I've tried every organic method of aunt control I've read about here and elsewhere on the web. I guess South Carolina ants are too dumb to die if you give them lethal doses of coffee grounds or grits. I give up.
I'm going to big box and I'm getting ant killer. I'm going to put it in my spreader and I'm killing ants. We can't garden covered in fire ant pustules. I'd rather poison myself with ant killer.
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Charlie MV
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Now,now charlie I'm positive many gardeners here will miss you if you do that 
Perhaps giving them what they want, so they are driven into their demise..
I don't know what you have tried, in organic means, but here are a few tricks to share
2 cups cider vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
mix in a gallon jug. Pour amount needed in a container with a lid that has been punctured with holes large enough for ants. "They check in but they don't check out"
Said to work
also:
mix equal amounts of powder sugar and borax sprinkle around the nest areas or where seen most...they carry the treat back down into the nest where it is said kills off the larva and adults.
Now have one of those cold beers thats being passed around here
Perhaps giving them what they want, so they are driven into their demise..
I don't know what you have tried, in organic means, but here are a few tricks to share
2 cups cider vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
mix in a gallon jug. Pour amount needed in a container with a lid that has been punctured with holes large enough for ants. "They check in but they don't check out"
Said to work
also:
mix equal amounts of powder sugar and borax sprinkle around the nest areas or where seen most...they carry the treat back down into the nest where it is said kills off the larva and adults.
Now have one of those cold beers thats being passed around here
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Jardin du Fort
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:59 pm
- Location: Fort Wayne, IN
OK then, by any chance have you tried diatomaceous earth? It is a powder of the microscopic shells of diatoms, a single celled sea animal with an exoskeleton. These tiny shells are (microscopically) sharp. When the ants (or other insects) contact the powder, the stuff wears holes in the insect's exoskeleton, and they dehydrate and die. It is totally harmless to anything other than insects. You could eat it all day. The chemical composition is pure calcium.Charlie MV wrote:I've tried every organic method of aunt control I've read about here and elsewhere on the web.
After applying the D E where the insects (ants) will contact it, perhaps in a circle around their nest, it will take a day or two before they die. Also, they do have to come into contact with the D E.
The D E is water soluble, so it may need to be re-applied after a rain.
I have found two varieties of diatomaceous earth. The first and best is pure 100% D E. You can definitely eat the stuff. It can even be put in your dog or cat's food to help control worms. It is actually called "food grade diatomaceous earth".
The second is mostly D E but has an added "bait" of unspecified content that is supposed to attract the insects. I would not feed this stuff to my pets, or eat it, without knowing what the "bait" is, but there are no warnings against consumption.
I found the good stuff here:
https://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/Prod ... th-c11.htm
The stuff with the "bait" is here:
https://www.doitbest.com/Insecticides+an ... 769412.dib
I hope this helps.
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Charlie MV
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I appreciate the suggestions. We've tried D E, Borax, ant hotels. I have tried everything.
Shadylane, I'm not leaving. I'm gonna kill ants with pesticide.
We live in sandy soil. They are everywhere. We are on a very large lot. We have had them for years and I seriously will admit it if I see an idea I haven't tried.
We feed the soil. That works. We use compost and dried manures to fertilize. We get great crop yields. No issues growing. But we have found that more organic ideas are disasters than not.
Solarize weeds with clear plastic? Weeds don't care...a year later, shredded plastic everywhere.
I can't produce enough compost to do a garden the size we have. I am trying cardboard this year for weeds/ But we've collected cardboard from 4 different neighbors and relatives who moved and we managed to do about 1/3 of our garden area. I'll fill in rows this year with construction paper that comes 140 feet per roll 30 inches wide or 18 inches depending on spacing.
Ladybugs control aphids. I flew in 1500 last year and they ate every aphid in the garden and then they left. I'll get more this year and try pheromones and ladybug houses to attract them.
