Help! Zillions of ants! I think they're fire ants
 

I have several large ant hills in the grass around my house. They are tiny ants and they have a painful bite/sting. When I step on a hill there are zillions of them and they are multiplying fast!

I poured a lot of ant powder on a couple hills, but I ran out. I found a big one by the back of my house so I poured a tub of lye on it. Then I sprinkled water on and it didn't faze them a bit.

Are these fire ants and what can I do? I can't weed or even walk to my barn without getting stung. They crawl all over my shoes and up my legs. Misery!

Tennessee ant hill!

digApony

Fire ants love water. I don't know if fire ants are as far north as TN or not. But the best thing we found to kill them when we lived in Louisiana was Bengal Ant Killer. It was kind of hard to find maybe look on Amazon. It killed them fast though.

Do you have a compost pile? Can you make compost tea?
Mix about a gallon w/2-3 oz of orange oil, about 1 cup liq molasses & pour on the hills. THis got rid of mine.

If you don't have compost tea, you can mix orange oil & water w/molasses.

Oh-and add a good squirt of lemon joy to it, either way you do it.

Sounds like fire ants to me. You can google for a picture. Lots of ways/things to kill them---I sprinkle sevin dust on their mounds, use to pour gasoline on them(cost to much now LOL not good for the enviroment) With fire ants----what ever way you want to attack them-----you just have to stay with it and repeat as needed. Good Luck

I don't have compost tea, but I can get orange oil and molasses. I put quite a bit of Sevin dust on the hills and around them.

Wow... these are the nastiest ant I have ever encountered.

I thought I heard TN had fire ants. I'm going to check on line.

Thanks! Oh we did have a lot of rain this summer and now it is very dry.

digApony

Earlier today my son poured gasoline on one hill. He was po'd because he was trying to work on a pump and they stung him like crazy. I told him not to waste my gasoline! haha :)

I just poured Sevin dust on them.

digApony

We've had little tiny ants here and large black flying ants. Someone suggested to mix a littel sugar and Borax soap in a cup for them. They said not too much Borax. Supposedly they carry it home and kill the whole mound. Its seems to work on these ants but not sure about yours.

Yep. TN has fire ants. We had a dry summer a couple years ago and the farmers bought hay from the more Southern states and imported the ants.

UT Extension service said they can short out electrical wiring, damage roads etc. Wow.

digApony

Ant powder is boric acid, but I'm not sure if it's the same as Borax. So far one ant hill has had gasoline, ant powder, lye and last Sevin dust.

Unless it's the time of day, I see no movement! :D

Nasty critters. I'm mad I used all of my soap making lye though!

digApony

We put grits on them here. Because our chickens free range and my Kids refuse to wear shoes around here we don't put any chemicals on our lawn. Grits work great. Sprinkle some on the ant mound, when they eat them they swell up and pop. Here in Florida it is a constant battle with fire ants and have found that Grits work better than mst commercial products out there

In South Texas, this is the best stuff for them. It really really smells bad. Be warned.

http://www.amazon.com/Ortho-0282210-.../dp/B000A0UCRG

Had fire ants when I lived it TX. Glad I don't have them here in at my new house in TN, yet anyway. I use to sprinkle fireant bait on them, or corn meal, you can also pure boiling water on them but that kills your grass. Unfortunately no matter what, you will think you got rid of them, but they usually always come back some where else.

BTW the red bites usually get a small blister on top of it. I found popping the blister and using campho phenique seemed to work the best for me.

I remember now mixing poison in my watering can and watering the hills, when I was out of Amdro. I used one of those all purpose ant killing included concentrates.

Thanks Harry Chickpea I forgot what it was I would sprinkle on the mounds. I would keep the chickens locked up until the poison was gone and it had rained.

Once you have them, you have them. All you can do is manage the numbers. Girts, corn meal, corn flour does seem to help. It is the corn gluten they have a problem with. Amdro contains a tiny bit of active chemical and a lot of ... corn meal.

The mounds are just the tops of the tunnels. Bengal is pretty good (home stores may have it) Boric acid or Borax might help a little but can damage the soil growing capabilities if overused. Killing lots of ants i the mounds is satisfying but only a temporary measure. I use a garden sprayer with Ortho Max and plunge the wand into the mound a few times.

If you have plant pots or stuff with soil sitting on the ground, they'll get up into the soil.

In order to really put a dent in the population, an area of a few acres or more has to be treated at the same time. They re-colonize fast.

Ants scare the carp outta me....I'd be moving............so you are on your own LOL!:run:

There's really no need to use something as toxic as Sevin or gasoline to kill the ants.
Try Amdro granules if you want them gone right away. If you don't mind waiting a day or so for them to leave or die, try heavily sprinkling the mounds with DE.

Fireants are a major bummer. Dumping poisons in your yard can cause other problems.

Forgot to mention that we've had really good results killing off the fireant colonies on our farm by broadcasting an insect growth regulator that sterilizes the ant queens. Extinguish is one brand to try.

Cover the mound and an area around it with lots of baking soda, pour on vinegar starting with a circle around the mound and onto the mound. I've never had this fail.

