The first drawback I can think of is doing anything at all that would encourage fire ants in my yard. We fight them all the time and suffer bad bites frequently. And the dogs aren't immune to their attacks. I'm all for the natural approach, and adding beneficial insects like ladybugs is great, but I don't think I'm going to feed fireants. Nope. Just not gonna do it. I say, let 'em starve and the faster the better! Try one of those thuricide products with the microbes or whatever it is, instead, maybe. Something that will eat your bugs without eating you.

Just my thoughts........assuming you aren't just kidding about the ants.

Marcia

Out of the frying pan into the fire. --Sorry, I couldn't resist.

LOL!!
Well, I am constantly battling them in my yard, so here is one area I am willing to acquiese on. I should be able to keep them confined in my garden...well I think I can.

I know you can buy lady bugs, but wont they fly away? I am willing buy them..just dont want to throw 9 bucks (ace hardware sells them here) out the window if I open the container and they all fly over my fence or something.

Right after you seed your garden with Fire Ants, consider adding some rattlesnakes to take care of the rats. Hey, at least you'll know where they are!

Actually, I'd rather have the rattlesnakes, all things considered. At least they don't really WANT to bite me, and they WILL sound an alarm. The fire ants just come swarming silently over your feet without so much as a by-your-leave, biting like things possessed, which I'm fairly sure they ARE. Evil, evil, evil! Right up there with deer flies.

Now Jukes, I'm curious as to how you will accomplish your goal, here...how are you going to get the fire ants to eat what YOU want them to, instead of what THEY want to? Carry them over one by one? Try to move the whole mound? Catch the bugs and drop them in the fire ant mound? (In which case, you could just SQUISH the offenders.) Seriously, I'm trying to picture how you are going to implement this plan? You have piqued my curiosity. And a healthy dose of skepticism, I might add...but hey, I'm no expert. Maybe you're on to something. Tell us how you are going to go about it.

Marcia

Interesting question you have...

On regards of the ladybugs... I try not to use insecticides and as long as there is food for them I will have many ladybugs in my yard.. in fact.. I think too many (they get inside the house, I don't mind but my wife does..)

I have never purchased ladybugs.. but there they are... and I live in a 2 year old house (with all new yard as well) and I have had ladybugs (many) for 1 1/2 years...

I do however have other bugs issues, so I would like to hear of your theory...

Best regards

my initial thought was to bring part of a colony (scoop it up) with a shovel and place it in one part of the garden.
Yes, I am aware they are very aggressive and multiply. I also understand that I would have to manage their population if they starting growing out of control.

Please note that I was asking if anybody has tried this and wanted to get feedback.. I wasnt planning on running out and doing it today

While IMO fire ants are the bane of the Florida outdoors and it's beyond me why someone would intentionally put them in a place you dig and play in, I do applaud you for trying to come up with an alternative solution to pest problems. Especially one that is natural to our environment. Some of the best ideas started in just the same way with a crazy little 'hmmm, I wonder if this would work...' But I think maybe this idea should be shelved. You never know if your next idea will revolutionize pest problems though! Like the way Al's soil ideas have done with container gardening. I love hearing of new ways to do things and the different ways people do the same thing. Really gets you thinking of possibilities. Anyways, good luck with the lettuce worms and Lady bugs if you're going to try that route!
Sarah

I agree that it's good you are trying to think outside of the box, and I apologize for poking a bit of fun at the idea. I AM doubtful you would get the results you hope for, but it doesn't hurt to consider the possiblity and ask for opinions. I've never heard of anyone doing anything like this before, and I will be interested in your results if you do decide to try it.

One thing though...just for general info...fire ants are not "natural to our environment," at least not the Florida environment. They are invasive exotics which weren't around when I was growing up here, and that is why they've become such a problem. I know folks who are new to the state think they have probably always been here, but nope. And boy do I long for that time when those mounds weren't all over the place!

Whatever you decide to do, good luck, Jukes. And let us know how it turns out.

Marcia

A large colony of fire ants can kill cats , dogs , calves , foals and smaller animals . They can be extremely dangerous to people who are highly allergic to the bites .
When I saw the title of this post I was thinking you meant putting them in a blender and using that as a natural insecticide on plants .

From UF :
Fire ant workers diet consists of dead animals, including insects, earthworms, and vertebrates. Workers also collect honeydew and will forage for sweets, proteins, and fats in homes. They are sometimes attracted to piles of dirty laundry.
Fire ants are omnivorous feeders, feeding on carbohydrates (e.g. honeydew, plant exudates, sugars, syrups), proteins (e.g. insects, meats), and lipids (e.g. grease, lard, oils from seeds).

