Mowing anthills

[Richard]

We get some mounds, but I don't think we get them as bad as some other places. That said, I go out of my way while using flexwing or if I'm on backhoe, to aim for them and drive over them with front tire. They come swarming out and then the rear tire gets to run over them.

I'm not fooling myself to think I'm getting rid of them or putting a dent into them.... I just call it harassment.

Not to sound too much like Jeffery Dahmer.... but I've always wondered..."if I took a propane or MAP gas hand torch, poked their mound so they come swarming out.....how many could I fry?" Would they keep coming, down to the last ant? (doubt it)

So I just sprinkle Amdro when I have it with me. I'm intrigued that someone built a sprayer into their mower as I've thought about that. Sort of a 'drop spreader' that you might use for your garden but fill it with Amdro with some way to activate it on/off..... go cut farm and apply as necesary.

 

[strantor]

I’ve read where I can encourage the ants to move by repeatedly disturbing their mounds (scraping them to ground level with my box blade)… so that’s in my future plans, but there’s always that one hill I don’t see hovering around in the back of my mind.

Who wrote that? I'm betting they also have simple solution to end global hunger and war.

I also thought about bolting a heavy piece of angle iron to the front of my batwing so it hits the ant hills before the blades do, and it pushes the ant hill over. The weight of the mower should allow the angle iron to act like a dozer blade. Or something along that line of thought.

I am not afraid to mow ant hills on my ZTR mower because the thing vibrates like what must a world-ending cataclysm for the ants. They have zero chance of crawling up the mower deck and onto the frame, up my pants leg and nip my sack. I am safe up there. But any kind of scraper would give them something to hitch a ride on. Of the thousands that make the boarding call, one of them will find its destination in my groin; this is guaranteed by the cosmos.

I'm squarely in the "just mower the bastards" camp.

 

[diesel85]

We get some mounds, but I don't think we get them as bad as some other places. That said, I go out of my way while using flexwing or if I'm on backhoe, to aim for them and drive over them with front tire. They come swarming out and then the rear tire gets to run over them.

I'm not fooling myself to think I'm getting rid of them or putting a dent into them.... I just call it harassment.

Not to sound too much like Jeffery Dahmer.... but I've always wondered..."if I took a propane or MAP gas hand torch, poked their mound so they come swarming out.....how many could I fry?" Would they keep coming, down to the last ant? (doubt it)

So I just sprinkle Amdro when I have it with me. I'm intrigued that someone built a sprayer into their mower as I've thought about that. Sort of a 'drop spreader' that you might use for your garden but fill it with Amdro with some way to activate it on/off..... go cut farm and apply as necesary.

Get some molten metal and make a casting... lol

 

[oosik]

I wonder - is flattening the ant hills really going to solve the problem. OR is it just a band-aide. My way of thinking - first you must eliminate the ants and THEN flatten their hills.

Ants can be very much like beavers. They will build back as fast as you tear down.

 

[S854]

As far as getting rid of the ants, I’m going to try the “borax” solution (no pun intended) before mowing…

My primary concern with the ants and their mounds is: if I mow one over, is the flail going to throw them forward far enough to where i will be covered with the pissed off little creatures?

I’ve seen videos of flail mowers in action… they disburse the chopped up vegetation evenly out the back… I’m wondering if ants, and their granular mounds, decide to not follow the “exit signs” and, instead, scatter everywhere, with some of them hurling forward towards my tractors open operators station…

In my OP I related a story from my childhood where I did get covered with ants being thrown by a power mower… almost 60 years later that’s the only thing I remember about operating “machinery”… obviously it made an impression and I really don’t want to relive that epic saga…

 

[jonsstihl]

depends which way your flail rotates standard rotation or reverse.

 

[S854]

i believe it’s a reverse rotation (same rotation as a pull-behind tiller)…

which, I also believe, is not a good thing as far as flung-ants go…

 

[alexpops]

50/50 borax & sugar mixed & dumped on/around the mound knocks them down for me. As far as mowing, I just run over with the zt. When the borax doesn't do the job enough, talstar or temprid in a sprayer takes care of them. YMMV

 

[oosik]

Wish I could get rid of my pocket gophers with some type of spray. I will be addressing this "opportunity" later this year.

 

[alexpops]

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Have you tried any of these?

 

[mo1]

Wish I could get rid of my pocket gophers with some type of spray. I will be addressing this "opportunity" later this year.

Lead spray works well. I got the couple of them that got into a little dirt-floor shed I had a few years ago using that method.

In high school, we would dump a box of Tide into the town fountain, then come back the next day to check out the awesome bubbles.

Yeah, people would occasionally do that to the town fountain when I was growing up too. That was all fun and games until once the soap broke the fountain's pump. There were a couple of fountains on the college campus I went to and idiots would put soap or concentrated dye (or both) in them too. It also broke one of them. Sadly, that one stayed broken for a very long time.

 

[m1garand762]

I would dig a tiny hole and insert an m80 that will piss them off and hopefully they will move

 

[DaBear3428]

been mowing them my entire life with everything from a push mower to an rotary, no issues and a brush hog makes short work of them. they don't leave, they just move over. it will dull the blades but you will most likely hit other things that are much worse than the ant hill, at least i do.

 

[JethroB]

been mowing them my entire life with everything from a push mower to an rotary, no issues and a brush hog makes short work of them. they don't leave, they just move over. it will dull the blades but you will most likely hit other things that are much worse than the ant hill, at least i do.

And they can give the tractor via the mower a nice shudder when hit, particularly if wet. . I use a mound to occasionally check the slipping of the PTO slip clutch. I agree they just maybe relocate their queen and proceed on doing their thing. (Fire ants here).