Organic gardening to me is very expensive and frequently hit or miss. When it misses, it makes a big mess like the plastic.
I'll try to use pesticide only on the mound and only use the spreader in lawn and non food areas but kill these little beasts I will, by whatever means necessary.
To top it off the mosquitoes have taken over in the last 5 years. The county is spraying to prevent disease. I can't stop that. We wear long pants and long sleeve white shirts and my wife walks around with a freaking green mesh bag on her head. I mean a bag with a draw string. I'll repeat. MY WIFE IS WALKING AROUND WITH A BAG, A FREAKING BAG ON HER HEAD!!!!!!! I grit my teeth.
It can't be climate change because politicians and wing nuts say it's not. It's an entirely different world here and it's happened in the last 5 years at a hyper accelerated rate but it's not climate change.
I'll go one more year and then get to know the farmers markets within 50 miles. We bought our first new car in 15 years and it's eco friendly. We'll drive to the farmers.
But I'm killin' dem dam antz. Ded I'm GOING ALL I'm going all Billy Jack on the ants. No quarter. Ded
Shadylane, I'm not leaving. I'm gonna kill ants with pesticide.
We live in sandy soil. They are everywhere. We are on a very large lot. We have had them for years and I seriously will admit it if I see an idea I haven't tried.
We feed the soil. That works. We use compost and dried manures to fertilize. We get great crop yields. No issues growing. But we have found that more organic ideas are disasters than not.
Solarize weeds with clear plastic? Weeds don't care...a year later, shredded plastic everywhere.
I can't produce enough compost to do a garden the size we have. I am trying cardboard this year for weeds/ But we've collected cardboard from 4 different neighbors and relatives who moved and we managed to do about 1/3 of our garden area. I'll fill in rows this year with construction paper that comes 140 feet per roll 30 inches wide or 18 inches depending on spacing.
Ladybugs control aphids. I flew in 1500 last year and they ate every aphid in the garden and then they left. I'll get more this year and try pheromones and ladybug houses to attract them.
Organic gardening to me is very expensive and frequently hit or miss. When it misses, it makes a big mess like the plastic.
I'll try to use pesticide only on the mound and only use the spreader in lawn and non food areas but kill these little beasts I will, by whatever means necessary.
To top it off the mosquitoes have taken over in the last 5 years. The county is spraying to prevent disease. I can't stop that. We wear long pants and long sleeve white shirts and my wife walks around with a freaking green mesh bag on her head. I mean a bag with a draw string. I'll repeat. MY WIFE IS WALKING AROUND WITH A BAG, A FREAKING BAG ON HER HEAD!!!!!!! I grit my teeth.
It can't be climate change because politicians and wing nuts say it's not. It's an entirely different world here and it's happened in the last 5 years at a hyper accelerated rate but it's not climate change.
I'll go one more year and then get to know the farmers markets within 50 miles. We bought our first new car in 15 years and it's eco friendly. We'll drive to the farmers.
But I'm killin' dem dam antz. Ded I'm GOING ALL I'm going all Billy Jack on the ants. No quarter. Ded
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applestar
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Charlie, were you the one that posted about that scientist who takes metal casts of anthills? I thought they were fire ants, but maybe not. That would likely kill them AND get you interesting sculptures -- you could weld them onto "Stalin's Head" 
-- if you were willing to dig them up carefully. (The researcher has grad students to do that for him. )
My first thought was -- if you can grind them up and add them to the compost piles, then you might be able to culture ant-eating bacteria... But then I had a vision of swarming biting ants and trying to sweep them up with a dustpan.
Do you add crustacean shells to your compost pile? Shrimp, crabs, lobsters, crawdads -- their shells are made of chitin just like insect exoskeleton and the theory is that chitin-eating bacteria are incubated in the compost. My compost gets mostly crab shells and rarely, lobster shells. I also, a while ago, invested in Maine Lobster Compost and added that to my piles, and I regularly use Bumper Crop and Gardener's Gold which are made by the same company.... Don't know if that's helping with my battle with the garden pests, but that's what I've been doing.