Putting them in a blender works for me, Gatormom...I just got a BAD attack! My feet have large areas of neuropathy...numb spots...from surgeries and other problems. I was outside standing by my shed and sadly, by the time the ants reached a part of me that I could feel, they had swarmed over my both my feet and bitten me up quite badly!

First comes the Shrieking & Slapping Fire Ant Dance, followed immediately by the Cursing & Raving Dash To The House. Even the numb spots were burning by the time I raced in and got the ammonia. I will have some nasty places tomorrow! Right now, the thought of doing anything to encourage these miserable minions of Evil is NOT high on my To Do list! They even got the toe I just had operated on last week!!!!!

*going off, shaking fist at the sky and cursing all fire ants everywhere and their numerous progeny!!!*

Marcia

I was thinking what gatormom said.."putting them in a blender and using that as a natural insecticide on plants ."

I am with everyone else, I would never knowing put fire ants in my yard. I can't get rid of the ones I've got.

I certainly understand you wanting to go natural, but I would try some other way first.
Have you tried soapy water yet? It works on soft bodied insects. I prefer Kirks Castile soap. It doesn't burn my plants like some of the other soap mixtures do.
Good Luck,
Ariel
here is a post with how someone uses the soapy water mix.

"This year, the squash bugs in my garden never got a toehold. If you don't want to bomb them with petrochemicals like me, you have to work a little harder. I have a 1 quart spray bottle that I put 1/8th of a bar of Kirk's Castile bar soap (most supermarkets have it) into the spray bottle. First, I chip the 1/8th bar into smaller chips, then let it stand overnight. Before spraying, shake the bottle well. I have used as much as 1/4th of a bar... this is the ticket if you want to kill the adult bugs immediately, on contact. The last thing an adult squash bug does before it dies when sprayed with soap is lethargic flapping of its wings. When you see this, you can mark your spray bottle with a dead squash bug symbol. Squash bugs are less apt to fly away when the air temperature is below 80F.
I adjust the sprayer to a medium spray (not a mist like hairspray, nor a narrow stream... inbetween those two). I mist the entire plant and while I am spraying the undersides of leaves, I look for the eggs. They almost always are in the 'vee' of the leaf veins where they meet the leaf stalk. Spraying the eggs just makes the soap manufacturer richer... don't bother. Cut the portion of the leaf with the eggs with a small knife and be sure to either crush them or remove them to a sealed container and put it in the trash. Sometimes, out of laziness, I poke a hole into the soil with my thumb and shove the egg colony in it and then fill the hole. Sometimes the eggs are laid in a sort of line, up the leaf stalk. In any case, they must be removed from the garden or destroyed.
You have to do this often. I do it twice per week. While you're down there, be sure to look for signs of squash vine borers. Where the vine emerges from the soil to about 3" above there, look for yellow-orangeish goop or 'sawdust' (properly called 'frass'). Gently scrape the orangeish frass away until you see a hole. Dig those things out... they will do more harm than a bunch of squash bugs. They are relatively small, with a white body and a black or brown head."

Geez. A Florida without fire ants? They weren't always here? *sigh* growing up my legs and feet always had fire ant bites from running around barefoot all the time. As you can relate Manature! To the bit up feet part not the running around barefoot part. Unless you do, and that's okay too. I'm so sorry to hear about your attack. Nasty buggers. Makes you wonder how something so small can hurt so much! Why did you put ammonia on it? Does it stop the burn or just disinfect kind of? I hope the rest of your healing goes better and ant bite free.
Ariel, that sounds like some good info. I'm trying squash for the first time this season and all this talk of bugs! It's got me worried. Thanks.

I'm actually liking the idea of putting fire ants in a blender. I don't think it would do much as a pesticide, nor would it diminish the fire ant population by a noticeable amount, but there would be great personal satisfaction imagining their tiny little screams.
Fire ants are definitely evil.

Kate (who likes all creatures except for ants and camels)

You can have mine! PLEASE come and get my fire ants! Before they get me again. I have welts on my hand from pulling weeds in the wrong place.
How do you plan to keep them in your yard? The lot next to us is vacant. At some point the owner cut down all of the large foliage. Fire ants love the sun and open spaces. And they love to spread from there into my yard.

I saw an article about these ants that live in the rainforests of Brazil or somewhere. These guys tends aphids like we would cows or goats. They move them with the colony and when the rains come they actually put leaves over them to protect them so the rain doesn't knock them off the tree. And god help anything that tries to steal their aphids... It was almost sweet until you realize their bloody ants!

