Cheap Eco-Friendly Death for Fire Ants

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Fred

Fred

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This is a new twist to killing fire ant colonies. (I bet it would work on Yellow Jackets and ground Hornets as well!)

For those not familiar with Walter Reeves, he is from the University of Georgia Agriculture Department, specializing in home gardening. His television show, 'Gardening in Georgia ', is on each Saturday.

"I know fire ants are picky eaters and any type poison that is effective takes seven feeding steps before the queen receives it. Plus, if the bait is stored in close proximity to any petroleum or fertilizer products they won't touch it. Contact poisons that are on the market just cause the colony to move away. A well developed colony can be as deep as 30 feet and spread out some 20 to 50 feet from the mound center... This was documented by studies done in the early 60's when they were first sited in South Alabama."

An environmentally friendly cure for fire ants has been announced by Walter Reeves on his Georgia Gardener radio program. Testimonials that it REALLY WORKS are coming in.

Simply pour two cups of CLUB SODA (carbonated water) directly in the center of a fire ant mound. The carbon dioxide in the water is heavier than air and displaces the oxygen which suffocates the queen and the other ants. The whole colony will be dead within about two days.

Besides eliminating the ants, club soda leaves no poisonous residue, does not contaminate the ground water, and does not indiscriminately kill other insects. It is not harmful to your pets, soaks into the ground.

Each mound must be treated individually and a one liter bottle of club soda will kill 2 to 3 mounds. :biggrin:

I say good riddance to the nasty little buggers ...
 
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Imagine what those poor little defenseless fire ants are doing after they are exposed to the CO2.

Naw, who cares ... I just hope they suffer for all the stings we have gotten from the little buggers since they came to the US.
 
I don't know if that will work but if it does, Floridians will thank Walter. I lived in Florida for 15 years and the Fire Ants were always the #1 nasty to look out for since they are so prevalent and can really give you a BAD day if you are walking barefoot or in sandals and accidently step on a mound and get swarmed. I know from first hand experience!!
:eek::eek::eek:
 
I know of an eco friendly method of dealing with wasps and wasp nests. It might work on fire ants too. I don't know what snopes says and don't care because I have become a convert as to it working for me.

To a gallon of water add about a tablespoon of liquid dish detergent (Ivory, Joy etc) ! Mix and spray. The soapy water suffocates them or something or other, but as soon as it hits them they fall! One or two might escape but if you hit them with the sprayer, they fall too!
 
UPDATE to Death to Fire Ants ...

As per a recent e-mail from one of our own here at IAP - Mr. Jim Lindsey -

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/fireants.asp

According to the information at the above link the CO2 will not kill them IF one uses a carbonated drink as the source of the CO2.

However, IF you have access to a canister of CO2 and you can inject by whatever method of choice you have available, I guarantee you that a prolonged application will indeed suffocate many within the colony. Don't believe it ... try taking a large breath of CO2 and see if you can survive.

Maybe large chuinks of dry ice would cause them major discomfort???

Take Yellow Jackets for example ...

I have found that the best time to apply many poisons/sprays is after it has gotten very dark. At that time most of the beasties have returned to the nest and are expecting a good nights sleep while digesting their daily kill. Be cautioned though that many are still awake and on guard duty at or around the entrances to their homes.

Observe their flight paths and stay out of their way. Watch long enough and you will discover the main entrance to the nest. REMEMBER where it is and leave until later. DO NOT disturb them in any way right now.

After it has gotton as dark as it is going to get approach the entrance walking very quietly as these beasties are very much aroused by vibrations in the ground.

Apply whatever method you are going to use and make it quick as you can. The foaming poisons work extremely well and completely seal off the entrance/exit thus stopping their escape to chase you.

Flashlights and a full moon are bad times to go spraying as these beasties - especially yellow jackets - can see you quite well. They don't come after you in one or two beasties guard patrols either, oh hell no, they come after you by the hundreds, thousands, millions of them I tell you. DAMHIKT! :doctor:

Flame throwers work extremely well when under attack. That is until one gives out of fuel or propellant - or both. Again DAMHIKT!!! :doctor::doctor::eek:

Good luck if you are plagued by these Yellow Demons from Hades.
 