We don't get fire ants around here -- if we do, it's rare. My battle is with the teeny, tiny grease ants and regular little black ants that come boiling out of the ground and into the house with the thaw every spring. They bring "presents" in the form of aphids and blacken the floor, counter, and table. Then And Only Then I resort to ant baits. (I also use DE along the baseboards)
...but it's a heck of a lot easier to spray them down with soapy water and wipe up dead (no longer marching/swarming) ants from the kitchen floor than on the sandy ground.
...hmmm... IS there a way to lure them onto a tarp, let's say?
Good luck.
P.S. They spray against Mosquitos and Gypsy Moths around here. Pesticide resistant strains are increasing, I heard. We had a surge in mosquito population when the NJ bat poulation took a nosedive due to some kind of disease. (Still no tenants in my bat apartment/house
)
P.P.S. Hm... Can't find the thread. Here's a YouTube video of the professor at work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O05javlMW6k
-- if you were willing to dig them up carefully. (The researcher has grad students to do that for him. )My first thought was -- if you can grind them up and add them to the compost piles, then you might be able to culture ant-eating bacteria... But then I had a vision of swarming biting ants and trying to sweep them up with a dustpan.
Do you add crustacean shells to your compost pile? Shrimp, crabs, lobsters, crawdads -- their shells are made of chitin just like insect exoskeleton and the theory is that chitin-eating bacteria are incubated in the compost. My compost gets mostly crab shells and rarely, lobster shells. I also, a while ago, invested in Maine Lobster Compost and added that to my piles, and I regularly use Bumper Crop and Gardener's Gold which are made by the same company.... Don't know if that's helping with my battle with the garden pests, but that's what I've been doing.
We don't get fire ants around here -- if we do, it's rare. My battle is with the teeny, tiny grease ants and regular little black ants that come boiling out of the ground and into the house with the thaw every spring. They bring "presents" in the form of aphids and blacken the floor, counter, and table. Then And Only Then I resort to ant baits. (I also use DE along the baseboards)
...but it's a heck of a lot easier to spray them down with soapy water and wipe up dead (no longer marching/swarming) ants from the kitchen floor than on the sandy ground.
...hmmm... IS there a way to lure them onto a tarp, let's say?
Good luck.
P.S. They spray against Mosquitos and Gypsy Moths around here. Pesticide resistant strains are increasing, I heard. We had a surge in mosquito population when the NJ bat poulation took a nosedive due to some kind of disease. (Still no tenants in my bat apartment/house
)P.P.S. Hm... Can't find the thread. Here's a YouTube video of the professor at work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O05javlMW6k-
rainbowgardener
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As the planet warms, plants and animals are moving north/higher elevations to find suitable habitat/climate. Maybe people need to do the same? There are no fire ants where I live and winters aren't as bad as they used to be. I've always wanted to leave Cincinnati and go somewhere warmer, but if I stay here long enough, Cincinnati may become a decent place to be...
Here's a previous thread on fire ant control
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=50430
I know gumbo (in Louisiana, must be prime fire ant territory) swears by pouring boiling water on the nests - but if I'm remembering right he uses 80 gallon cauldrons of boiling water.
There are no fire ants where I live and winters aren't as bad as they used to be. I've always wanted to leave Cincinnati and go somewhere warmer, but if I stay here long enough, Cincinnati may become a decent place to be...Here's a previous thread on fire ant control
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=50430
I know gumbo (in Louisiana, must be prime fire ant territory) swears by pouring boiling water on the nests - but if I'm remembering right he uses 80 gallon cauldrons of boiling water.
It's actually an 80 Qt. pot I use for boiling seafood for parties. It may take more than one application but it seems to work fine for me. I have gotten quite a few ant nests in my compost piles over the years and several in the actual garden from time to time.rainbowgardener wrote:As the planet warms, plants and animals are moving north/higher elevations to find suitable habitat/climate. Maybe people need to do the same?
