FIRE ANTS

[Tony H]

Borax 20 mule power soap. It affects the nervous system on ants.

 

[Paul in TN]

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.

If you’re going to use Biden don’t spray anything above the ground. Preferably use a pourable mix with little or no wind. Airborne it’s deadly to bees. Even in small amounts.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

My long-departed grandfather would tell about something called cynagas. Probably highly illegal; but the stories about what it killed were impressive!

 

[Gord Baker]

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 Environmentally friendly.

Nicely done on the Casting.

 

[JohnboyM]

Use the old Texas 2 step- works great in the piney hills of North Louisiana
Extinguish Fire Ant Bait broadcast in spring- then destroy the survivors with Surrender Powder
Each year the population dwindles
My 3 cents worth...

 

[rv7charlie]

A long time ago, a friend here in MS had relatives that ran cattle. They were getting frustrated with the county agent, who wasn't helping with their fire ant problem quickly enough. They mentioned it to a relative who is an entomologist. He asked them how much they were paying their vet to de-tick the cows, and said that if they left the fire ants alone, they wouldn't have the de-ticking expense. Supposedly, they now ban the county agent from spreading ant poison. No way to know the veracity of that tale, but I can say that I've had tick problems in some areas of my rural residential property, and when fire ant nests appear in those areas, the ticks disappear....

I now kill the ants when they're around walking areas, or if there will be a lot of people in the yard, but otherwise, I leave them alone.

 

[JethroB]

I posted this on another thread:

I remember the attempts to eradicate or control fire ants here in South Georgia in the 70’s. Crop dusters or planes would fly over dropping Mirex bait over the county. You would get pelted if standing outside. It was ground up corncobs soaked with the Mirex chemical. The county extension office gave out free small bags of it. Mirex was later outlawed as really bad stuff, like chlordane.

I have good luck with Amdro around the yard. Treat the individual mounds followed by the broadcast Amdro version for larger yard area. I expect I have many hundreds of mounds if not thousands across 100 acres. No treating them all, just learn to watch where you step, if my foot hits a soft spot I move it quickly. The mounds make a nice “whumph” and shudder when hit by the rotary cutter.

 

[RancherGuy]

I thank everyone for the information. Still not sure the best way to go,
At my age, I will not be walking around the pasture putting anything out. A sprayer behind my tractor may be something I could work with, but the cost of the spray?

I have made the following discoveries.

1) I have a 10' wide back blade with side plates (like a box blade) and gauge wheel. In past years, I find that when the soil is dry, winter is over, and grass has not started growing, I can methodically scrape the ground surface to kill them mechanically. I collect enough mound soil so that the soil rolls in front of the blade. The rolling action kills the little suckers. Unfortunately very few people have such a tool.

2) I have discovered that 12 months a year, when it rains the ants move to the top of their mounds to avoid drowning. At this point, driving over mounds with your tractor tires will kill because their little bodies will get stuck in the mud or moist soil. 90+% effective. The soil does not have to be muddy - damp is good enough, say the day after a 1 inch rain. Lots of grinning take place in the tractor seat with each bump.

 

[MasseyFerg231]

chlordane

That’s what my dad used.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

I had my place changed over from Agricultural Exempt for Timber to Wildlife Management, mainly because I didn't want to harvest trees should the taxman get picky. A wildlife biologist I had out to help develope the required plan I needed to submit, suggested Extinguish® Plus because it can be applied to grass forage (pastures and rangeland). It ain't cheap, but it goes a long way it you don't go crazy with it

 

[EddieWalker]

A long time ago, a friend here in MS had relatives that ran cattle. They were getting frustrated with the county agent, who wasn't helping with their fire ant problem quickly enough. They mentioned it to a relative who is an entomologist. He asked them how much they were paying their vet to de-tick the cows, and said that if they left the fire ants alone, they wouldn't have the de-ticking expense. Supposedly, they now ban the county agent from spreading ant poison. No way to know the veracity of that tale, but I can say that I've had tick problems in some areas of my rural residential property, and when fire ant nests appear in those areas, the ticks disappear....

I now kill the ants when they're around walking areas, or if there will be a lot of people in the yard, but otherwise, I leave them alone.

I have fire ants all over my place in East Texas. I also have plenty of ticks. One of the excuses that I tell myself for getting guieneas is that they eat ticks. I'm not sure how many they eat, I haven't seen any sore of decline in ticks, but I do have a lot fewer grasshoppers, so there's that.

I was told that chiggers where a problem here before fire ants took over. I've never been bit by a chigger here, but I have been tore up by them in the Hill Country near Kerrville TX. If fire ants are keeping chiggers away, then I'm good with fire ants. At least I can spot their mounds and avoid them!!

 

[rScotty]

Between chiggers and fire ants I'll take the ants.

 

[5030]

Starting to get itchy reading along.

 

[Big Blue Florida]

Have heard of a mixture of soapy warm water & urine.
It's from an old manual for keeping chemicals out of the soil which is being used for food growing plants.

Now we don't recall the original % or mixture rating but we use 25% urine to 75% warm soapy water (Dawn).

We do recall the suggestion that one's first morning urine had the best effect.

As so far at the tick control for here, will add that after nearly all the pine trees were removed the dogs stayed nearly tick free.

The weed Dog Fennel seems to have some positive effect on other bugs/insects as well in the pasture.

No longer are there horses or beef cattle here for around us, so neighbors don't usually concern themselves, regarding to pasture health.

 

[Doughknob]

You all do realize that nothing exists to eradicate fire ants, right? People have been working on that for decades, maybe even centuries. They can be driven from one local spot to another but that is it.

If you poison them, your neighbors will simply have more of them. And if you ever stop the poisoning they will come back. It is a never ending battle man cannot win……

 

[Big Blue Florida]

We live off of our well water. It is changing for the worst. We get it tested yearly by folks who sell water treatment system.

Adding any fuel to the soil or nearly any strong chemical will back fire on all of us.

Even your city water supply has a working system that must counteract the massive fuel spills, oil dumping etc done regularly by anyone or lazy companies trying to save a handling fees.

Have listened to some who enjoy saying that our Florida sand is a natural filter. This is indeed correct but this natural filter system is not equipped to handle the un-natural distilled petroleum disposal by dumping into our soil to soak out of sight.

Not meaning to side track this good question about Fire Ant Problems started by the OP. However we must consider what is the long term effect of what we're doing.

 

[Big Blue Florida]

I wonder if they live when the ground freezes hard.

 

[jyoutz]

I wonder if they live when the ground freezes hard.

I don’t think that fire ants occur in cold climate areas.

 

[TCowner]

It's minus 19 degrees in Hayward Wisconsin this morning but not a sign of any of these stinging, or biting or whatever damage they do to human/animal flesh.

 

[lman]

I don’t think that fire ants occur in cold climate areas.

Thank goodness no. That makes our snow and 0 degree temperatures feel better.