Fire Ants in the garden.

[Stonecolors]

Does any one have any suggestions on controlling fire ants in the veggie garden. I find they are attracted to tilled soil and where they nest everything dies. Last year they got my herbs, an avacado tree and a couple of butterfly bushes. I'm afraid that any of the standard poisons will contaminate the produce.
_____________
Thanks all.
Carl

[curlysue]

FIRE! Gas and a match. You could also use a torch.

[Timex1954]

I have tried these two methods successfully:

1) This is easier if you have two people and two shovels, but it can be done. Take a shovelful of one fireant mound - dig fairly deep. Walk about 50 yards, put on another fireant mound. Take a shovel of mound #2 and put it where you removed the first shovelful. Fireants create "truces" between colonies. If the colonies are close to each other, this method won't work. The two shovelfuls of fireants will fight to the death. Since the majority of the soldier ants seem to be in the top part of the mound, you are essentially putting the warriors right into the top of an "enemy" mound.

2) Sweet-n-Low. Sounds strange, but if you sprinkle the top of a mound with Sweet-n-Low, the mound "dries up". I don't know where the ants go, if they die, if they lose so much weight they disappear or what the deal is -- but it works. I don't know if any of the other artificial sweeteners will work.

Hope that helps!

[Timex1954]

FIRE! Gas and a match. You could also use a torch.

WARNING: My ex-FIL did this. He took a 3-foot piece of PVC pipe, drilled holes in it, drove it a foot deep into the top of the mound and poured gasoline into the pipe. Then he remembered he had quit smoking and no longer carried a lighter. He walked back to the house, came out with a match. Dropped the lit match into the pipe and ---WHOOSH!!--- He not only wiped out the mound, he had little satellite grass fires all across his pasture! It was DRY when he did this, so IF you try this method, do it shortly after a rain - and be careful!

[roamal]

When I got them in AZ I would boil a pot of water and dump it in the mound. I'd usually get one mound a year, do the water treatment and wouldn't have an issue again til the next year. Obviously if this is right at the plant it might not be a good idea (but then neither would the gas....LOL)

I also found this website that has some suggestions :

http://www.manataka.org/page1949.html

I knew I remembered something about oranges and went looking for it-this one mentions the "citrus oil" and some other ideas.

[Stonecolors]

Thank you everyone, I'll try it all
Carl

[scalesdropped]

cornmeal sprinkled all around the mound, ants eat it, bloat and perish (if fire ants like it?)
diatemaecious earth, sprinkled all around mound, kills soft bodied insects, safe and organic

[cyberiot]

If you don't have pets or livestock in the area, the little black-plastic ant baits work very well. The ants go into the bait house, carry the poison back to the hill, and everybody dies--but you don't have to spray or scatter a bunch of toxins around your yard or garden.

Don't let your dogs, chickens, goats, etc., get the baits, though.

[obie123]

I had the ant problem in my compost 2 years ago and
was told by an expert to boil water and put it on the
pile---I didn't need to after all because they disappeared
by the time I needed to use my compost on the garden
but thought I would pass it along!

[SheWoff]

cornmeal sprinkled all around the mound, ants eat it, bloat and perish (if fire ants like it?)
diatemaecious earth, sprinkled all around mound, kills soft bodied insects, safe and organic


Grits will do the same thing. We used them when we lived in florida. Just sprinkle them all around the hill, let them eat on it for a couple of days then water the heck out of the hill. Little buggers just swell right up and so does the tunnels where they stored the grits, thereby closing them off. Most times, they would pull up stakes and move to the neighbors yard. :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

She

[Caplock50]

I can't remember if 'tobacco tea' is for fire ants or some other pest, but I heard it works really good. Just boil up some tobacco in a large enough quantity to do however many mounds you have and dump it in. Let it cool and put it in a spray bottle and spray it on all your plants, except the tomatoes, to protect them from the bugs.

Baby/talcum powder works on fire ants, too. And fire ants are another use for your old baking powder. Fire ant venum is made of an acid, and the baking soda/powder, being a 'base', nullifies it so they are defenseless against attacks by others.

Used coffee grounds also will work against fire ants. I've used this method lots of times.

[Jez]

I have also used dried molases on a fireant mound in my garden before. As I understand it, it works because the molases causes a fungus deep in the nest that causes the ants to abandon it.

[glass half empty]

They sell this down at Mills County General Store.

http://www.antagonizer.com/index.html

Kills their nervous system with infared energy.

Saw it featured on Texas Country Reporter TV show.
They ship em' all over the world.

Home of the Antagonizer:
http://www.millscountygeneralstore.com/

Mills County General Store, GOLDTHWAITE, TEXAS
A favorite place of mine.

[Desertrat]

One method which has worked for me: One cup of gasoline in five gallons of water, with one cup of cheap liquid detergent. I'e always used "Dove".

I use a watering can with a sprinkler head on it. Usually, at most, one gallon of the mix will wipe out a bed. Some larger beds might need a second hit, the next day or two. In sandy soil, I drag a boot heel through the middle of the mound before sprinkling.

This mix will not kill grass.

It won't keep them from migrating in from adjacent areas, but it definitely will clear out your own property for a month or three.

'Rat

[wschaub]

I have tried these two methods successfully:

1) This is easier if you have two people and two shovels, but it can be done. Take a shovelful of one fireant mound - dig fairly deep. Walk about 50 yards, put on another fireant mound. Take a shovel of mound #2 and put it where you removed the first shovelful. Fireants create "truces" between colonies. If the colonies are close to each other, this method won't work. The two shovelfuls of fireants will fight to the death. Since the majority of the soldier ants seem to be in the top part of the mound, you are essentially putting the warriors right into the top of an "enemy" mound.

2) Sweet-n-Low. Sounds strange, but if you sprinkle the top of a mound with Sweet-n-Low, the mound "dries up". I don't know where the ants go, if they die, if they lose so much weight they disappear or what the deal is -- but it works. I don't know if any of the other artificial sweeteners will work.

Hope that helps!

Little known fact aspartame (sweet n low) was originally made as a pesticide and then marketed as a sweetener later on. it's no better for you than it is for those ants..

[firebird]

Mix a little dish detergent in water and spray the mounds and ants. Detergent kills the ants. (I have a friend with 28 years in pest control)

[Cat5]

What has worked for me:

Ecozone. A commercial product made of 100% dried pyrethrum flowers. This completely kills them. I do not use it near harvest time, because you aren't supposed to have it near food/food preparation.

Onions. I had fire ants in every garden bed last year EXCEPT for the ones where I planted onions. I guess they don't like 'em. On the other hand, the fire ants don't seem to mind garlic or okra (same botanical family). I am trying chives this year, too. We'll see.

I tried Caplock's advice about the coffee grounds (saw it in another thread). It didn't kill them right off, but BOY did it make them mad. WAY madder than just disturbing the mound. I have noticed less activity there. I haven't had the chance to poke the mound yet.

Spinosad ($) will work IF you treat your entire property AND you are able to wipe all the mounds out before a big rain. A big rain always brings them back...They relocate looking for the magic place where it doesn't rain.

I had them in the compost bin this winter and last. They left in the summer. I think the compost bin is nice and cozy in the winter but it gets too hot in the summer. If they don't leave, I'll use the boiling water trick.

DE is a good, safe remedy.

I will say for all the above: if it rains too soon after I do any of them, I get no results. Best to wait until a dry spell.

[vtxtexan]

Mix a little dish detergent in water and spray the mounds and ants. Detergent kills the ants. (I have a friend with 28 years in pest control)

Also a good solution for taking out a wasp nest.