Here's a previous thread on fire ant control
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=50430
I know gumbo (in Louisiana, must be prime fire ant territory) swears by pouring boiling water on the nests - but if I'm remembering right he uses 80 gallon cauldrons of boiling water.
With Charlie's sandy soil, I can see where they would be more of a problem. That type soil is easier for them to set up their nests than my heavy clay soil. Just about anywhere outside the borders of my garden are horrible to dig in.
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rainbowgardener
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After living in Tx. for 4 years, I know how wicked fire ants can be. They are not like any other ant that I have ever dealt with. We had clay soil but I can imagine what you are dealing with, Charlie. We tried organic methods and, like you, we resorted to poison. The heat, the humidity, and fire ants are what convinced us to move back to Id.
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Charlie MV
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We are dug in and committed to this spot financially. Did very expensive renovations to move two different parents in to care for. One is gone. The house is really nice now but we'll never recoup enough to sell out and move. Here we stay.
I'm pretty convinced that outside work for 3 or 4 months a year soon won't be an option. I don't know if the lack of a couple months of cold weather is contributing to the geometric growth of the ant and mosquito population.
We're staying in the mid 60s on average throughout the winter. Probably had 5 days that didn't get out of the 40s and 10 in the 50s. No more than 20 nights froze at all. We haven't lost our lawn this year. I plowed last week and could only make one pass before I had to stop and clean the weeds wound up in the tines. I hope that the weeds die and can be chopped up in a week or so.
My wife was trying to get weeds out of the way and the ants were crawling up the rake biting her on the arms. When we harvest, we put what we pick in a laundry basket and hose it off to remove as many ants as we can. We gave up last year and hired a bug man to spray the house perimeter. We still get some inside but with really regular cleaning it's not bad.
As a kid on the SC coast, the mosquitoes got bad at certain times. 20 years ago, in this spot so far inland my in laws almost never saw mosquitoes.
We're odd gardeners. I get absolutely no pleasure from the work involved but I love the food and our fresh frozen stuff is enough to feed us year round. My wife likes the work but she has cartilage worn away in her low back and the pain has become nearly unbearable. If Obamacare isn't defunded she may be able to get help next year but our high deductible plan makes treatment impossible now with exclusions on her back. Shots are $1500 each and necessary every other month.
I'm afraid we've done irreparable damage to the planet. Every possible remedy is politically charged so we're gridlocked on solutions. I figure that if we buy from farmers markets we'll be buying food grown with pesticides and traditional fertilizer. We had more organic food sources in Charlotte [fairly big city] than we do in small town SC. So I'll kill the ants and cross my fingers that it doesn't kill us.
I did put in eight 10' x 3' raised beds to help ease the back pain on low growers. I guess if we quit all else we'll still plant those. I'm trying corn, tomatoes, okra, cukes, pole beans and a few other tall plants this year to see how we do with the raised beds.
I guess we'll be semi-organic?
I'm pretty convinced that outside work for 3 or 4 months a year soon won't be an option. I don't know if the lack of a couple months of cold weather is contributing to the geometric growth of the ant and mosquito population.
We're staying in the mid 60s on average throughout the winter. Probably had 5 days that didn't get out of the 40s and 10 in the 50s. No more than 20 nights froze at all. We haven't lost our lawn this year. I plowed last week and could only make one pass before I had to stop and clean the weeds wound up in the tines. I hope that the weeds die and can be chopped up in a week or so.
My wife was trying to get weeds out of the way and the ants were crawling up the rake biting her on the arms. When we harvest, we put what we pick in a laundry basket and hose it off to remove as many ants as we can. We gave up last year and hired a bug man to spray the house perimeter. We still get some inside but with really regular cleaning it's not bad.
