FIRE ANT CONTROL

[YankeePerm at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/3/99 12:57:42 AM, you wrote:

<<Fire ants are coming to California, and I'm looking for a method of fire ant
control in gardens and compost piles.  Any ideas? 

Are they like other ants in disliking wet piles and well covered food?

eric w>>

Fire ants are nearly invincib le.  I have seen them float in a live ball atop
water, when flooded, for 6-8 months or until they drift into something above
the water line.  All flooded areas, when the flood water goes down, are
infested immediately.  Household ammonia is fairly cheap and disperses into a
harmless fertilizer.   It kills nests if you use enough to penetrate to the
depth of the queen.  Boiling water can help.  While fire ants like dry, they
will live anywhere if necessary.  

If you were determined to spend a major part of your life battling them, you
can get one of those steam generators used to soften wallpaper for removal.  I
am sure if you inject enough steam into nests you will kill the nest.

Folk remedies like throwing ants from one nest to another don't work.  The
fire ants just take over both nests.  Now many colonies are clones of
neighboring colonies, so they don't fight because they aren't different.
Citrus oil and oil of cinnamon show promise, but I have never seen a
satisfactory way to apply them.

chickens around fire ants just stop eating all ants.

You get the idea.

PS  They are very aggressive and bite with no provocation.

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