It was after that that I went into my yard and saw some poor annual I had that was covered in aphids and fire ants. I watched the fire ants and realized the little buggers were tending the aphids and collecting their honeydew! How is a lady bug supposed to do her job with fire ants all over them? I can only assume the fire ants will violently protect their honeydew source, same as those rain forest ants. Too bad they were no match for my clippers and a trash can...

As far as I'm concerned, the only good fire ant is a dead fire ant... But I suppose the question is whether any benefit they may bring to the table is enough to compensate for their annoyance. For me the answer is no: They bite and actively protect aphids.

If you're able to find any benefits Jukes I'd love to hear about it. Like if say they will keep the squirrels out of my yard... The little bastards are clawing up my plumeria trying to get to the bird feeder.

Wait a minute...hold the press...
Marcia,after the dance,no taking off all your clothes?
That is not fun for the casual observer.Rofl!!!
I have done that. In an emergency like that clothes are off.
I like the idea but only if I can put the "evil ant"
on a leash.
Felix

Mizadventure...you are obviously MUCHMUCHMUCH younger than I! (I'm ancient. Crone-like. OOOOOOOOLLLLD!!! Sixty-five, even though I don't feel or look a day over sixty-four!) Fire ants weren't introduced to Florida until some time in the 1950's, I think. And they didn't become a problem for a few years beyond that. But I ran barefooted everywhere as a kid (still do, inside) and never had a bite from a fire ant. The worst thing I had to contend with in those days were sandspurs! ARRRGGGGHHHHHHH.

Oh, and yes, ammonia is excellent first aid for many kinds of bites and stings. It cools them down and helps prevent them from becoming nasty sores later. I think it works by helping to neutralize the toxins. Of course, the only bottle I had on hand was Sudsy, which is ammonia mixed with detergent, so it wasn't quite as effective as regular ol' ammonia. However, my feet are much CLEANER than they were before.

Kate, I love the graphic and have saved it. And I, too, like the thought of hearing their tiny little screams, as they whirl round and round in the blender, while I tightly depress the Puree button for all it's worth, simultaneously screaming, "DIE, Minions of Evil...DIIIIIE!!!" at the top of my lungs. (Which, btw, are just about the only parts of my body NOT bitten by fire ants!)

Felix, mi hermano...if I took off all my clothes while doing the infamous Dance of The Fire Ants, I would scare away every lifeform in my backyard. Hmmmmm...that would include the afore-mentioned FIRE ANTS, wouldn't it? Pondering, here................

And lastly, Jukes...first I teased you about your question, then I was skeptical, then I thought I shouldn't discourage creative thinking. Now, after having considered the entire idea at length, while pouring a gallon of ammonia and a quart of calamine lotion on my chewed up feet, and I can only say this. In the words of the delightful Phoebe, from Friends: STOP THE MADNESS!! Don't do it, man! I fear you will regret it for the rest of your life, which could be much shorter than it ought to be, once your well-fed and strong fire ants have finished all the bugs on your 'maters and come looking for yoooooou!!! Run far, run fast...straight to the nearest garden center. Grab some natural treatments and sprays, or some Kirk's castile soap, and don't forget a 55-gallon drum of RAID for the fire ants. A much safer and less painful approach, methinks!

;o)
Marcia

Question for Kate...whats wrong with camels? My dog likes to chase ants and eat them...thank god we don't have fire ants in my yard. OHHH and on the natural pesticide....do you think anteaters can eat fireants?

Also we just bought some nematodes that are suppossed to take care of bad garden bugs and leave the good ones alone. Not sure if it will work on your bugs but you may want to look into it. I know the nematodes are supposed to get rid of fleas and other nasties.

Hi
On a similar pesticide note I just read that king Cobras will not only eat cane toads they actually prefer them!!! Maybe we should let some go??? No more toads lol gary

As per several articles from UF :

" There are two kinds of imported fire ants - red and black . The black imported fire ant was accidently introduced from South America into Mobile, Alabama, around 1918, and now infests a small area in Alabama and northern Mississippi.
The red imported fire ant entered the United States probably in the 1930s. It was most likely introduced with cargo or in the soil used as ballast in ships from South America that were unloaded in the Mobile area. In the 1940s and early 1950s the red imported fire ant spread to Florida and other southern states in nursery stock and sod. Fire ants currently infest over 260 million acres in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Puerto Rico ."

So , Marcia - you are spot on with your date of the 50's .

wow...I really have everyone's attention on this topic.. Sorry to hear about all of the bites people have gotten. I have lived in Florida of over 23 years and while I have had several bite me at one time, I have never been hit with swarms of them.
I know they are not native to florida (I believe they came from brazil), but I moved here in 1981 and have fond memories of them.
I like the idea of the soap..I will try that.