As a kid on the SC coast, the mosquitoes got bad at certain times. 20 years ago, in this spot so far inland my in laws almost never saw mosquitoes.
We're odd gardeners. I get absolutely no pleasure from the work involved but I love the food and our fresh frozen stuff is enough to feed us year round. My wife likes the work but she has cartilage worn away in her low back and the pain has become nearly unbearable. If Obamacare isn't defunded she may be able to get help next year but our high deductible plan makes treatment impossible now with exclusions on her back. Shots are $1500 each and necessary every other month.
I'm afraid we've done irreparable damage to the planet. Every possible remedy is politically charged so we're gridlocked on solutions. I figure that if we buy from farmers markets we'll be buying food grown with pesticides and traditional fertilizer. We had more organic food sources in Charlotte [fairly big city] than we do in small town SC. So I'll kill the ants and cross my fingers that it doesn't kill us.
I did put in eight 10' x 3' raised beds to help ease the back pain on low growers. I guess if we quit all else we'll still plant those. I'm trying corn, tomatoes, okra, cukes, pole beans and a few other tall plants this year to see how we do with the raised beds.
I guess we'll be semi-organic?
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rainbowgardener
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I agree about irreparable damage to the planet and gridlocked re solutions. 
Sorry to hear all the problems you and your wife are having. You are such a nice guy and bring so much cheer to folks around you.
Actually I expect we are all semi-organic to one degree or another. In our current culture/ economy etc, it is very difficult to be totally pure. I only just this year finally gave up Miracle Gro potting soil, but that doesn't make me totally pure yet, just another step on the road. We all do what works best, but it is nice when people are at least thinking about what they are doing and trying to protect the planet where they can.
Is there a CSA near you? That has been the best option for me for local grown organic food, beyond what I can grow in my limited space. LocalHarvest https://www.localharvest.org/ has a search option to find CSA's, farmer's markets, etc near you.
Sorry to hear all the problems you and your wife are having. You are such a nice guy and bring so much cheer to folks around you.
Actually I expect we are all semi-organic to one degree or another. In our current culture/ economy etc, it is very difficult to be totally pure. I only just this year finally gave up Miracle Gro potting soil, but that doesn't make me totally pure yet, just another step on the road. We all do what works best, but it is nice when people are at least thinking about what they are doing and trying to protect the planet where they can.
Is there a CSA near you? That has been the best option for me for local grown organic food, beyond what I can grow in my limited space. LocalHarvest https://www.localharvest.org/ has a search option to find CSA's, farmer's markets, etc near you.
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Charlie MV
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rainbowgardener
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CSA = Community Supported Agriculture. It is a farm, where you commit at the beginning of the season to buy a share of all the produce from the farm. Usually you pay up front (in my experience around $250 -$300). Then every week through the growing season you get a big bag of fresh from the farm produce with no further cost (except sometimes they want some volunteer hours, but usually for a discount on the price).
Benefits everyone. The farmer knows up front they have a market and has cash up front to work with. The farmer does not have to spend his/her time sitting at a farmer's market trying to sell stuff and often bringing a lot of it back home. The CSA member gets absolutely fresh (often picked that day) organic produce, from a farm you have seen, know how it is run, local, and way more than you would get for the same money from a grocery store.
Check the website. They aren't well publicized and there could be some in your area that you wouldn't know about.
Benefits everyone. The farmer knows up front they have a market and has cash up front to work with. The farmer does not have to spend his/her time sitting at a farmer's market trying to sell stuff and often bringing a lot of it back home. The CSA member gets absolutely fresh (often picked that day) organic produce, from a farm you have seen, know how it is run, local, and way more than you would get for the same money from a grocery store.
Check the website. They aren't well publicized and there could be some in your area that you wouldn't know about.
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rainbowgardener
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PS I didn't know what town you are in, so I just did a search on the website for CSA's in SC. Popped up 3 pages of results. Just on the first page were CSA farms at Wadamalaw Island, Conway, Aiken (2), York, Westminster, Taylors, Leesville, Spartenburg, Wagener, Ware Shoals, Greer, Seneca, Columbia, Timmonsville, Blythwood, Johns Island (2), Lancaster, Easly ....
