Getting Rid of Fire Ants

[Puddy73]

Can anyone recommend a relatively non-toxic method of getting rid of fire ants? DD and the dog run all over the yard, so I'm afraid to use the insecticides that we've used in the past.

If you live in the North and have no idea what a fire ant is, count your blessings!

Jennifer
Mommy to Annabelle 9/08/03 & Finn 10/31/05

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." - Jimmy Buffett

[tarabenet]

For most things, I go as non-toxic as possible. For fire ants (and any ants), though, I just go straight to the Amdro. It is a bait, so you only need to use a tiny bit, which just feels better to me than anything I have to broadcast over my whole yard. I store the plastic shaker container in the garage, in a large zip-lock bag for a little extra security.

To me, those fire ant stings are bad enough, especially with the sort of swarming thing, to make it worth getting rid of the little monsters the quickest, surest way. I have tried another method, though, that works but is a lot of trouble. The organic choice is to boil them -- you pour boiling water all through the mound and kill all the ants. The problem is that mounds go deep, so you have to keep digging and digging and turning the soil to get to more parts of the mound and pour on more water. It takes a lot of boiling water and a lot of digging. Remember that when you see two fire ant mounds close within a few feet of each other, they are the same mound, connected underground, so you'll be digging all through that area. The other down side to this method is that you aren't supposed to work soil when it is sloggy wet, which it will be, because doing so packs the dirt and removes the aeration space, so it is hard for the grass or whatever to re-grow there. See why I go the lazy Amdro route? :)

Good luck getting rid of those things -- I hate them. Oh: meanwhile, treat stings immediately with ammonia or with GoJo hand cleaner to help neutralize the sting. It really helps.

[Puddy73]

Thanks for the tips about the boiling water and the ammonia! I'll give the water a try before I drag out the Amdro. If I can convince our coward dog to chase away the moles and the armadillos, we might have a usuable yard again!

Jennifer
Mommy to Annabelle 9/08/03 & Finn 10/31/05

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." - Jimmy Buffett

[JTsMom]

This isn't non-toxic either, but... there is this stuff called Terro. It's a liquid, and it doesn't have a smell or anything to it. You put a couple of drops on a piece of cardboard, and the ants take it back to the queen, killing the whole colony. It literally takes a couple of drops, so you can easily put it up high enough that your daughter and dog can't get at it. I would try to keep it near where you see the ants, but you could probably put it up in a tree, or tape it to a windowsill or something. I know Home Depot carries it. It's a little bottle in an orange box.

[kimbe]

You could try contacting your local County Extension Agent. They should be able to help you! I worked in an Entomology Department and they had an Extension person in the department that was there to answer those types of questions! HTH!

Edited to add:
I checked your profile to see if you listed what state you were from...here is a page that might help!

http://www.ent.uga.edu/extension.htm

[Laurelsmom2002]

I have heard of sprinkling grits - they eat them- it swells and they explode. I haven't tried it- I do the toxic method

[samsonsmom]

I tried grits and I think they ate them, but they didn't die. :(

[caheinz]

There's some good info on Fire Ants here:

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/fireants/faq.html

There's a question in the FAQ that specifically deals with what chemicals to use and how to use them. Some cool ideas:

1. Bait your yard with pieces of hot dog to see which ant species come. You don't actually want to get rid of the non-fire ants, and knowing where they are will help you to place the chemical baits in the right places.

2. Use a specific chemical bait rather than a general aerosol. No need to kill the native ants, and limits the toxins in your yard.

3. If you coordinate with your neighbors you can actually get rid of all the fire ants in the area, and not have to worry as much about reinvasion. (This is actually a cool idea!)

The guy who did this, Larry Gilbert, is an acquaintance... he's a good guy! He's actually working on flies that attack the ants, but it looks like they aren't a solution for a homeowner just yet. (Not enough flies to go around...)