FIRE ANTS

[mred2]

Anyone have good ideas on what to do about fire ants. I think I have a mound every 6 feet in my pasture. You hay guys in the south have to have something.

 

[oosik]

There are several posts here on TBN regarding fire ants and their control. Go to the top of this page - click on search. When it opens - type in - fire ants - in the line item "key words". This will bring up many threads/posts for your review.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I resorted to walking around and sprinkling this on each mound.... I don't know of a good way. Hopefully I learn a better way on this thread....

 

[5030]

I remember years back picking up a load of meat at MBPXL in Texas and parking near a mound and the suckers tried to invade my truck. They are nasty... I moved pretty quick. Diesel is a pretty good deterrent.

 

[newbury]

Diesel and a lit match.

 

[5030]

Big issue here are yellow jackets and they are just as nasty. They will stitch you in a second and I love exterminating them as well. It's a night time thing. They cannot see at night so they are holed up in the nest and along I come with my pump sprayer filled with good old diesel again and let them have it. Don't have to light it, just soak the nest at the entrance and watch them drop.

Had one nest in the side of the house over the deck. I set up my shop vac with the nozzle right by their entrance and when it became light, I turned it on and sucked thousands into the vacuum which I had soapy water in the bottom. Let it run until no more came out and dumped the carcasses in the road out front.

 

[AWSubie]

Bifen IT. Mix 1 oz per gallon of water.

About a half gallon of the mix per mound.

Bifen is a “persistent” insecticide so as long as it doesn’t rain too much it will continue to be effective for a month or two.

 

[alexpops]

I've got dogs & a fishpond, so I try to use as little poison as possible. I'll usually start with a sugar/20 mule team borax mix dumped on the mounds and around them. If they move the mounds too often, I get fed up & hit them with a sprayer loaded with Taurus SC and/or Bifen IT. The sugar/borax works 70-80% of the time, the Taurus/Bifen works 100% for me.

 

[MasseyFerg231]

Go to YouTube and look up Anthill Art. Link below.

You can start a second career!
My dad put something on them in our yard in about 1980 and they never came back. Couldn’t have been very Enviromentally friendly.

 

[oosik]

Impressive.

 

[stuckmotor]

The fire ant populations here comes and goes. I think it has to do with the parasite that turns them into zombIes. Currently the ants in decline in my pasture. I've read that SC has a breeding population of the parasitic flies.
If I line my round bales up so the ends don't touch it keeps the little buggers from nesting over half way up to stay dry. They still get around the bottoms of some bales.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/u-s-scientists-fight-fire-ants-with-parasite-that-makes-them-zombies-1.843231

 

[AWSubie]

Go to YouTube and look up Anthill Art. Link below.

You can start a second career!
My dad put something on them in our yard in about 1980 and they never came back. Couldn’t have been very Enviromentally friendly.

Oddly, satisfying to watch!

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

Just came across this:

Splenda’s molecular structure is similar to that of DDT. Sprinkle it around the mound. The ants love it. Once they eat it, sayonara!

 

[newbury]

Splenda’s molecular structure is similar to that of DDT.

read further:
linky

In Conclusion

Sucralose and DDT are not chemically similar. Sucralose is safe to consume. Do not eat DDT.

It might work, then again might not.

 

[Deere Dude]

Bifen IT. Mix 1 oz per gallon of water.

About a half gallon of the mix per mound.

Bifen is a “persistent” insecticide so as long as it doesn’t rain too much it will continue to be effective for a month or two.

I tried that with my 25 gallon tractor sprayer. I had 3-4 acres peppered with mounds. I just drove around and saturated a 3 foot diameter over each mound. Just to make sure the queen at the botttom gets toasted I stick the wand in as far as it will go, up to 18" deep. Saturated the whole mound basically. That took care of ants for the year, but they start coming back because you can't get them all. I need to do that every year at least once.

 

[WM75Guy]

Best I hope for is I run them off to the neighbor's property. Amdro will work for a little while. Orthene is the same. After a hard rain they are washed away, although then it is easy to spot new mounds.

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

read further:
linky

It might work, then again might not.

That was off an Eco-friendly ant control site so who knows, never seen a Fire Ant myself.

 

[RoninB4]

Might not stay long but I've always used a good strong soapy solution of Dawn liquid and water. Works on those big European/Asian hornets we sometimes get around here. If the solution doesn't start killing them inside of 10 seconds you need more Dawn liquid. Non-toxic, cheap, available everywhere. By the bucket or in a pump spray bottle. For the fire ants get a shovel full turned over until you see eggs. Moving quickly to complete the task is advisable.

 

[murse72]

Extinguish fire ant killer works but it is not cheap.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I have been treating fire ants on athletic fields for many years. There are several key points to consider for fire ant control.

1. Treat when fire ants are active. That usually occurs when temps are warm, but not excessively hot.
2. Treat the entire area, not just individual mounds. There will always be small mounds that you will not see.
3. Ants will begin moving back in from untreated areas fairly quickly. The larger area you treat, the longer it will take for them to invade it all again. This is somewhat dependent on the pesticide you use.
4. Some treatment options will last longer than others. Fipronil will last longer (up to a year) is more expensive, and is more specific to certain species. Bifenthrin won't last as long, but will kill many more insects, such as mosquitoes, and army worms, and is less expensive.

I usually use bifenthrin because I like that it gets mosquitoes. There are other options.

Please always read and follow the label on any pesticides you use.