Fire Ant Help Please!!!

I've had very good luck with orange oil and water drenching. I don't know if it kills them or they just hate it, but I mix a tablespoon or two per gallon of water and soak the mound. They are usually gone within hours. The addition of the molasses would improve the mixture even more as fire ants hate molasses. I feed the chickens some sweet feed in the spring/summer to keep the fire ants out of their house.

hollym

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Bulk bags of amdro. Be aware that the bigger bag may have lower concentration of active ingredient. Look at the small print.

If you want to try the electric worm prod method you just get a steel rod, and an old electrical cord, strip one side of the wire and wrap it around the rod and put electrical tape around it, the other wire thats not stripped just fold it on itself and wrap electrical tape on it but dont let any of that wire touch the rod. If you put both wires on the rod and plug it in it will flip your circuit breaker. I did that when I was a kid trying to make one for the first time. So just connect one wire and some kind of wooden or plastic handle and you'll be fine. You can actually touch the rod and it just zaps you a little. I was standing in wet grass and my cousin touched my leg with it one time and it shocked the crap out of me though. It didn't do any physical damage, it just made me want to kick his butt.

You are dumping about $6.00 worth of fuel on one hill. At my farm, it would take a tanker truck to supply the fuel plus a major government loan.

Doing that is also illegal, ever seen what one gallon of diesel does to a lake!! :>(

Bob

I wonder if dumping gas or kerosine on them and lighting them on fire would hurt the well? My dad did this to all the firehills one summer and we didn't have problems for like, 2 years.

Usually we just mow over the tops of them at summer, nothing like a massive cloud of GA clay and ants lol.

Kat

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The Worm rod can be a serious electrical shock hazard although the worms are likely responding to the 60 cycle pulse. like using a powered worm fiddle. Used mine one time in the back yard and heard a scream of surprise from a lady in the bath tub...Glen

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I would water down the area with the hose first and let it sink in for a few minutes before you zap them to death. This brings back some fun childhood memories, I think I'll make another electric prod! I mean, can you seriously think of anything more fun than jamming an electrictrified rod right down the center of an ant hill and watching them go ballistic?

I would love to see the little demons go ballistic!! I am so allergic to the stings. We had such a mild winter this year, no snow or ice, and it's going to be in the upper 80's here this weekend! The fire ants are thriving! I've lived here 8 years and this is the most fire ant hills I've ever seen on this property. In some places the hills are in a line, so close together that I could put each foot on a mound.(not that I would!)

I've tried the boiling water on the ones close to the house. Little success, still fire ant activity.I even poured my used dish water on them for two days. Tried DE on the same mounds, still activity. Then, I poured Borax on them, still have ant activity in the same mounds.

I am going to try the electric device and see what happens. Thanks for the heads up about the wiring. I wouldn't have thought of that!

I haven't tried this, but I've been told by an entymologist that fertilizing your lawn with anhydrous amonia will keep them out of your lawn for two years.

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Where would I get anhydrous ammonia? Would it be harmful to my well? That is my concern with using chemicals. I've had cancer in the past, and I'm paranoid about using anything that could contaminate us or the well that we drink from and water our garden with.

ok, did a quick search on anhydrous ammonia. Don't want to mess with that. Would a good dousing with regular household ammonia do the same thing? A small amount shouldn't hurt my well, should it? I could just try it on a few hills away from the well and see what happens. Thanks!

If you are worried about pesticides/poisons/etc, please try the orange oil with a little liq molasses in water. It really does work & HELPS the soil, doesn't poison the ground water!

Patty

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I don't know if this works..I have been told that if you get instant grits and sprinkle around the nest and provide water they take it, the Queen eats the grits, drinks the water,Grits expand killing Queen..Colony dies or moves on....Have known several that swore by this method....And this was in the Metroplex area of north Texas........Mike

I've found 3 ways to get rid of them.

#1 - a company named Gardens Alive has a natural ant poison that works very well and keeps them cleared out for several years.

#2 - take a shovel and move ants from one hill to another to instigate a ant war where they kill off each other. (I read this on the forum and tried it. It works pretty good, but I still have a few hills left)

#3 - feed them old fashion grits. Not the instant grits, but the old fashion kind. The grits will swell after they eat them and kill them little dudes dead. I've used this method and it works, but this year I can't find a store that sells old fashion grits, they all have the instant kind that don't work.

I've tried these 3 methods over 10 acres and had fairly good luck with all 3 of them. Good luck and if you find a sure fire way to keep them away, please share the knowledge.

I HATE FIRE ANTS

One of my friends here in NC told me to get corn grits and spread them out everywhere like you would grass seed or something. Apparently it makes the little demons explode and they take it to their queen and she explodes.