Another method that is said to work is to put Comet or Ajax bathroom cleaner on the mound. The bleach will get them. It makes their feet hurt!
 
A few years ago my day had a nest of yellowjackets get into a crack of the siding on his house. He couldn't use the spray insecticide he had cause it will melt the vinyl siding. We ended up duct taping the hose from his old shop vac just below the hole and fired it up. Anything going in or out was sucked up. Just left it running for a couple hours, then plugged the inlet so nothing got out. That night it got pretty cool and while they were at the bottom of the canister trying to keep warm my dad shoved his acetylene torch in. Warmed them up real good! As far as I know it busted the colony!:)
 
When I saw this heading, I was sure someone had cast a bunch of fire ants in resin and made a pen out of it... I was disappointed.. I'd just just like to find a good way to get rid of moles
 
larry----Lowes sells a big black spike----runs off two d cell batterys. You just stick it in the ground where the moles are ----wait a couple of days and they will leave.
Moles don't like noise and the thing beeps every couple of seconds.
 
I saw a profesor from a local college on TV discussing home remedies for numerous things. The host of the show asked him about Fire Ants and the professor said the best he has found is human urine. The older and smellier the better. IT WORKS----
 
Well, when I was kid, living in Flordia, I got rid of the Fire Ants in our yard with a bit of gasoline and a match......I stood waaay back and lit the gas trail to the mound and woooosh the whole mound would be consumed. Hated those buggers!!!!

The grass eventually grew back, but at least I didn't have to worry about those darn Fire Ants again..............if they made another mound.......it got treated the same way again and they were all finally gone!!!


Barney
 
titan2 said:
Well, when I was kid, living in Flordia, I got rid of the Fire Ants in our yard with a bit of gasoline and a match......I stood waaay back and lit the gas trail to the mound and woooosh the whole mound would be consumed. Hated those buggers!!!!

The grass eventually grew back, but at least I didn't have to worry about those darn Fire Ants again..............if they made another mound.......it got treated the same way again and they were all finally gone!!!


Barney
Click to expand...

Pity, that isn't an option for carpenter ants/termites. But I wish...
 
My wife has a terrible time with ants in our kitchen. the tiny black type. I call them **** ants. I spent quite a bit of time last summer standing in the kitchen feeding them a poisonous liquid stuff. it seemed to work pretty good but it does take several tries and it also requires that the cooperate and eat it. think I will just pour a liter of soda water into the wall next time.
I also have a big problem here with hornets. for the most part I keep them under control with just hanging traps. but once in a while they actually build a next on the keystone block walls I have on my back yard. I am able to kill the entire nest in short order with a powder type poison that is shot right down the hole of there nest. This does take some steady hands and a lot of nerve though. it works best if done in the evening since most of the hornets are in the nest but it can be done at any time since the poison does not matter if the hornet is coming or going. eventually every hornet int he nest will come into contact with the stuff. I have killed several complete nests in a couple of house before. I really like this method because usually a nest is somewhere that I am trying to get work done. I can get back to work fairly quickly and no longer keep looking over my shoulder to see if I got them all.
 
Daniel,
When I was in the Army, the base exterminator came by to treat for what he called "sugar" ants..those little tiny ones. He gave me the hint they used.

Try mixing borax which can be found at supermarkets or drug stores with a little grape jelly. He made up the mixture and shoved some up a straw. He cut off about 2 inches of the straw and left these around various places. He even took off the plates over electrical outlets and left one inside.

We were soon rid of the ants.
 
That's really interesting information, even though we have no fire ants here. It does however take away from the fun of it all. I was always taught to fight fire with fire..so to me a flame thrower would be quite efficient at killing the fire ants, wouldn't hurt the dirt any, and would be fun!
 
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