Well your first problem is your targeting aunts! Ahaha JK. But seriously... if you want to continue on the path of righteousness in trying to rid yourself of these ants organically, then I can vouch for the effectiveness of diatomaceous earth natural ant control. You just sprinkle the DE around the areas of high ant activity and they will be dead (see what I did there!) in the water so to speak. The DE will cut them up something fierce and they will perish soon after.
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Charlie MV
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ElizabethB
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rainbowgardener
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Charlie MV
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LA47, we had the large fire ants 50 miles away in the clay soil around Columbia. They weren't aggressive unless disturbed. The colonies were few. You are exactly right.
When we harvest, the plants are swarming with the smaller fire ants. I shudder to think about how many are really out there. I've turned a shovel and it's like a scene from a horror movie. all you can do is drop the shovel and run. They WILL run up the handle and attack.. The small ones will mound in sandy soil but it's more like a dune. It's not really high but I've seen them 3 feet across.
We wear gloves to harvest but that just means they're going to start biting at the wrist. It makes you feel like the president in Independence day when he said "Nuke the bastarrds". I suspect that some of the organic remedies may have killed a few but I bet our yard alone houses up in the trillions of these menaces.
I first read about diatomatious earth 30 years ago when we had a house with more cockroaches than Joe's house. It was suppose to slice their little cockroach bodies up in the joints when they moved. I loved the idea of the thousand cut death for cockroaches. Didn't work. I tried it on the big ants back then and the small ants here. So far I've just managed to put a few dollars in the pockets of the D E suppliers. Our insects just don't get the memo that they are supposed to crawl through the sharp little specks, open their little bodies in thousands of cuts and die.
The sheer volume is the worst thing about these critters. The second worst thing is that the pustules from the bites itch, hurt and erupt for days after they bite. One or two bites is no problem. But if you miss a swarm and get 20 bites on a wrist, it's pretty miserable for 3 or 4 days.
So I've had a chance to chill for a few days after the last attack. I will use the broadcast spreader around the perimeter walkways and hand broadcast between the raised beds. I'll use the spreader in our very small lawn area and around the house and garage. I'll use the spreader in natural areas under shade trees. The, in the garden as I see them I will pour the killer on top of the mound or swarm.
I have a feeling that CSAs are in our future. There was a time when I'd have scoffed at the cost and said no way. But having gardened organically for the last 6 years I've learned it aint cheap. It's extremely labor intensive and you are chained to your garden for 9 months a year. So many things that we grow depend on regular picking to continue producing.
This is our first year ever that we won't be splitting time between the garden and the boat so we should be able to keep a closer watch and tend our garden better. If the aggressive ant control works and we don't die of insecticide poisoning, we'll fight it until our backs don't permit. Otherwise, we'll use a CSA or drive to the farmers market in Augusta and just buy every other week until the freezer is full. Eating is the main reason that I endure this torture.
When we harvest, the plants are swarming with the smaller fire ants. I shudder to think about how many are really out there. I've turned a shovel and it's like a scene from a horror movie. all you can do is drop the shovel and run. They WILL run up the handle and attack.. The small ones will mound in sandy soil but it's more like a dune. It's not really high but I've seen them 3 feet across.
We wear gloves to harvest but that just means they're going to start biting at the wrist. It makes you feel like the president in Independence day when he said "Nuke the bastarrds". I suspect that some of the organic remedies may have killed a few but I bet our yard alone houses up in the trillions of these menaces.
I first read about diatomatious earth 30 years ago when we had a house with more cockroaches than Joe's house. It was suppose to slice their little cockroach bodies up in the joints when they moved. I loved the idea of the thousand cut death for cockroaches. Didn't work. I tried it on the big ants back then and the small ants here. So far I've just managed to put a few dollars in the pockets of the D E suppliers. Our insects just don't get the memo that they are supposed to crawl through the sharp little specks, open their little bodies in thousands of cuts and die.
