ANTS!!!

I looked at the LSU site and found this chart - those of us that are fighting fire ants definately need the ones with the chemical #'s 4 or 11 in my opinion. My dad uses Over-N-Out and swears by it. Here's the link to the chart http://www.bae.lsu.edu/NR/rdonlyres/0FE20BF0-52CB-4E5B-8474-F72CDAB8C521/30173/broadcasttable092507.pdf

Only problem with that nativeiv is from what I can read - this may also affect native ant species and we shouldnt do that. Just need to get rid of these nasty stinging, biting, killing, prolific brazilian invaders. Here in MS we have lost most of our Quail population with fire ants being the main suspected culprit and most of our native ants that just cannot compete with these invaders. We definately do not need to do anything to further strain our already depleted native species. Ants are not the problem - Only the invader species of ant. If you do not like native insects then just do not garden outside. Get a terrarium and keep it safe in the living room. ;-)

I know this may be a little off topic, but there seem to be a lot of fire ant experts here so I'm in the right place. Growing up in the midwest, I never thought too much about fire ants until I sat on a nest. In shorts. I had ants in my pants...no joke. The result was the worst kind of inflammation imagineable!

My question: What soothes and heals this kind of ant bite?

It took an agonizing long time to heal. Benedrly. Caladryl...even tried Emu oil.

I can see some humor looking back, but for future refrence...since we are on the ant topic.

A thick paste of baking soda and ice water soothed the pumpkins last year. Also works great on mosquito bites and bee stings.

A salt or sea salt compress works pretty well for taking the inflamation and poison out of the bites. We had fire ants in Huntsville and when the boys would get into them and get bit, i'd pour salt on a bandaid and make em spit on it-to make it moist so the salt would stick. Then flip if over real quick over the bite and tape it down. Your own sweat/saliva and other bodily fluids are sterile to your own body.

I have tried grits, it only makes them move a few feet away.
I use borax powder (sprinkled around the house) for roaches - in texas everyone has them
The best thing i've seen with ants is to wash them away with water... if you have a good mulch down, you can just hose them away, the whole mound will end up whereever the water washes them too, i flooded my whole yard on accident the other day and now have no ants :D

I guess my question is ... where in Illinois did you find fire ants?

Oh boy, it was the 4th of July. They came out of a large crack in my cement patio. I pointed them out to my husband and forgot about them completly. Later on, we were lighting off some fireworks in my backyard and I sat on the patio where the ants were. Within seconds I remembered about the ants because they were biting me all up in my shorts, resulting in the ants in the pants dance.

My bottom swelled with the most unimagineable inextinguishable burning.

The next day there was no sign of them.

One of my friends said only I could manage to sit on fire ants in Illinois!

Maybe you should have just peed in your pants...
They say that works to take the sting out of a jellyfish sting...who knows?

I've had great success with grits, but it won't work if it gets wet before the ants eat it. Theoritically, the ants take it to the queen and it swells in her stomach and kills her. We used to surround our house once a year or so, usually in the spring.

A cousin told me he tried Tide on them, but they just came out of the ground and hung their things on a tiny little clothes line.

I've had a similar problem-except in my mailbox!!! I would go to get the mail and there would be about 50 or so ants living in there! I found a trick in that area (since I already tried to kill them and that didn't work)....get plants that NEED ants. A garden lover told me to buy peonies because they love to have the ants eat the sticky parts on top of the buds. Then, that helps the buds bloom! Now, I wonder if that would attract more ants, which I know you don't want! But, just an idea.

I have the ants in the mailbox problem too. We kill them every year. I wonder if peonies would grow at my mailbox? That's our stopping point for every dog in the neighborhood. lol. I had hostas there for many years and they struggled because of the dogs. Finally moved them and they are still struggling because of ants. Can't win the ant war here it seems. lol

Well, I gave up on the 'natural' or organic or non-pesticide ways. I've tried them all. Jaws...I'm glad the grits worked for you...maybe I didn't wait long enough. But with fire ants, they need to be dealt with sooner than later.
The hot water method and the vinegar method worked...but it also kills everything else, grass and all. So if you're wanting to get rid of weeds and all go for one of those. My yard does look a bit odd with with round bare spots all over.

But, if you want them done and gone....Spectracide. It's been 25 days and still, not one fire ant to be found. Woohoo!

