I have fire ants in my garden and need to know an organic way to get rid of them. Any ideas?
John Gerling
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| Fire Ants! https://www.dirtdoctor.com/efl/dirtDoctor/fire-ants-t8196.html |
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| Author: | jgerling [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Fire Ants! |
I have fire ants in my garden and need to know an organic way to get rid of them. Any ideas? John Gerling
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| Author: | Tricky Grama [ Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:28 am ] |
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Go to the home page, click on 'library' on the upper left, under 'A' is the fire ant solution. BTDT, it works! Patty |
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| Author: | kmbrandon [ Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:22 pm ] |
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I have tried using Equal (generic versions work too) on ant mounds after reading about the effects of aspartame in the weekly email a few weeks back. It really does seem to kill a mound overnight, plus it's virtually free. I pick up a couple packets everytime I go to a restaurant. 
Kevin |
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| Author: | countryboymom [ Fri May 09, 2008 1:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | more fire ant help |
I'm looking for some help sorting out the different fire ant remedies. My friend who got me started in organics recommended beneficial nematodes, so I did that first. I was afraid that I had let them die by not getting them watered in well during the first few days, but was amazed at the large mounds that I later found dead. I was treating almost an acre, so did more of a spot treatment and didn't get thorough coverage, so still have ant mounds developing. I have been using the garret juice and orange oil mound drench, which seems to work, but wonder if I am killing BN with the orange oil? Or maybe the presence of the ants in that area indicates that there aren't any BN there to kill? How do the spinosad products compare to the garrett juice and orange oil drench procedure? Or diotomaceous earth? Also, maybe I should broadcast dry molasses? I haven't worried about fertilizing the grass, because it is such a large area and the grass seems to grow well enough on its own - especially during mowing season! Thanks for any help with this. |
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| Author: | Dirt Doctor [ Sun May 18, 2008 9:03 am ] |
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The new Soil Mender DE really is incredible. Give it a try. |
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| Author: | northwesterner [ Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Battling fire ants and preparing to battle squash beetles |
I've poked through several pages of threads and don't find one that has answered this already. I have a variety of ants around the house that are a problem. Sugar ants raiding the kitchen are about under control now, but I seem to have fire ants in an odd nook under a boxed out window. I am also seeing a lot of both fire and sugar ants around my veggie garden and they're on some of the plants. My question is twofold: I'm trying to treat the ants (I'll try the instant grits mentioned on the program last week) but I also want to prevent problems in the vegetable garden--my squash always get attacked by the worms that get into the stems. I put two strips of tricogramma wasps on two sides of the house and those darned ants denuded the cards. I spotted the first card almost empty within an hour and moved the other away from where I thought ants were foraging. But the next day I found the outside contingent of the sugar ants finishing off the eggs on the card. I'm going to have to figure a setup to keep ants from reaching the card on the stake (vaseline may figure in this) but I wonder--will those wasps hatch in the ant nest, or were they consumed by the ants already? Will the wasps get the final revenge? Northwesterner |
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| Author: | raubritter [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
I've had great overnight success with Green Light fire ant control with Conserve. It's a spinosad-based product that fire ants find irresistable. Also had good indoor results with Safter Ant and Roach Killing Powder. It's boric-acid based and also kills roaches which is nice. But this took a few days, possibly because it was an indoor problem and there wasn't a mound to apply it to, just trails of fire ants. This being said, fireants kill ticks and I'd much rather have a few fireant mounds than ticks so we leave them alone in the pastures and only treat them when they get too close to a tree or the house. |
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| Author: | northwesterner [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
A lot of time has passed since I asked that question, and I've gone ahead and answered it myself for a few folks! I use that fine grain diatomaceous earth and have good luck. I think Spinosad is good also, but I have this problem with buying a product for as much as that costs and reading the label in which it is clear that 99.9 % of the contents are inert ingredients! I'd like to know a little more about getting a little more concentrated application and using it differently, perhaps. |
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| Author: | DanD [ Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:12 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
Aside from corn removing ants by carrying fungus that kills the ants fungus (their food supply). I just have to add that a fungus, M. anis, attacks fire ants. They eat it and spread it through their den's food supply by burping some back up into their food stores, where they grow fungus, then a few days later mushrooms burst out of their heads killing them all. I like this idea better than just starving them to death, the exploding head just seems like justice for all the ant bites.. If you want to know more search for the TED video of Paul Stamets.. |
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| Author: | CHF3 [ Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
Quote: then a few days later mushrooms burst out of their heads killing them all. LOL, visions of Alien vs Predator here... nice! I gotta try this one as the idea of those little #&#*$() heads exploding is just so delicious. ...not that I am a habitually barefoot, vengeful SOB or anything. FWIW I heard several years ago on the radio show that the more biologically active your soil is, the less fireants enjoy it because the microbes annoy them the way they annoy me. I get 1-2 mounds per year on my property now and generally get good results spraying my normal molasses/compost tea mixture in the area. Will be interested to see how much they have acclimated to the cold this year, I'm hopeful that the colder than normal winter might have pushed back their northern progress a bit. |
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| Author: | lapaloma [ Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
CHOPPED UP orqange peels has worked for me TEN years,..and, orange oil when you need to do a crack in the driveway,..NOW using Ameriking orange oil cleaner,...."L" |
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| Author: | produce guy [ Sat Apr 24, 2010 7:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
There's a product from Terro,it's liquid boric acid and it works on those little black ants and it's cheap.
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| Author: | haybailer [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
Use liquid Blackstrap molasses. 1 quart in 3 quarts of water shake to mix. Use as a spot treatment. I spray my pastures 4 times a year with molasses at 1/2 gallon per acre a long with other fertilizer. I have NO FIRE ANTS. All in my neighbors pasture. |
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| Author: | user_48634 [ Wed May 12, 2010 9:40 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Fire Ants! |
Just a reminder to not use products with boron outdoors unless you have had a soil test. Boron is one of the micro-nutrients needed for everything, but there is a very sudden threshold where further additions will kill plants. |
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