g'day snappybob,

and what is meant by "grits"?

for me if someone has fireants and this works well hey all anyone can do is try it doens't sound like it's going to cost an arm and a leg.

len

mail len

lens garden page

Grits are like corn-flour that is rough cut. Its made into a gruel type breakfast or brunch "cereal" along the lines of oatmeal. Its often served with butter and cheese, so more a savory dish.

Sounds good. like Pigeons exploding after weddings from eating the dry rice (ew!)

My fiance and I made a really easy ant bait recently - honey, water, and some borax soap- drop it on their feeding trail, and they eat it, and it crystalizes in their belly. never tried on fireants!

the grits is even safer tho, id try it!

A quick Google search would quickly reveal the grits/ants method as a myth. Unfortunately this grits tip keeps getting spread, even in books, although I'm not surprised by the author:

http://fireant.tamu.edu/materials/factsheets/FAPFS012.2002rev.pdf
"Applying instant grits or Malt-O-meal to dry soil around mounds is reported to have impressive results" (Garrett, H. 1993. page 140 in Howard Garrett's Texas Organic Gardening Book, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas, 245 pp.)."

In theory, the ants eat the grits which then swell and rupture the ants' stomachs. In fact, only the last stage of the developing fire ant is known to ingest solid food. All other life stages feed only on liquids, sugary solutions or greasy materials. Fire ant workers are physically incapable of ingesting solid food particles larger than 1.0 µm diameter in size (J. M. Petti, 1997. Proceedings of the 1997 Imported Fire Ant Research Conference).
Note: This method has not been shown to control fire ants."

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/HTML/FSA-7052.asp

That is a myth, an old wives tale, not worth repeating although it does regualarly. Check the link below for good, solid information about controlling fire ants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fire Ants

Grits = polenta,IOW, coarsely ground cornmeal, Len = J

I'm wondering whether there may be something to the technique - just not for the reason commonly stated.Since folks have found how cornmeal encourages beneficial bacteria in the soil, perhaps it's the interaction of corn grits w/ the soil, rather than interaction w/ the ants???

thanks carol,

what does len=j allude to?

len

= J

Look @ it sideways - tilt your head to the left.

= )

DRATS! I had hoped that we could go for a whole season without someone bringing up the grits myth! LOL!

We need to bury this one, along with 'birds exploding after eating rice'.

What are some other long-lived gardening or yardening myths? One of my favorites is about moles: some proclaim that a sure-fire method in killing moles is to stick thorny rose stems into their tunnels. The theory is that mole's blood does not coagulate and they bleed to death. (false...this is a complete myth)

I just gotta set the record.
Grits are not polenta.

As an italian-american and a southerner, I promise they taste way different. Grits are ground hominy and hominy is corn thats been slaked with lye to get rid of the husk, hull and germ leaving the white hominy. Polenta is just made from cornmeal and tasts different, more bitter than grits.

That said, I have put both grits and cornmeal on my garden, I have plenty of ants and fire ants and they all like eating both.

Oh hey Kris - I know the difference here in the USA between grits & polenta (a.k.a. yellow corn grits).

FWIW, I was just trying to define 'em for somebody outside the USA (Len is in Oz), where Southern grits may not be so easily found - or found @ all....

= )

Also FWIW - here's the definition from Epicurious.com's food dictionary:

**************
grits
Though it's now commonly used to mean "HOMINY grits," the term "grits" actually refers to any coarsely ground grain such as corn, oats or rice. Most grits come in a choice of grinds  coarse, medium and fine. Grits can be cooked with water or milk  usually by boiling or baking  and eaten as hot cereal or served as a side dish. See also GROATS.
*********

Carol,

I totally understand, though I'v never been to Oz, I remember my time in college in boston. No one had even eaten grits and you couldn't find em in the stores-good grief they were so missing out. LOL, I know many a southerner who would have words with epicurious about that definition ;) LOL. Thanks for the info though :)

Kristi

I had a bad fire ant problem and used grits to get rid of them. Granted it took a 3 or 4 rounds as the colony would move as (like I said) it was a big fire ant problem but it did get rid of them even when everything else on the market failed. Maybe the people who deny this was using quick grits I don't know but I do know it worked for me in my yard.Also I made sure the ground was completely dry with no rain in the forecast.

I meant to say instant grits not quick grits.