I treated the lawn and beds for fire ants today

20 years ago

WalMart had their Amdro on sale, so I sprang for enough to broadcase the entire yard and shrub/flower beds. I am so eaten up from the stupid fire ants - definitely no candidate for a foot model here! Anyhow, ran out of the Amdro for going back and spot-treating the mounds, so should probably go get some more tomorrow. I don't know how you folks stand gardening with these pesky buggers down here in the South! ouchies

jeribelle

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Comments (5)

Dorie_in_Alabama
20 years ago
Do you have a large yard??? The broadcast application rate for Amdro is 1 1/2 pounds per acre, which is not very much! I had a friend who owned a nursery. He complained that fire ant control was killing his profits. THEN he was talked into applying it according to the label rate.....and cut his pesticide application budget by an enormous amount!

Also, don't stock up on Amdro. It does not have a long shelf life.

Good luck, I hope you get rid of the darn things. They can make life miserable.
jeribelle
Original Author
20 years ago
I checked the coverage on the bag when I bought it, and I agree, they don't add much inert ingredients to their product, which would lead people to over-apply it, costing way more than necessary. I am already seeing results, whooppee. Got bitten one time outside today, compared to the covering of bites on my feet the last while every time I ventured out to garden. I didn't know the Amdro has a short shelf life, though. Thanks for alerting me. I hope the product I bought is still effective to do the job.

The corner lot here has a very large frontage, but nothing compared to what your friend has to deal with. I can't imagine having that kind of maintenance - those buggers have been out to kill me this year!
jeribelle
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I think you can safely say that the ants you found are not fire ants. While the brave and slightly unwise are willing to poke a fire ant nest with a stick, I doubt that any local would do that with a bare hand more than once anyway. The first point is that they sting and it hurts a lot for a week to a year and several stings would give you a medical visit. AND they are agressive. Second, they live underground but build tall mounds, probably over an inch high. However there are little black ants that build small mounds too. Here is what I wrote a couple of years ago: The North Carolina ag extension agents have been giving classes in fire ant removal for a year or so. The gist of the class is the following. The effective way to remove fire ants is to poison the ants with any of the slow acting types that slowly get carried to the whole colony including the queen. This completely removes the colony AFTER A FEW WEEKS. Generally these are distributed around but not on the hill on a warm day when the ants are foraging. Put a potato chip near the mound if in doubt; if the ants don't show up in 30 minutes they won't be around to pick up the poison until it gets damp and unappatising. Also important; one should not indiscriminately poison all ants. Other ants are teritorial and will fight to keep fire ants away. They are your friends!
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You could try this organic recipe (I'm having to adlib since I can't seem to find the exact note for this): Starting boiling about two cups of water, add half a cup of white sugar, a tablespoon of honey and two tablespoons of borax. Put dabs of the mixture into old milk jug lids and put them near the mounds. The ants should injest the mixture and take it back to the mound where it will get passed to workers and the queen, eventually killing the hive. It won't work in one application, so expect to rebait every other day. Now, here is the kicker: This completely 100% Organic ant bait is more dangerous to dogs, cats and any other critters that are attracted to the sweet mixture than your standard Amdro ant bait. So you will want to cage it so that only the ants can get to it. I understand the desire to do things the safe way, I am close to 98% chemical free in my practices, but in some cases, fire ants being one, chemical is safer and more effective than organic. Like the suggestion with the borax mixture, when I use amdro to bait mounds, I cover the bait with a pot, a piece of wood or some other item, simply to make sure the abundant birds that visit my yard don't mistake it for feed. I'm not too worried about other critters as my Springer Spaniel who is an awesome tracker/sniffer and gets easily distracted by any new/strange scent has never shown a bit of interest in the baited areas.
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Thanks to all who have responded, your expertise is much appreciated. I wanted to respond to several of the messages. DCHALL- Throughout the yard, there are areas (maybe not truly "patches") where it has just has not greened up yet and appears dead (this is interspersed with green grass stemming from the "runners"). I am not sure if I waited too long this season to begin watering and I am seeing drought damage, but for the most part, the yard is beginning to green. I have always mowed at a very high setting and I think I am watering correctly. I have an automated sprinkler system and all of the zones overlap. I water each zone once a week at between 30-35 minutes a zone. I understand that this is on the low side, but I make a conscious choice to try and conserve water as best I can without totally sacrificing the lawn (not just for environmental concerns, but to keep my utility bill under $300 a month). There have always been spots in the lawn that the St. Aug just fears to tread and is mostly just patches of weed. When we bought the home 2 1/2 years ago, the previous owners had several large dogs whom they did not pick up after....ever, and the lawn was in miserable shape. They did nothing in the way of lawn care except an occasional mow and it has taken me this long to get it into some reasonable shape. That being said, one side of our lawn (our home divides the yard) has never really been more than a weed desert (this is also where most of the fire ants are situated). Another patch is where chinch bugs got a start before I could identify and get to them (it is my understanding that this area will never recover, but it is small). I am familiar with the Green Light product and was actually leaning toward this. Thanks! BTW Mr. Hall, I very much enjoyed your member page! KIMMSR- Thank you for the very informative site. I have seen your posts on other forums and you always provide very well researched and thought out responses.
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There are baited poisons and general insecticides that one can broadcast over the yard. I do not like using such poisons. It may be my imagination, but while still a problem I am seeing fewer colonies this year. What I used is a powdered general insecticide that has little toxicity for mammals and I like watching the adult fire ants writhe in agony. I will sprinkle enough water so when the ants brush r walk over it they are poisoned. Dry poison a granules are less effective. One does not kill the entire colony the first time and they will move to make a new one. The second one will be much smaller and if the third appears it will even smaller. My dogs have learned how to deal with these critters. The dogs often pick up fire ant infested pears that have fallen and will either roll the pear or avoid the pear totally depending on the dog. The cat apparently has no problems even though it likes to kill small snakes. Fire ants love dead snake. I am in northwest florida and I hate yellow jacket ground hornets, fire ants, squirrels, racoon, and possum..
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wilmington_islander
20 years ago
Oh, fire ants, sand gnats, tiger mosquitoes, alligators, rattlesnakes, and sharks...that is God's way of telling us that we don't live in Eden here...without them it'd be way too close!
PeaBee4
20 years ago
Oh, Yeah!!! I am just sooooo thankful that he let us keep the trees.

I think I finally got rid of all my fire ants. I use Othene. Stinks to high heaven, but a little goes a long way because I catch the beds when they are small. I spied one suspicious spot yesterday and when it quits raining, it gets the treatment.

Good luck Jeribelle......fire ants bites are just one way of making you feel part of the community. If you are still displaying spots from last year's bites, you belong!!
PB
jeribelle
Original Author
20 years ago
Ok, friends, I am officially a Savannahian, now! I have scars from last year's fire ant bites to prove it. Thanks for the welcome, friends, but you know, you could do it without the pesky bugs.

Anyhow, I'm hoping the Amdro I bought hasn't lost its potency...I may try that Othene next time, as I got nailed by a nest-full (hidden) day before yesterday. Maybe my lawn was just so infested there wasn't enough bait to go round?!

jeribelle

I treated the lawn and beds for fire ants today

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I treated the lawn and beds for fire ants today

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