Most of the labels I've read state that they are not to be used anywhere near a vegetable garden. I still use them on the walkways around the kitchen garden but try and sprinkle about 10 feet away. Inside the kitchen garden I use a product call "Come and Get It" made by Fertilome. It is safe to use around veggies but the natural/organic chemical it uses does have one important characteristic - ants can develop an immunity within two years if you use it exclusively. Since it is the only organic on the market there is no way to avoid this. Non-organic Amdro works the quickest for me but it is not safe around veggies/herbs. They all can take a while to show any result.

The only thing that works for me is to treat my entire yard twice each year with the harsh chemicals and off and on throughout the summer with the organic chemical in the veggie beds (they are raised beds which fire ants love). I use Amdro around the perimeter and just sprinkle it on the grassy paths. I sprinkle Come and Get It on the pathways around the raised beds in the kitchen garden.

In my opinion, if your yard is prime fire ant territory you will be fighting them forever. You can win the battle but not the war. In the summer I keep large tubs of cool water near where I am working so that I can step into them to cool off my feet from the ant stings. Anything with vinegar in it will help stop the burning. Usually after a few months I don't react too bad from them but I have had to rush friends to the hospital before after they were stung. Nasty little creatures. My elderly neighbor was laughing at me when I used a dolly to move one gallon potted plants across the yard, he shut up when I showed how the fire ants liked to live in the potting soil inside the pots. I have to use garden totes to bring in the sweet corn because fire ants like to invade them to eat the corn worms, no way for me to safely carry an armload up against my body. They do seem to keep the tick population down, so there is that...

TJOHN, Yes I hear you about The WAR...we bought a foreclosure home a few years ago and neighbors on either side do little to treat lawn, but they do bait mounds. This place had about ten mounds when we moved in, Next year the neighbors had issues so they treated, third year we had ants again. So we now just maintain mounds in the lawn. But the Veggies????

WE also had four foot highs weeds at move in. Grubs, etc. While the lawn gets treated with granular product yearly for lawn bugs, grubs, Red velvet ants ( wasp) and a numerous number of beetle species that make huge holes in the lawn...I also treat the individual fire ant mounds in lawn with the Amdro bait, which does say not to use in the vegetable garden. Last year they found the garden, and my bare feet. Lesson learned. Zowie!

Being a displaced Yankee, I wondered if there was some trick y'all had specifically for the veggie garden. Fire ants are not a real problem in the North.

I didn't really think of placing it outside the garden perimeter as there are no mounds there, just last year, in the center of the garden. I thought they would just carry Amdro into the garden, SO I guess I will try the COME and GET IT just around garden .Thank you. I think I may be trying the Vinegar/water trick too!

**As for your corn worms, I tried a trick l that seems to help. When the silks appear mix a bit of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)with mineral oil, shake well, place a few drops(3-4) with eyedropper on the silks right at the top of the ear ( not the ends of the silks but the ear itself) . Oil keeps it from washing off, and wicks into the silks inside the husk. Your corn will not be greasy when mature. When moths lay the eggs for worm on the silks, they also will be feeding their larva the BT. It really cut down on my problem. But you do need to do it as soon as silks appear, which means checking for ear silks often. I also do some hand pollination at the same time if I can.

And Chas, I have tried the potato chip thing...if they don't go after it: I don't treat the hill, as I know they are sweet ants and not fire ants (grease)...non chaos causing ants are welcome. But I do agree we all need to be careful.

I've tried just putting drops of olive oil at the top of the cob when the silks first start to show color and it works just as good as using the Bt/oil mixture. My bigger problem is that I only have two hands and when the corn is ready, a million other things are ready at the same time. Summer is a busy time for veggie growers.

The problem with fire ants is that the underground colony is huge, so you might sprinkle Amdro along the perimeter but the ants will carry it underground which might put it right under your carrots. Basically, if you stand on one mound any mound you can see no matter how far away could be the same colony - which is why the old story of scooping a shovel full of ants from one mound and dropping them onto another is false. Just messing with the mounds will sometimes cause the ants to move on, but only sometimes.