Trinigemini: I thought nemotodes were bad for the garden? Dont they attack roots or something... Once again, I am stating that this is my first year of vegetable gardening.

Jukes, I think we were all so astounded by the idea of feeding fireants that we forgot to give you a proper welcome. Or at least I did, anyway. So...welcome to Florida, to Florida Gardening, and to the Florida GW forum. You will have TONS of questions, I'm sure, and this is a pretty good place for some sound information. Hope you will enjoy posting here and will make many new friends.

Back to the natural pest controls for a moment. I have never tried Kirk's castile soap for insects, but it is very good for fungus and powdery mildew. I make it easier than the recipe above. I just drop a whole bar into a gallon of hot water. It will dissolve overnight, leaving you with a concentrate that you can then dilute into a spray bottle. I think it's about 1 cup of the concentrate for a quart of water to make your spraying solution. But you can vary the strength, depending on your needs. Experiment with it. It kills lots of stuff, very safely.

Also, there really is a product (help me here, folks...Thuricide, maybe?) that you can spray on various worms and caterpillars, and the microbes or whatever in it kills the insect with no harmful pesticide residue. Most garden centers carry it. As for the nematode product, there are helpful ones and bad ones. The bad ones mess up the roots of many garden plants, particularly tomatoes. The good ones go after fleas and other insects. I've heard good things about it. (Good luck, Trinigemini).

Gary, you are too funny!

Kate, I too am wondering what's wrong with camels?? Poor babies! I admire them greatly, though I wouldn't necessarily want one as a pet. For me...I hate fire ants, lubber grasshoppers, Cuban treefrogs that don't stay in Cuba, and deer/yellow flies. Camels, fine. Most everything else, I'm generally okay with, though I don't like to LOOK at hyenas & komodo dragons. Ugly, ugly, ugly!

See, Jukes...look what a strange group of folks we are here! Doncha just love it?

Marcia

What's wrong with camels? What's WRONG with camels???? Are you people serious? Oh, don't get me started. They are like a disgusting, mean, mutated form of the adorable humming llama. And that's just for openers! Have you ever smelled one? And they spit. And kick. And then there's that smell again, did I mention that?

Honestly, I don't even eat camel shaped animal crackers (this is true); those get fed to the dogs.

camels... eeeeuuuwwwwwwwww!

All this fireants in the blender talk has my stomach growling. But, I'm here for more of your thoughts on fireants, not new recipes.

I don't have fireants in my yard, and I don't do anything special to make it that way. Any thoughts on why I don't have this common ant problem? I don't even find the need to keep ant killer on hand.

My community is about 35 years old. My yard is typical, loose clay topped by loose sand topped by St. Augustine lawn in most areas. We use some brand of weed and feed once a year, and round-up for the aggressive weeds along the edges of beds/fences. We mow and handle lawn care with electric equipment. I irrigate with an inground system like that used for most lawns. I have a bird feeder, bird bath, and some flower beds, but no vegetable garden. I don't have dogs, but dogs do visit and leave droppings in my yard occasionally. My cats roam around in the back yard some part of each day. We have lots of the customary squirrels and birds. There are even a couple of peacocks that like to frequent our street, but not necessarily our yard. We do have an overabundance of those red insects that look like a cross between a beetle and a stink bug and mate like love bugs. You know the insect I'm talking about - TonyK used to complain about them all the time. They are prolific and very attracted to my neighbor's golden rain tree and, unfortunately, my wood fence. Hmmm, maybe it's those bugs???

ROFLMAO....Kate you are too funny. Sounds like you had some up close personal experiences with camels. I find them interesting. Those humps that hold the water. Again I would not want one as a pet but if I were in the desert I can think of no animals that would be more useful. :-)

Jukes if you go to the gardens alive website they have many beneficial insects. There are different types of nematodes which I learned only recently. Although even if they were the same ones that attack roots I think I would have to try them. I can't stand the fleas, and I heard they also devour palmetto bugs. I can always buy my tomatoes in the store :-)

I think Fireants are newveau and only like new developments (Just kidding). For me, the first two years were horrible with fireants..mounds everywhere. I have 50% bahia and 50% (st. Augustine in my front yard (dont ask, I plugged my yard last year to see if I could get around sodding and it worked pretty well, need to plug the rest soon) and they actually stay out of the st. augustine. I am going to re-sod my back yard with Floratam once the monsoon season comes.

Maybe they hate St. Augustine.

