OT: Fire Ants

[Allthumbs]

I have acreage in southeast Fannin county about 55 miles northeast of Dallas. Over 20 years ago fireants infested the area. This year I have not seen a mound one. We had some hard freezes this winter and would see dead ants on top of the mounds. Hopefully they don't migrate back too soon. How far south of me have had the same good fortune?

 

[Brian Bell]

How dry has it been in your area? I'm in the midlands of SC and when it gets dry here they disappear. When we get some rain, they come charging back...

 

[gahorN]

(quoted from post at 07:32:12 07/07/10) I have acreage in southeast Fannin county about 55 miles northeast of Dallas. Over 20 years ago fireants infested the area. This year I have not seen a mound one. We had some hard freezes this winter and would see dead ants on top of the mounds. Hopefully they don't migrate back too soon. How far south of me have had the same good fortune?

Pseudacteon flies (Fire Ant Parasites) have been widely introduced throughout the southern United States, starting with Travis, Brazos, and Dallas counties in Texas, for fire ant control. Perhaps you are benefitting from that. The flies reproduce by laying their eggs in the bodies of the ants, which kills the ant. (Actually, the head falls off.)

 

[valhallareject]

Here in Gillespie and Kendall County I"d have to say that I"ve seen no reduction in the number of fire ant mounds. Here its like the guy said....if it gets dry...they go subterranian and then reappear once it gets a little wet. Never thought I"d say it....but could you send some of those flies our way...I"d love to sit around and watch fire ant heads fall off....from a distance, of course. hehehe...

 

[Caryc]

If you do have fire ants in your area, "Amdro" works. Just sprinkle the granules around the mound (doesn't take much) and usually when you go look the next day you won't see any ants.

When you sprinkle the stuff around the mound you will usually see them immediately start taking the stuff down into the hole.

The stuff works so well that I expect it to be taken off the market pretty soon.

 

[Richard G.]

This is the first year in a long time we haven"t had many fire ants in NW SC, Oconee County. We had an old fashioned good cold winter and plenty of rain this spring and recent heavy rains.
Hope this is a sign of things to come.
Richard

 

[Old Texan]

Save thing here in Johnson county south of DFW area.. I "heard" that the cold and the snows we had killed them off.. Not one of my beds I normally have is active,,Nada dang one..

 

[Keb in MS]

Plenty here in south MS if you need any I could send you some.

 

[Keb in MS]

Plenty here in south MS if you need any I could send you some.

 

[Allthumbs]

Before the ants moved in we had the large earth worms everywhere in the garden and grew abundant vegetables. I don't know if the ants are the cause but now there are no earthworms and even a weed has a tough time trying to grow in the garden. I hope they are gone for good.

 

[Allthumbs]

Before the ants moved in we had the large earth worms everywhere in the garden and grew abundant vegetables. I don't know if the ants are the cause but now there are no earthworms and even a weed has a tough time trying to grow in the garden. I hope they are gone for good.

 

[hansen]

I was in our garden store looking for an ant killer, and the guy gave me some stuff called "Come And Get It" fire ant killer. It"s like the Amdro mentioned above. You toss some on the mound and they immediately take it in. Next day there are dead ants all over.

 

[Cutty]

Out bush hogging yesterday I noticed a drastic decrease in mounds and the ones I did hit were antless. I live in SE Tennessee. Been very hot and dry here. 100 degrees today and no recent rain. I'm afraid the ants just went deep for the time being though. An old feller here told me to sprinkle the mounds with grits and that will kill em! Seems they eat the grits and then moisture swells the grits and blows em up!

 

[awhtx]

Here in Lampasas the fire ants had pretty much disappeared until a couple of days ago after we got 2" of rain from the hurricane. We had not had measurable rain for the past 3 months. Now they're back in force again. As a couple of other responders said, when it's dry they disappear.

 

[Sean (TX)]

Plenty here in Comal county...I treated 1 mound with M80's and smoke bombs...They moved out LOL

 

[Mikeyt]

Here's a couple of 'fitting' treatments for fire ants.
1) scrape off the top with a LONG handled hoe exposing the hole and pour melted lead into the hole. Might take half a coffee can full. Then dig up the lead and mount it on a board and put it in your shop. Good conversation piece and a fitting treatment for the dang buggers!
2) Get Texas A&M to bring some of their flys. The tiny flys lay eggs on the ants head and the resulting maggot eats the fire ants brains. These flys are VERY small. No SH-- Sherlock!

 

[G6 at Snook, TX]

Generally, we have noticed a decline in fire ant activity. I attribute part of it to the generally dry conditions we have experienced the last few years, but I have also become aware of another factor that makes sense as well. They are voracious eaters and move into an area in force, but once they eat through their habitat they tend to die off and fall back in population. As the habitat recovers they too will recover. We used to have quail, road runners, and other smallish creatures around here in Snook, but for about 20 years they were non-existent. In the last three to five years those critters and others mentioned have returned.

I am ambivalent about them because they hurt like the dickens when they bite, but they have also killed the tics. Used to have to spray the cattle for tics or you would pick them off your person after walking under a tree where the cattle bedded down, but now tics are few and far between except for a few dog tics.

 

[jon]

but they have also killed the tics.

I'd never heard that before. Good to know they're good for something!

 

[Cutty]

hmmm...we have very few ants and tons of ticks this year. Anybody else noticing an increase in ticks?