Spectracide fire ant killer in garden

[hotsauce]

I finished the spring garden setup yesterday... after pulling of the sheath I had been using to cover garden, I found a well-established fire ant colony in one corner of veg garden.

I put out some Spectracide mound killer to get rid of the suckers, but didn't feel right knowing that the same soil which has ant poison is going to be used to grow melons and summer squash.

Have I screwed up, or are we good to go? Maybe I can just remove the top layer of soil where the remaining granules of poison are. Maybe the poison itself dissipates and provides no problem for plant absorbtion?

Any input or suggestions is appreciated.

[hendi_alex]

I can only say what I would do, which is no claim as to the RIGHT thing to do or not. First of all, I never use a poison in the garden unless it is approved for such. Even then am a very minimal user of such things, usually as a last resort.

That said, it would seem to me that the contamination from poison used on a singe mound should be minimal, and the uptake from any individual plant also extremely minimal. So if it were my site, I would shovel some of the soil from the mound site, and exchange it for clean soil somewhere outside the garden area. I would mark the mound site and not plant directly in that spot at least for the first half of this season. What ever you do, be sure and read the label's precautions, and perhaps call your local extension office and ask their opinion.

I'm just thinking that with a little cleaning of the spot, and some care in planting, that any contamination in any particular plant or piece of fruit is likely to so miniscule as to not give much reason for concern.

[Dannyo]

I would recommend the phone number on the ant killer, It would be an easy fix to a troubled conscious with very definitive answers. There is usually a number on such products to call in case of accidental ingestion, these people should know how their product will act when left in the soil and if it is absorbed by vegetables if it's harmful. Good luck!

[webmaster]

From the [url=https://www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/indoxacarb.pdf]U.S. EPA Fact Sheet on Idoxacarb[/url], the active ingredient in the Spectracide Fire Ant product, see page 2:

[quote]This pesticide is toxic to mammals, birds, fish, and aquatic invertebrates. Do not apply directly to water or to areas where surface water is present or to intertidal areas below the mean high water mark.

Runoff from treated areas may be hazardous to aquatic organisms in neighboring areas....

...Crop Rotation Restrictions:“Crops that are on this label and cotton may be planted immediately following harvest. Do not plant for food or feed any other crops not registered for use with indoxacarb for 30 days after last use.â€

[hotsauce]

Thank you all for the replies, I think I will be doing some soil exchange and then waiting at least 30 days before planting the area.

Looks like I will be using more organic methods and safer solutions to ant problems within a raised bed in the future.

thanks

[hendi_alex]

If you find a good solution let me know. The ants are my worst problem in the raised beds, the compost area, and a few other defined beds. Will try cinnamon this season, but is too expensive for other than very specific targets. May try some diatomaceous earth as that will take care of slugs and nemotodes as well, though I hate to hurt the earthworms. Am not sure if diatomaceous earth has an effect on fire ants or not.

[hotsauce]

will do man

[Lupinus]

hendi-

I've been doing a good bit of research since I'm right around the corner and those little buggers are all over.

Spinosad seems to be the safest bet as far as chemicals goes. It's available as a bait so hopefully that would keep harm to beneficials down. I will say finding it locally has been next to impossible but I'm finding it plenty online...I just hate to pay shipping lol.

I'm planning on trying the cinnamon and based on what I am finding other strong spices work as well (one person mentioned sticking the mound with a fe cloves at night when the ants aren't active). Try an Indian market for the bulk spices, very cheap.

I also heard a recommendation for a close to the garden fix of 50/50 powdered sugar and borox (laundry isle). Not sure how close you can get or how toxic it would be.

Anything you've had success with?

[hendi_alex]

Kind of funny in an ironic way, that [environmentally friendly] scalding water method of destroying a fire ant mound. When a person calculates the coal and uranium consumed to heat that water in the typical electric hot water tank, including the mining, processing, hauling, disposal of waste material, the resulting decrease in air, water, and soil quality including acid run off, uranium tailings, CO2 and SO2 and particles in the air, acid rain on the soil, thermal pollution of rivers and lakes....... One could hardly count three or four gallons of scalding water per mound an environmentally friendly solution to the problem. IMO it does represent a solution, where a yard has just a few fire ant mounds, but a rather expensive one, environmentally speaking.

[Lupinus]

boiling water sounds like an OK idea but is limited. I somehow think my tomatoes or peppers wouldn't care for having a few gallons of boiling water dumped on them.

But it cuts out the middle process of cooking them I guess