Fire Ant Control?

[fliptop]

What are people doing to control fire ants? Thanks!

[spaugh]

Theres a product called "extinguish plus" if you want to use poison.   You sprinkle it near the entrance to their nest and they take it in and die.

[Seanny]

I mixed Borax with peanut butter, on top of an old credit card.
I put card by exit hole.
The ants surrounded the card and ate all.

No more fire ants here.

[TheGivingTree]

 Google says

Fire ants are extremely effective in controlling plant-feeding insects and arthropods such as boll weevils in cotton and stinkbugs in soybean. Under some conditions fire ants keep the pest populations below the level of economic loss providing a financial savings to growers

I wonder how helpful they are against south Florida's insects. Or do they harm fruit trees?

[spaugh]

they eat dragonfruit plants, otherwise they dont bother me much.  except when wearing sandals and you step on them they chew your feet.

[nullzero]

Google says

Fire ants are extremely effective in controlling plant-feeding insects and arthropods such as boll weevils in cotton and stinkbugs in soybean. Under some conditions fire ants keep the pest populations below the level of economic loss providing a financial savings to growers

I wonder how helpful they are against south Florida's insects. Or do they harm fruit trees?

I have a lot of fire ants in Florida. They started moving in and multiplying about 5 years ago. Before I would have bad issues with white flies, scale, and other insects. Now I can not find any pests on any of the trees.

[wonderfruit]

Those ants come from my country “ Argentine” . They come in containers carrying sugar. Nothing to be proud about. The world is smaller now. We r all interconnected.

[fliptop]

Thanks for the replies! Yeah, spaugh, they don't bother me or my dogs much until we disturb a mound, which seem to be everywhere in my yard now.

Seanny, what ratio of Borax to Peanut Butter did you use? Thanks!

[1rainman]

It is true fire ants kill just about every other type of insect, including other ants. Where I'm at in South Florida we used to be infested with them. Now they aren't that common. I was told online they can't cross breed with other ants. All I know is some of the other types of ant here started developing their own venom though not as bad as the fire ant. So they can fight back against fire ants, but not as aggressive and not with the large mounds. I'm pretty sure they are hybrids. Then there is also some new ant that zig zags and moves really fast but doesn't bite, somehow it is able to out compete fire ants. So now fire ants aren't as common as they used to be. I also know they released some kind of wasp that kills fire ants, released it in Texas or something. I don't know if there are any around here. All I know is they pretty much took over the place in the 90s and early 2000s. Now days they are still around here but not too common though a lot of other types of ants have developed a bite though thankfully they aren't nearly as aggressive.

The only way to kill them is poisoned bait. You can pour gasoline on the mound and light it on fire and they will just disperse and make new nests. You could pour the deadliest poison in the world on their nest and they will survive it. You can flood the entire ground and they will just float on top of the water. The only way is a bait they will feed to the queen who is deep in the nest.

[Seanny]

1 tsp Borax to 1 tsp peanut butter

[Mike T]

The most effective way of controlling exotic unwanted ants is by baiting them. The right concentration of fibrinil in jam or catfood so it get carried back to the colony is standard. I suspect imidiclaprid would also be pretty effective. Topical sprays and borax are ok but dont nuke the colonies.

[monkeyfish]

I've not seen any mounds lately, but some years ago when they were more common I would pour a gallon or two of boiling water on the mound, with a spoon of dish soap mixed in.  The mound would collapse immediately, then the water would penetrate deeply into the tunnels underneath. They may regroup in a couple days, but with a much reduced colony, or the queen may get cooked in the first try. No expense, no regrets.  (depending on the location, vis-a-vis nearby plants.

[Mark in Texas]

Theres a product called "extinguish plus" if you want to use poison.   You sprinkle it near the entrance to their nest and they take it in and die.

That's one of the best, used it for years until the price went thru the roof.  I have great success with Amdro.  Bifenthrin drenches work well too.

Don't broadcast per the label, doesn't work, is a waste.  Treat each nest individually by kicking the nest to open it up then sprinkle about a TB around the area.  They will get pissed by the intrusion and immediately grab the bits and take it into the nest.  Most of the bait will be gone within hours. 

We grow 'em big in Texas.     Had a leak in a covered manifold. Found this huge nest.

[Mark in Texas]

Fire ants have been blamed on the demise of our Texas horned toad lizard.  They will even kill fawns.  Part of getting an ag exemption called "wildlife managment" here in Texas is predator control.  Fire ant control falls under that category.

If you have acreage like many of us do, baits like Extinguish and Amdro are the only way to go.  Been fighting the bastards for 16 years.  I even get them in the greenhouse.

[spaugh]

we had horned lizards here as well that I havent seen in 6 years.  Because agintine ants take over the space of the native ant that the horned lizards need to survive on.

[Mark in Texas]

I leave the big red Harvester nests alone in the field.  They too are food for horned lizards, which are making a come back in parts of Texas thru the efforts of volunteers and botanists.

[spaugh]

Its the last one I have seen

[Mark in Texas]

Its the last one I have seen

Wow!  Your place?

[spaugh]

Yeah in my garage