Hi all, I’ve been trying to cope with a fire ant nest I discovered in my backyard, I know they are fire ants and not pavement ants, Red body brown butt and two sizes big and small. The nest in under the pavers making surface soil treatments not possible, and they have multiple entry points in the nest area. Tried a multi spectrum spray, just annoyed the. Diatomaceous earth also seems to just annoy them. I have tried borax powder over the entries but I just read that won’t work I’m going to need to trick them into eating it for the borax to work. So anyone have any remedies, mixes or ideas. I want these little %$^#@ gone because they are aggressive and they bite!
Vic, I have had good luck with this stuff https://www.homedepot.com/p/AMDRO-5-lbs-Kills-Fire-Ants-Yard-Treatment-Bait-100511025/204020090
Bob, is that a lawn surface treatment or can it be spot applied over holes?
I have usually just ‘fed the ants’ at their mounds. Just toss a hand full around the mound. They take it down and feed the queen which, as I understand it, sterilizes her and no more ants. It does sometimes take a day or two depending on the size of the mound.
YOU CAN’T GET RID OF THEM, all you can do is move them around, if you have a close neighbor hopefully they will go to their yard. All the stuff you purchase to kill them doesn’t work, or if it works it doesn’t work very well, every time it rains here we have hundreds of new up cropping of them, we try to move then off the property, but when you have as much land as we do, good luck.
trainman
Vic;
Not recommending this, but I remember watching a video on YooToob where some guys poured molten aluminum into the nest. Got rid of the ants and made a beautiful freeform sculpture once they were done! Probably should not have mentioned it to the guy who shows Gomez Adams blowing up his trains in every post. Oh, well you will decide what is best.
Pyrotechnically yours, David Meashey
That I just had to Google!
University of Redlands
University of Redlands students work with Dustin VanOverbeke, biology professor, and Raúl Acero and Qwist Joseph, studio art professors, to create an aluminum cast of an underground colony of invasive fire ants. Biology students, who are studying insects in the area, were responsible for discovering the colony in the field next to the art building, Ann Peppers Hall. The aluminum cast will be on display in Hedco Hall, the site of many biology classes.
scalding hot water
That’s a very cool video! I have had to deal with fire ants in Oklahoma and Florida. There are very good poisons that the ants carry back to the colony and destroy it.
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When I was young, my Grandfather’s Farm had many Red Ant hills. These could literally kill a full grown steer. My Uncles’ solution was to poor a ring of gasoline around the main hole about a foot out and light it. The ants outside the ring would run toward the flames to get back to the nest and the ants in the nest would run toward the flames trying to escape. Sometimes, the ring of dead ant carcasses would be a couple of inches tall when it was all over. Terror for the ants, but useful and utilitarian for the farmer and exciting for a 12 year old boy, with his 20 something uncles.
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Nasty little buggers.
I use any product that the active ingredient is called “Spinosad”
Funny name but look it up.
Dennis
Can’t you just let the “nicer” ants take care of things?(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
Dennis Cherry said:
is called “Spinosad”
That’s the movement thing in The Game of Life isn’t it?
Update: Online I read mentioned many times Ortho Orthene and another Amdro, I was able to get Orthene, put it out Friday night, much diminished activity the next day, as of this morning I am fairly satisfied that the mound is dead. Hopefully the little bastards don’t spring up elsewhere, but if they do I have the atomic weaponry to deal with them.
Vic Smith said:
Update: Online I read mentioned many times Ortho Orthene and another Amdro, I was able to get Orthene, put it out Friday night, much diminished activity the next day, as of this morning I am fairly satisfied that the mound is dead. Hopefully the little bastards don’t spring up elsewhere, but if they do I have the atomic weaponry to deal with them.
I don’t know how well it works, but boiling water is at least satisfying, as you can see the little suckers be suddenly not very satisfied with that location.
Double post.
As of today there has been no activity noted, I hopefully can claim successful eradication. This stuff works.
Vic Smith said:
As of today there has been no activity noted, I hopefully can claim successful eradication. This stuff works.
Check the rest of the yard for new mounds.
Fire ants will move the colony.
Vic Smith said:
As of today there has been no activity noted, I hopefully can claim successful eradication. This stuff works.
Check the rest of the yard for new mounds.
Fire ants will move the colony.
So far no new mounds, I think I got this one before it could move, but I can’t say about my neighbors, I warned the ones I’m one good speaking terms with to be on the lookout.