Never tried that. Thanks for posting this :)

I would suggest using aspartame or splenda. Both were originally designed to kill rodents and they work well on ants as well. this is the only good use for them since they're poisonous to humans (despite what the usda and fda may tell you). Something that is supposed to work well on wasps is covering their holes with a glass container. With wasps supposedly they won't bother creating as new opening because they see light and can exit soo they just starve.

corn meal sprinkled around their mound,

Well I guess I've got a problem then. I've got at least five acres where I have seen several mounds. Corn meal/grits sounds cheap... I'll pick up some at wally world.

Oh wow, please say I won't be stuck with these nasty bugs forever!

digApony

Most ants can't swallow solid food at all.

Grits will not make them explode

Chemicals are the only reliable treatment for Fire Ants because unless you kill the Queen, you haven't accomplished anything at all

Thanks everyone...........! I appreciate your help.

What chemical? Should I hire a professional? I could try calling the Extension Service. I need help. I have a big bag of DE. We had rain all summer and now it's dry as a bone.

digApony

They might not make them explode, but every time I have used corn meal, the numbers have dropped. This is one of those times when I have to shrug shoulders and say that the people who know don't know everything.

Terro is an ant bait used to kill ant queens with fantastic results. I've tried making it on my own, using the ingredients on the container and instructions on the net, but dang if the real Terro works and my stuff just "sorta" works.

I don't know if you saw my post but when we lived in Louisiana we used Bengal Ant Killer. It was the only thing that we found that actually worked on fire ants. You just sprinkled it on the mound and by the next day they were dead. And it was good because you didn't have to use water like many of the other ant killers.

I read your post. I looked up Terro and it didn't say anything about fire ants. I will get some. I have to do something. They are everywhere.

Thanks.

digApony

Okay, I went to Bengal's site. Bengal's Fire Ant Killer. A teaspoon around the mound and it does kill the queen. And it's water repellent.

I just ordered some. Thanks so much.

digApony

....and if this doesn't work there, which it probably will..It is great for a drain cleaner. You won't believe the difference in your drains.

Fire ants have invaded my large (6'X4') outdoor worm bin. I've been spraying around the outside, but not the contents of the bin, since I don't want to poison the worms. Was wondering if DE would hurt the worms as well. I'll try the corn meal first. It's going to be hard to harvest the worm castings when just coming within a few feet of the bin results in multiple bites.

Yep, that's what we use too and now we don't have any fireants! :banana:

The stuff STINKS, but it works.

.....................87 octane on top of mound is the fastest and bestest fire ant killer around ! , fordy:goodjob:

I believe DE kills soft bodied worms; larvae. I wouldn't try it.

Today my son mowed the back 2 and we found several little mounds. ugh. Then we moved an old wringer washer I had on the back porch (haha)... and when the boys took the wringer head off it was loaded with wasp nests and the biggest wasps I've ever seen. (We grow 'em good here.) We waited until they weren't so ----ed off and poured lamp oil on the nest and burned it. Worked good! lol. Then they were hanging around the wringer washer I use thinking it was the old one, I guess.

They congregated up above the washer in the rafters. I think there must have been fifty or more. Finally I called my neighbor and he killed them dead with Raid.

What a summer. We had so much rain, it seems every day. Now it's dry. Bug heaven.

:)

digApony

My husband was mowing the grass one time and was going to move the kids' swing set. When he jiggled it hundreds of wasps came flying out of one of the end poles. I've never seen him run so fast!
In our new house we noticed a couple of wasps flying around so we told the exterminator. They found yellow jacket nest behind five of our shutters.

Proven ant killer solution!
 

The best and cheapest ant killer that I have ever used is Basic H. It was originally made over 50 years ago as a multi-purpose cleaner but it immediately kills those pesky ants! And I can use it anywhere because it is non-toxic. www-help-me-get-rid-of-ants.com :buds:

I used Basic H years ago, but not for ants. This may be something MARYDVM to consider.

Thanks,

digApony

I'll have to admit that after all settled down, I kinda felt sorry for them. They kept looking for their nest and never stung us, which they had plenty of opportunity to do so.

I just don't like them. I am allergic to bees and I don't know about wasps. I've had them in the swing set before and my son got stung several times all at once while playing; so you never know.

digApony

Best stuff I have found for killing the mound which is what you want to do. You sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of the powder on the mound and leave it be. Do not water it in. The ants take the powder down to the queen and in a couple of days the mound dies.

You do not want the mound to "move" which is what they will do if not completely killed off. I have a farm in Ga. and every once in a while I have to deal with a fire ant mound or ten (yes they can multiply that fast). Stay away from the mound, those things can swarm you and cause an allergic reaction if you are even slightly allergic to bee stings, etc.

I've tried everything having dealt with the problem for more than 30 years living in GA. I have figured out that you learn to sort of live with them and if they are located in an area where there is little traffic, I ignore them (in the woods, etc.). If they are in the yard or in the paddocks or anywhere around the barn, I am going to do my best to get rid of them. Especially if you have littles that can possible toddle into the mound, make it your primary mission in life to get rid of the mounds.

Here is a good source of info:

http://www.extension.org/pages/11004...ntable-version

I read where the UT Extension Service here is assisting farmers in destroying fire ants. I think I will call them and see if they can help.

Thanks. I bought the Bengal's Fire Ant Killer.

I'm going to try that first.

digApony :)