Ok, there have been pages written here about how to kill hornets..... most of it pretty funny stuff. I came across a fire ant mound today, first I have seen in this area of western NC. I will make it my mission to kill 'em all. Like any racer, I am thinking of solving the problem with a good dose of petroleum ( gasoline, kerosene, used motor oil ) combined with a spark. Safety warnings and EPA regulations aside, anybody here have a 'sure-fire' method of total annihilation?
AMDRO makes a granualar product that you just pour a tablespoon around the mound and it will kill the mound. Works well but won't prevent another group from moving into your yard. You can have the whole yard treated but unless the neighbors do the samething it doesn't work for long. David
Lighting them on fire just makes them mad. Sort of like shooting a pit bull in the nutZ with a rubber band.
Orthene is the nastiest smelling stuff around, and it doesn't take much. Ants seem to like it though. They take it into the mound with them and kills them like nothing else. Gas will kill all the surrounding vegetation and nothing will grow there for a long time.
I bought some stuff from Home Depot. http://www.spectracide.com/ProductCategories/OutdoorInsecticide/FireAntKillerGranules/ couple of tablespoons over mound. pour 1 gallon of water. Ants gone in 24 hrs. Other than that, when one bites me, I pick it up and bite it back!
I call them ant condos when they pop up. I have to sprinkle them with any of the products mentioned above to kill them. Like terrorist cell groups, when you kill off one, more will eventually pop up elsewhere. No way to totally get rid of them in this part of the country.
Enviromentally friendly method. 4-5 gallons of boiling water poured slowly onto mound so that it soaks and runs down the ant trails as opposed to running off. It will kill the grass near the mound but ants normaly kill of most of it anyway so not much to worry about and the grass grows back in about 2 weeks. Speaking of which I need to boil some water and kill two mounds.
There's no fire ants in this part of the country, but there are bees that nest underground. As noted above, just the fumes from dumping fuel on the mound will kill them, but I find it much more satisfying to drop a match on it for good measure.
Okay......back away novice fire ant killers I've tried everything under the sun.....Spectricide, Amdro, gas, blah blah blah It only pisses them off and they wait till you THINK they are gone then come back with a nasty attittude next go round. You cannot kill the bastards I'm sorry. What works then? Over n Out or similiar products with the "f$ck off" base in it. Also, the little bastards hate diazinon also. You can't kill them but if you treat your whole yard with the stuff twice a year....they'll play in the neighbors yards instead of yours. Give new meaning to love your neighbor as yourself huh?
How did I miss this thread? Anyway, what has worked for me is to run over the mound with the mower repeatedly. Run over it, go cut some grass and then run over it again once it's covered with ants. Continue process until the mound no longer produces many ants. Most mounds I have done this with go away. Don't know if it's because of population depletion or what, but it has worked.
Take a scoop of ants from a neighboring mound and deposit them on the one in your yard. It won't kill them all, but it would probably make for some awesome fight footage.
get a spreader and use some of the above mentioned products. remember that there is the hill and then somewhere within a 5' radius is a little hole in the ground where they also exit. i dont think fire will kill off an entire colony though....
take a scoop of grits to them... try it for yourself...the mounds are connected underground to a network..you cannot get rid of them just move them around. the mounds are just incubators for the eggs and launching areas for the new winged ants to make more nests.... they come out after a good rain the next day. Very interesting reads on the fire ants... they are good for your lawn and your house the eat termites and lawn grubs ect. of course they are unafraid of sining you as well..
Andro works great, PLEASE DON'T USE GAS OR OIL! especially if you have a well, you are risking your family's health as well as your neighbors.
Yeah, I got to admit, that one was tempting. After I got bit, that was the first thing I wanted to do