Happy Memorial Weekend to all my fellow freaks of nature!!!!
Ping

I wasn't able to read all of the posts, but have you ever tried Diatomaceous earth? I have a cordwood house (a house made out of log rounds) and had a horrible infestation of Carpenter ants that were wreaking my house. I am severely allergic to most household and garden chemicles.
Diatomaceous earth consists of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. It is used as a filtration aid, as a mild abrasive, as a mechanical insecticide, as an absorbent for liquids, as cat litter, as an activator in blood clotting studies, and as a component of dynamite. As it is also heat-resistant, it can be used as a thermal insulator. It is not harmful to humans or animals. In fact, it is used in herbal parasite cleansing programs for both humans and animals.
I was able to get a 10lbs bag at my local nursery. I sprinkled it all around the house and all around the inside of my house. (since they were in the house also). And within a week I saw very few. It is something you would have to reapply often. But a lot better than anything I have tried before and I tried lots of things!
Good link with Info:
http://www.dirtworks.net/Diatomaceous-Earth.html

Good luck!

For insect bites: Lemongrass essential oil. Make sure it is of good quality. (youngliving essential oils, Tisserand, Oshadhi are all good companies) Take a drop and put it either in your hand and dilute with a carrier oil (almond, olive, jojoba, etc.) or you can put it directly on the bite. If you have multiple bites put 2 or 3 drops in your hand with a small amount of carrier oil and then rub it on. Lemongrass is also a natural insect repellant.

This may sound extreme, but, bare with me while I tell you my story...

In Hawaii I chased fireants from one end to the other and back in my yard. I tried everything. One day my 1 1/2 year old son fell over into one of those mounds. My husband ran into the house with him covered from head to toe, it was even in his diaper. We all got bitten trying to get them out of his hair, nose, just everywhere. My son was never a cryer, he was a tough tot, but he cried softly thru the whole ordeal. It was enough to make his dad go into a fit of rage.

He went into the garage and brought out a gallon of gas and a shovel. He proceeded to dig down the hill and filled it up with gas. He let it soak down and lit it up. Would take a Captain in the fire department to think of something like that, but, it worked. Never seen those ant in 20 years. Thinking about what he did just cracks me up.

Loren

Loren...if you want to really crack up...scroll back to the March 16 post by WeeNel. I don't think this guy was a Captain of the fire dept....hilarious!!!

Oh Gosh that is funny...I can imagine the sight. Reminds me about the time I tried to light my mother's old gas stove. Left me with no eyelashes, eyebrows, and crispy critters for hair.

Thanks for pointing that one out for me..LOL

Well....the ants didn't leave a forwarding address but I found those scoundrels...this morning...in my compost bin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went to turn the pile and lo and behold, right after I dumped the first scoop into the other bin....there they were....thousands of them! Everywhere. My heart just fell to the ground. Well I kept on scooping everthing out and into the other bin, ants and all. Seems the ants stayed on the upper half of the pile but still had stragglers, of course.
So now after waiting 3 months, turning my bin every so often...it's all in vain. What should I do?
I can't use Spectracide if I still want use the compost...
I can't put the compost in my garden loaded with fire ants... (And yes...I got 6 bites on my leg, 3 on one arm and 2 on the other. OOOOOWW!!)
What would you guys do? I am so over these ants, I could scream!!!!

Wow!! Ants in the compost. I would call the fire department.......just kidding. LOL

Good one pepper...LOL But the problem would go up in smoke!

My mom says to google fire ants and you will find all the info you need. I found quite a bit just in the first page.

I went to a wedding a few days ago...and a lady told me to put vaseline around them and they will get stuck in it and die... Not sure if it works or not, it seems though, it'd be worth a try!


"A cousin told me he tried Tide on them, but they just came out of the ground and hung their things on a tiny little clothes line" ~hahahahahaha

This has been a great read to get me through the work day!!!!! Thanks to everyone!

Hey, Ping. I've been a quiet observer of this thread for some time now, and I cannot believe this epic saga continues!!! So, what should you do??? I personally think you should write your own cheap horror film screenplay and at least make some money off this drama if not some good garden compost! The "revival" of these ants reminds me of the neverending Jason or Michael Myers movies (none of which I ever actually saw by the way). You've got enough material just from this thread alone! So...get out your camera and start rolling the film!

Sorry... I don't have any real valuable advice. :)

Bouquets and welcome Heather!

Somebody might have posted this already.. I didn't read all the replies but I found this EASY solution on some website a couple of months ago.

POWDERED LAUNDRY SOAP.

I had ants all over our new pavers. They were all over the place and digging the dirt out on the edge of the pavers. I sprinkled 'tide with bleach' over the entire area (avoiding plants) and it really worked. It made for very clean pavers when it rained too! LOL

Thanks easter lily for your support and encouragement....please remember to vote for me in the Golden Globes...

