I live in the south and we have fire ants. They can not live in close contact with any other living thing so far as I know. I have not had them eat plants because they are opportunistic and seem to prefer other living things, from small insects ot baby livestock and wild game. Where there are lots of them they kill off the turkey, quail, deer etc and in also baby calves, horses etc., given the opportunity. I have read that if you have lots of fire ants, they will eat all the ticks and chiggers so I guess that would be one beneficial act, at whatever cost. The ants that killed my plants were the little black ants that frequent okra. They occasionally bore a hole in a pod of okra near the base, causing it to become deformed and curl over. However the most damage was when they killed all my dill plants two years in a row, some other plants and a beautiful little miniature rose bush that I had growing in a planter box that I built for my wife. They did not eat the plants, but hollowed out all around the roots making their nests and tunnels to where the plants died from lack of being able to take up moisture or nutrients. It is hard to tell this, especially if there is mulch around the plants, until you see them wilting and investigate. By then the damage is done and it is too late. I would also recommend some ant baits or control on the outter pereimeters of your beds. Other measures like keeping the ground moist and stirred up has a limited and temporary inpact on them. That is my experience and first hand observations. Bill P.

I finally broke down and sprinkled some Amdro around where the highest concentrations of ants were. We have been infested with them this year, and they have killed a number of my potted roses, including 4 custom grafted ones. Whenever the pot ghetto irrigation kicked on they would march by the armies to get into the pots. They literally would march along the blue line tubing and down the drip tubes into the pots. I think because of the drought conditions we have been having, they are desperate for water, and probably food. I hated to put the Amdro around, because these were not biting ants. I had to put a stop to my roses being destroyed. They have also killed some areas of lawn near where the highest concentrations of marching ants were. I still don't know if my Belmont Yellow is going to recover, but I planted it anyway. The Amdro has knocked the numbers back, but hasn't totally eliminated them yet, but I understand it can take a couple of weeks. It is supposed to sterilize the queen. Usually the lizards keep the populations down, but I think the numbers of ants are so large that they can't keep up. Sandy

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..

I garden organically (mostly antique roses) and use just one technique which seems to work pretty well. I put water in a large pot and bring it to a boil. I dump the pot over the area where I can see there is a hole where all the ants are going. Obviously I don't pour water where there are living plants, but most of the time they'll be in cracks in the pavement or at the intersection of soil and walkways. I repeat the treatment the next day if there is renewed activity, but overall this works very well. If ants come into the house I keep all areas scrupulously clean and free of any food residue, and get rid of the ants by picking them up with a moist sponge which I then wring out in the sink.