The sheer volume is the worst thing about these critters. The second worst thing is that the pustules from the bites itch, hurt and erupt for days after they bite. One or two bites is no problem. But if you miss a swarm and get 20 bites on a wrist, it's pretty miserable for 3 or 4 days.
So I've had a chance to chill for a few days after the last attack. I will use the broadcast spreader around the perimeter walkways and hand broadcast between the raised beds. I'll use the spreader in our very small lawn area and around the house and garage. I'll use the spreader in natural areas under shade trees. The, in the garden as I see them I will pour the killer on top of the mound or swarm.
I have a feeling that CSAs are in our future. There was a time when I'd have scoffed at the cost and said no way. But having gardened organically for the last 6 years I've learned it aint cheap. It's extremely labor intensive and you are chained to your garden for 9 months a year. So many things that we grow depend on regular picking to continue producing.
This is our first year ever that we won't be splitting time between the garden and the boat so we should be able to keep a closer watch and tend our garden better. If the aggressive ant control works and we don't die of insecticide poisoning, we'll fight it until our backs don't permit. Otherwise, we'll use a CSA or drive to the farmers market in Augusta and just buy every other week until the freezer is full. Eating is the main reason that I endure this torture.
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applestar
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I wanted to see if Paul Stamets had advanced his discovery of mycological pesticide for carpenter ants to be effective against fire ants Thought he already has a patent on all Myco-pesticides...
But this is what I found:
https://www.google.com/patents/US4925663
Stamets talked about the ant killing mushroom in this TED talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_o ... world.html
But this is what I found:
https://www.google.com/patents/US4925663
Stamets talked about the ant killing mushroom in this TED talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_o ... world.html
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Charlie MV
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ElizabethB
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- Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:53 am
- Location: Lafayette, LA
Hey charlie, I have been following your thread. In south Louisiana fire ants are a bane. Our friends in areas not subject to these monsters have no appreciation of the pain and crop devistation that they create. Red ant bites result in pustules that are subject to infection. A nest in your garden makes it impossible to work in. When my nieces and nephews or my grands visit I have to walk the yard and get rid of any visible ant mounds. The children only see a small mound of dirt. they do not recognize the threat hidden beneath.
I am rambling AGAIN. These creatures are immune to any organic treatment. Go Charlie - kill the suckers.
I am rambling AGAIN. These creatures are immune to any organic treatment. Go Charlie - kill the suckers.
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applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 31062
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
I keep looking to see if they have started marketing them to general public/consumers, but sadly I have not seen any as yet. If you search on-line, there are a fair number of mention though. I remember seeing that Texas A&M entomology was collaborating with Paul Stamets when I was looking around last year. Haven't seriously looked around yet this year.Charlie MV wrote:Does Lowes sell it?
...this might end up like renewable energy and electric cars.
If you are truly interested, you might see if they want a test site?
...so you don't want to make a decoration for Stalin's Head? I was really intrigued and actually thought through what I would need to try something like this, but I quickly ran into the problem that clay soil would be too difficult to carefully dig out the cast.
...you got me thinking about it again, though...
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Here's a nice organic fire ant control article I found and posted elsewhere?
https://www.dirtdoctor.com/Organic-Fire- ... _vq123.htm
Did you find out anything about local CSA's?
https://www.dirtdoctor.com/Organic-Fire- ... _vq123.htm
Did you find out anything about local CSA's?
I feel your pain. I can't get rid of ants either. I did use ant bait and it did work for a while, but the ants have gotten wise and are avoiding it.
When it rains, their house floods out and they move into mine. When it is hot in summer, they move in looking for water.