This neverending saga has turned for the worst even more so...I'm so discouraged at this point because I have totally run out of options. The worst has finally happened. The ants have taken residency in my beloved garden. sniff, sniff...
They are everywhere...all over my corn, tomatoes, peas and beans, I think they are living 'down below' in the underworld. I lost a corn stalk on the end of one of my rows and when I pulled it up....within seconds, there were hundreds. I swear it was like a horror movie. My heart just sunk.
So now I'm thinking, are they going to devour all of the root systems of all the plants? and I can't do a D#$%* thing about it!!! I have worked soooo hard on my first garden but the excitement has waned.
At this point, I am at a loss for words. (I know some of you are really finding that hard to believe) :)

If worst comes to worst, I will post a time for memorial services. sniff, sniff...

Ants shouldn't eat your plants' roots. I know it's annoying having so many of them and it makes it really hard to work in the garden if they're going to be crawling all over the place, but they don't typically eat plants. They can cause indirect damage to plants by farming aphids which will chew on the plants, and they might get into fruits since they like sweet things, but I don't think they'll typically eat the plants themselves.

Hi Pinger, WeeNel back to this thread again, Gee I thought you had mastered the job at hand, now they are back again, Guess the only thing left now is to move yourself off to ANTartica, too cold for ants there I should think, but a funny from me, I have just had an elderly aunt stay for a couple of weeks over from the big city, anyway this aunt is always cleaning, she is only happy if you give her a duster, some bleach or pollish, so my family have just christened her, WAIT FOR IT, ANTibacteria, so the end of this thread so far is a real ANTiclimax as I was expecting you to be on TV advertising your ANTi ANT potion by now, felt sure you had done the trick, sorry about the veg garden, thats a bummer. I now await with ANTisipation to hear the next lot of ideas that comes forth, Good Luck Pinger, if anyone deserves an award you do, for your sheer ANTi war campaign against these little ANTisocial nippers. all the best, WeeNel.

Pinger, this is a tragedy. Since your food is gone, work with the food chain. Go down to your local pet store and order an aardvark. Stake it out in an area and when that area is clear, move it to another area. When your area is clear, rent it out. This is uuuuuuuuubelievable.

free

I have laughed so hard from reading this thread.

Pinger, I own 14 acres just outside of Clover, SC. We do not live there as of yet so I spend alot of time traveling across the country trying to maintain the yard and house. Every time I would drive down the 500ft driveway to the house I just cringe at the mounds of red clay homes that all the fire ants had built since my last visit.
I asked all the supposed experts at the nurseries and DIY centers what to use since in NV we dont have fire ants. I heard some crazy stories including the ant wars, flame throwers, grits and ground oats, cayenne pepper, powered soap, coffee, hot water, vinegar and one about a lady that shveled out each ant hill into large trash bags and dropped them on the back of her large property.
Although I haven't been able to completely rid my property of the ants my neighbor who raises beef gave me some help.
I purchased Diatomaceous earth in a 50lb box and three bags of Ortho's pellet fire ant killer, supposedly good for 1 yr. I mixed the two in a 5 gallon bucket so the DE covered the pellets really good. I then used my broadcast spreader working my way out from the house. I did this the Saturday before Easter, notice that I still have the ants but not as many near the house. I redid it again the first weekend of May and when I arrived on the 18th of June I noticed that all the homes had moved out of the treated area.
Now I know this has been expensive and I will have to continue to slowly move them away when we finally move permenantly but I believe this method is working. I can live with them on the areas of the property that I wont be using so long as they stay away from my gardens and buildings.

Pinger - are you related to Scutler in SC by any chance? ROFL

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/548658/#new

Actually I feel your pain. I loathe ants and we have huge numbers of them here. One of my kids favourite thing to do is to flood the nests with the hose until they all come scurrying out with their eggs and then stomp on them all. May not be completely effective but it sure is satisfying. Around the house in the crawl space we have sprayed a barrier to stop them coming inside. Brilliant stuff! I tried the outdoor bait stations but they didn't seem to work at all.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/548658/#new

I have a spot full of irises and ants have made a big hole in there. Several actually. Just discovered it tonight so tomorrow I am gonna flood it. And am gonna cackle the whole time!!! lol

I flood mole holes and sing "little bunny foo foo" while I take the shovel and bop them on the head when they surface. Or you can dump them into a bucket of water, they don't swim very well, hee hee. My neighbors think I'm crazy, but I'm really a very nice person except for when moles dig in my yard.

I would try your method on my ants Cathy, but I don't have a shovel small enough to bop them on their heads.....

Well you've heard the saying when life deals you lemons open a lemon ade stand? Pier One used to sell chocolate covered ants........

lol cathy....that reminds me of "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson and his croquet mallet....if they ever do another remake of that movie, you should definately go up for the part!

Pinger, a big shovel would just bop a lot of heads at once....well, maybe a little more than just heads.....

Aunt Anne, you do have a money-making prospect.....Pinger One's chocolate covered ants....

:)