Now is the time to treat your yard for fire ants. Knock them back now and you can get through most of the summer without being stung.

chas, I wish there was the perfect answer to your often asked question. Do some serious searching on the subject "using citrus for fire ants". It should lead you to several organic 'citrus methods' which will discourage fire ants in veggie gardens. My approach now is to toss Amdro around the property under bushes as it appears the ants prefer to forage mostly in shady areas. The vegetable garden is treated with orange and lemon skins chopped in the food processor and spread between rows. Also your citrus reading will help you to make citrus sprays, which also are effective, from the fresh fruit and/or the commercial cleaning product, diluted, Simple Orange. These are the best methods I have found to date.

nandina: cher asked the question.

cher: you asked if locals had good ideas. I, like you am a Yankee. We don't even have fire ants up north. Having read lots of local solutions and having taken the Fire Ant Class, it appears to me that many of the locals who get on line (not here specifically) are the people who give many the impression that Local Southerners are a bunch ole yolkels who like fixin' cars and lightin' stuff on fire and otherwise exploding ant hills in impressive fashion. They really do know how to repair automobiles, but I would suggest that you follow the latest state sponsored methods for the ants instead.

Of course, in no way am I suggesting any connection of nandina or john with those folks (except for the bare feet among the copperheads and fire ants). I guess that I must be lucky. I certainly have fire ants, but for some reason they mainly seem to like light gravel as in the driveway. My poison on the specific hills has removed (or moved) them in one or two tries. I did have one infestation in my garden that I treated normally with good success. I didn't grow anything directly around them because I certainly didn't want to disturb them accidently.

Ok,no need to insult the locals. A was born a yank, but my home is now the south. I have no intention of returning due to the attitudes among those I left behind.The People I have met are grade A +. And I was the barefoot one! Am usually bare foot at home. I TOO have read up on everything the experts have put out. From Penn State to Clemson, yet I find experience of local gardeners often has as much value. OFTEN TIPS,AND TRICKS,are all that is needed

Yes Cher, there are plenty of experienced and very helpful locals. I was perfectly clear that you at least 'liked' to go barefoot. I think that since you appear to have a greater infestation than I do, that it would be wise to at least temporarily refrain. As I implied above, I have been known to stand obliviously above various ant hills, occasionally standing near one of those helpful locals who has pointed out my precarious position, and other times alone with no advisor, and consider myself to be lucky not to have gotten a single bite. Now John is apparently very observant and proudly continues to go barefoot, but as you may have noticed, has said that he has been seriously chomped on.

Obviously, you had already heard most of the information that I have gleaned from our county ag. agents. My remarks about some of the folks who give advise down here are perhaps a bit exaggerated, but if you do a search even on our site, you will find some of the ideas I had hopefully humorously referred to.

Barefoot or flip-flops are a necessity because the tiny fire ants get inside your clothing en masse and then one of them gives the signal for 'everybody sting!' You won't have time to take off your shoes before being overwhelmed. Shorts and barefeet helps keep me aware of the first wave of ants. The problem is that often I am working in one spot of the garden that really needs my attention. If the ants are there and on the warpath, chasing me away doesn't get my tasks done. I have to get the ants gone quickly so that I can continue working. I tried all the "play nice" tactics and found it impossible to get anything done if I let the ants control my efforts.

I once met an old gardener and while complaining about my two key problems in the garden (fire ants and poison ivy) he advised me to quit treating the mounds or waiting until I noticed the problem before taking action. He said to just treat your yard with an ant bait in the spring when we have a full week of 70 degree days (that's when the ants really kick in to hunting for food). Treat your entire yard. The foraging ants will carry the bait back to the hive. Treat again in the fall to reduce their numbers over the winter. He didn't think the organic bait worked but I have found it just as effective, but I worry about the ants developing immunity.

Another trick I use is to kneel on a large square of cardboard while weeding. The ants tend to attack the cardboard which gives me time to move further down the row.

My place is close to I-40 and I hear that fire ants are along the highway system so that could be why I have this problem. My neighbors' large yards are mostly lawn and they will sometimes treat them. My entire yard is a fruit and vegetable garden with lots of mulch on fluffy soil with raised beds = fire ant Nirvana.

I wish I could fix my own vehicle.