieve any posts between June 2010 and whenever the site came back this summer. So yes, it retrieves everything from when the site started to June 2010, including the 2009 post you found.

I just miss the missing years. I joined here in 2009, so the missing time includes more than half of my 12,000+ posts...

drh146 · Fri Sep 28, 2012 3:09 pm

Thanks yall. The war starts tomorrow

Garf · Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:25 am

I guess the ants got him.

cynthia_h · Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:03 pm

"Did he ever return? No, he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned...."

Fire ants are terrible; I had to deal with them when I was maybe 10 y.o. in Tampa, Florida, the summer we were waiting to go to Panama (the Canal Zone). Tried to sit outdoors and play cards and Monopoly with other kids, like we had done in Rancho Cordova, California, the past two and some years. OMG

THAT didn't work at all!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

drh146 · Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:21 pm

Hey everyone sorry for not giving you the outcome. Its great you are interested but I have to say its kind of anti climactic...
I bought a box of borax, went out there to pitchfork it and find them, and they were gone. I just keep forking once a week or so and they haven't come back.
Sorry for the crappy feedback, but I still have the borax, so I could try it on one of the many other hills around the yard, and I'm sure I will sooner or later, but cold is coming, and if they aren't in a bad spots, so there's no reason to make them move, potentially to a bad spot.

drh146 · Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:21 pm

Hey everyone sorry for not giving you the outcome. Its great you are interested but I have to say its kind of anti climactic...
I bought a box of borax, went out there to pitchfork it and find them, and they were gone. I just keep forking once a week or so and they haven't come back.
Sorry for the crappy feedback, but I still have the borax, so I could try it on one of the many other hills around the yard, and I'm sure I will sooner or later, but cold is coming, and if they aren't in a bad spots, so there's no reason to make them move, potentially to a bad spot.

RickRS · Sat Oct 27, 2012 4:44 am

Green Mantis wrote:This is interesting, as I was sent an e-mail, forwarding information on

"Artificial" Sweeteners---Aspartame. Apparently it is a neuropoison. !!!

Was interesting that it is apparently a "great ant killer"

You add two packets to the Fire ant nest, if the area is dry, make the area slightly wet.

Supposed to killl them completely? Use gloves.

Also two pkts, will kill other types of ants in their nests as well.

IF someone tries this, PLEASE get back to us on here and let us know if it

works???? I found this extremely interesting.

I'm a skeptic, if two tiny packets of Aspartame could knock out a bed of fire ants, that knowledge would have spread across the South like wildfire. However, it's interesting and simple enough to try. Now to find a bed to try it on.

drh146, it happens. Fire ants beds will move from place to place. Try and kill them and they pack up and move to another spot in the yard. Count yourself lucky they disappeared from your yard.