I think it's probably due more to the fact that your neighborhood controlled them at some point and it's stuck. When I first moved in 11 years ago my yard was full of them. We resorted to some strong chemical warfare and they left, but I had a next door neighbor who did nothing and it was a constant cycle of invasion/chemicals/clear yard/invasion...
Once my neighbor had a bad experience with them, he started working on them too. The change was so dramatic that we started talking it up and finally got several homeowners to apply ant killer the same weekend. I won't say that we never see them anymore but it's rare and The Big Kill was at least 4 years ago, maybe 5. If you live close to open fields or even golf courses, they'll just keep coming back. The people in my area who are directly on the golf course still have to treat their lawns every few months but as long as they do that, I don't have a problem with my yard.

Thanks, Kate. Your hypothesis sounds much more believable than my discovering some useful fire ant eating red insects.

As for camels, did you know those humps don't actually store water? They store fat, which the camel uses for nourishment in times of scare food supplies. Their humps can actually become limp and droop, then become humps again when the camel is properly nourished. Camels store their extra water in their bloodstream. Soooo, if all of us GWers happen to go on a desert safari together, and we are all ill prepared and dying of thirst, and we happen to run across a camel, we won't just be able to stab into the camel's hump and suck the water out like drinking from a cantina. We would have to drink some camel blood! Since you dislike them so much, you might be able to pull this off. The rest of us would probably just pass out. At least you would survive and be able to continue the Florida Gardening Forum here without us. LOL!

Hehehe...love your scenario, NM! And you are exactly right. The humps are comprised of fat. I'm working on the same theory as the camel...storing up reserves of fat to tide me through famine. I keep mine on my hips, mostly. When famine strikes, I'm just gonna get THIN. You skinny people with no fat reserves are gonna DIE! *snort*

Marcia

Yeah, I'm not in any danger of fading away myself! Hey, these economic times are tough and there's the drought to contend with too. Good storage facilities are important, especially for those of us given the task of surviving and carrying on the good name of the Florida Forum!

____________________________
Hey, I know! Maybe we can train the fire ants to herd and bleed the camels for us! We know they can bite. Now we're onto something good, I think.

The discussion of natural pesticides reminded me of the instructions on a package of Japanese beetle traps: "Be sure to empty the traps regularly as the smell of dead beetles will drive away other beetles." Wait, isn't that the objective? I hung the trap at the farthest corner of the garden and collected the dead beetles to put around the roses. It worked.

LOL That's great cjc! Very clever.

Hi
Curious as to what section of Orlando you live in with a Camel problem?? long list of introduced animals to florida but have not heard of that one lol.
Interesting fact of the dromedary camel(one hump) . Though the camel has been domesticated for well over 7,000
years there is no such thing as a wild camel. All can be traced to captive stock. Introduced over the centuries to over a hundred countries all escaped populations died out except in Australia... The camel was native to N. America but like the cow,dog, horse became extinct during the last ice age. Isn't that fascinating? lol

Curious as to what section of Orlando you live in with a Camel problem??

Well, I haven't actually SEEN one for a while but I'm pretty sure they are there, lurking around. I occasionally find plants trampled, garbage turned over, garden chairs knocked on their sides, new shoots nibbled off.... pretty sure that's the work of the evil dromedary.
Good point about the escape issue: I'll bet our local herd came from some experimental lab at UCF!
I'll have to check into that just as soon as the black helicopters stop flying around my house.

First, must go to the store to purchase more tin foil...

{{gwi:814840}}

This thread has kept me laughing for HOURS! (I'm a simple person.) LOVE the picture, Kate. I'm so glad at least SOMEONE in your house knows how to protect themselves from alien radio transmissions! Now if only you could devise a way to protect yourselves from frenzied herds of wild camels running amok through the neighborhood......

Marcia

A camel carried me for two days, along with eight scuba tanks and other supplies. She never complained, bit, or spit.

But she did come in the night and sniffed the dive master's face as he slept!

Awesome picture!

(Next time I have Animal Crackers I know who to send the camels to!)

Did you see this on last Sunday's Amazing Race?

A camel gets even

Lovely photo, Time Traveler. While camels may not be pretty (to most people) and probably don't make great pets for the average household, I have always admired their resilience, strength, and grace. Yep...to me, there is a certain elegant grace to the way they carry themselves across the sand, especially when running. They are so perfectly adapted for the uses man has devised for them! And if I were brave enough to travel in the desert, I'm sure my camel would be my very best friend!

CAMELS RULE, Kate!!

Marcia

If the Central Florida drought continues I may have to negotiate a truce with the local herd.

(I can admire them, if I can do it from a distance!)

ROTFLMAO!!! Oh this is too funny!
Camels? What camels? We don't need no stinkin' camels!!

"CAMELS RULE, Kate!!"

Oh no, Marcia, CAMELS DROOL!