I have tried putting a barrier around the foundation of the house, using borax, diazinon (no longer available), diatomacious earth is ineffective once it gets wet. I put amdro on a nest I found. They moved 5 feet away and started a new nest.
I am trying deadline chalk next. I am told the ants won't cross it. I have the perfect place to try it.
I also used vaseline ( the ants walked right over that). Then I put on a barrier of vaseline and coated it with boric acid. That did not stop all of the ants but it did make a significant difference. Vaseline is cheaper and easier to apply than tanglefoot.
Here is the bright side. According to my termite guy, having a lot of ants means that there probably aren't that many termites around. The ants move in to the termite tunnels and evict them.
When it rains, their house floods out and they move into mine. When it is hot in summer, they move in looking for water.
I have tried putting a barrier around the foundation of the house, using borax, diazinon (no longer available), diatomacious earth is ineffective once it gets wet. I put amdro on a nest I found. They moved 5 feet away and started a new nest.
I am trying deadline chalk next. I am told the ants won't cross it. I have the perfect place to try it.
I also used vaseline ( the ants walked right over that). Then I put on a barrier of vaseline and coated it with boric acid. That did not stop all of the ants but it did make a significant difference. Vaseline is cheaper and easier to apply than tanglefoot.
Here is the bright side. According to my termite guy, having a lot of ants means that there probably aren't that many termites around. The ants move in to the termite tunnels and evict them.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
That would be wonderful if it worked, something cheap, easily available, and harmless, but snopes says no:
https://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/fireants.asp
Fire ant colonies can be 30 ft deep and spread out at least 20 feet from the mound. Just not enough CO2 and it doesn't stay around long enough.
But after debunking several of the remedies that have been mentioned here, they suggest a combination of dishwashing liquid and citrus oil as an effective mound drench treatment.
https://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/fireants.asp
Fire ant colonies can be 30 ft deep and spread out at least 20 feet from the mound. Just not enough CO2 and it doesn't stay around long enough.
But after debunking several of the remedies that have been mentioned here, they suggest a combination of dishwashing liquid and citrus oil as an effective mound drench treatment.
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Cola82
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 381
- Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:05 pm
- Location: McMinnville, Oregon, Zone 8b
It's too bad you can't just buy phorid flies. I recently watched an entire special about them--and I'm pretty sure they were even referenced in King of the Hill (augh, that was in 1996!).
Anyway, I know they don't wipe out the ants, but it would be nice to have something around to at least keep their numbers in check. It sounds miserable.
Anyway, I know they don't wipe out the ants, but it would be nice to have something around to at least keep their numbers in check. It sounds miserable.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
rainbowgardener wrote:That would be wonderful if it worked, something cheap, easily available, and harmless, but snopes says no:
https://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/fireants.asp
Fire ant colonies can be 30 ft deep and spread out at least 20 feet from the mound. Just not enough CO2 and it doesn't stay around long enough.
But after debunking several of the remedies that have been mentioned here, they suggest a combination of dishwashing liquid and citrus oil as an effective mound drench treatment.
Just came across this again and it made me wonder if the club soda thing could be adapted. What about a big chunk of dry ice? If you had a way to bury it in the middle of the mound, maybe it would keep giving off CO2 for long enough? Or if you could get a big tank of CO2 with hose attached and just keep pumping it in? Probably not a great thing environmentally, since the CO2 would surely end up in the atmosphere and it is a greenhouse gas. But maybe worth it if it actually worked! I don't have any fire ants, have never actually seen one, so I hope the people with them will be trying some of all these remedies and report back!
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Charlie MV
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1544
- Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 11:48 pm
I nuked 'em with Ortho. I did everything but the garden. We are going to use it directly on the mounds in the garden area. At least we're not nuking the whole garden. Between the grits and coffee grounds we just wound up with fat hyper fire ants.
PPPhhhhttttt on organic ant controls.
Ants is be ded in a day or so.
PPPhhhhttttt on organic ant controls.
Ants is be ded in a day or so.