Help!
Due the the drought and my work schedule I did not get my beneficial nematodes down early enough and
properly. I did manage to use one jar but I think it was mid june when it finally had rained enough to soften
the ground.
I have dumped boiling water on the fire ant mound in my apiary twice, it has now split into 2 smaller mounds.
My normal fire ant cures that are organic are not working,
I used my expired nematodes that I didn't get to put out due to the drought after the boiling water failed.
It is raining again. never got my compost tea mixed. Looks like I need to mix it with orange oil and
molasses to make it work.
Because I run chickens in the apiary, putting an ant bait out is quite tricky. Amdro Ant Block is a good one, but if my hens eat it I'm in trouble. If I don't find another solution soon I will be using it under heavy pond liner to keep the hens out of it. But I don't want it in my organic garden and I have ants there too. I think it is too late in the year even for fresh nematodes, if I could find some. But I could be wrong. Ideas?
Fire ants and organic solutions
Don't know if this is a viable solution for you but the few times this year that I've needed to kill fire ant beds, I used a Spectricide product called "No Odor Fire Ant Killer" of which the active ingredient is permythrin. Very effective and quick acting.
It's a very fine white powder that is sprinkled directly on the mound entrance in one tsp. or less amounts and is very effective. Touted as a product that kills the entire mound in 24 hours or less but I've found that dryer conditions seem to work best as the little buggers walk across the dry powder and then carry residue into the mound.
For your aviary, you might apply as directed directly on the mound and then cover the mound(s) with a dishpan or laundry basket with a brick on top to deter the birds peeking and pecking.
Again, great results with very little product.
Sorry but no organic recommendations that you haven't already tried.
I can't. Maybe I mis--typed. I don't have an aviary. I have a few hens running around in my APIARY. Which means bees. The spectracide product is more dangerous to the bees than an antbait. They get it on a foot, carry it into the hive, and poof, dead hive.
Thank you though. I will beat them back a little at a time until spring I guess. Boiling water is absolutely organic
My usual methods are DE and grits. The DE only works on some of the fire ant species and the grits are a little more reliable but it takes a few days for the ants to gather them up to take down to the "dining room".. If I get desperate, I take a little rubbing alcohol, pour it on the mound and light it on fire. The alcohol burns away so it doesn't stay in the soil and the ants are gone.
Huh....alcohol + fire.
Oops, you wrote apiary and I read aviary... .
Sorry about that... my dyslexia kicking in again
Steve
I will have to think on the alcohol and fire for the beeyard. The one thing I do not want to do is frighten my bees, and the ant nest is about 2 ft behind the hives. thank you though. It is possible I could just pour plain alcohol in and kill the queen, without hurting the bees or leaving a dangerous residue.
Gypsi - It sounds like you know the basic routine:
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Fire-Ant-Drench-Formula_vq1894.htm
and as far as grits, here's something further:
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Fire-Ant-Control-with-Grits_vq1389.htm
The second link doesn't sound too definitive. Think you need to make up a batch of compost tea as you said. I agree that smoke would probably frighten your bees. Never heard of using alcohol. Just dunno.
Good luck!
Smoke shouldn't frighten the bees, honey collectors use smoke to calm the bees all the time, even wild hives. I have heard awesome things about grits although we have never tried them.
I have now read conflicting info on grits. So I dunno.
I thought people used smoke to get rid of bees. Guess I was wrong. So I dunno about that either.
As for alcohol, I do know that per the world clock, it's always happy hour in at least one place in the world. :D
I took the Master Naturalist course and the entomologist that taught our insect class said that grits have been proven "ineffective" but I've had reasonable success. They're inexpensive, organic, and DO work sometimes. I've tried Garret Juice, Orange oil and compost tea without any results at all.
Again, I think some things work on certain species of Fire ants but there's not one miracle cure that works on all.
The entomologist said that they were having success with a Phorid fly, brought over from Venezuela to try to control the Fire ants but the workers out at the Atwater Chicken Prairie said they didn't see any significant effects when the experiment was done with the flies out there.
I dumped alcohol in the nest while I was working the bees this afternoon, and moved a hive farther from the ants. I use smoke in working, but actual fire that close to a hive is not ok. Now all my plants got left in the truck as the bees determined I was the one that moved them, and I had to go in the house
You bad girl! You should have left them a few blooms - these were all camping out and snoozing away this evening- xcept for the smaller bees
I left all the blooms in the garden, but I got back from RU late, and the hive with a dwv bee on its screen (that acts as a detour for robber bees) needed a look and a move over a sbb with a mite count sticky board. At 5:30 pm the returning workers were a bit disturbed to find me in the attic. I moved them 2 feet, away from the ants, reassembled and ran, lol, suit and all, without a sting. tomorrow morning I need to plant my roundup haul, or at least unload it, and go through the other 3 hives if I can before the cold front