Post by Maria on Apr 20, 2006 13:16:48 GMT -5
What are the safest and most effective chemical controls for fire ants in yards and pastures?
First, put small pieces of hot dog as bait around the yard. Visually match up ants that come to bait with fire ants that you see by disturbing the mounds. If you have an area dominated by ants other than fire ants, avoid treating that. If you do have fire ants, use Amdro, Award, Logic or similar granule bait preparations. These don't kill instantly but give the workers a chance to take the bait back to the mound as food where its pesticides disrupt reproduction by hormonal control over queen ants. Fire ants forage out of underground tunnels that lead all around within 100' of a mound. Therefore use a broadcast spreader to evenly distribute the bait over your yard.
Pick a mild day on which you first determine that the ants will swarm a piece of hot dog. That means they will efficiently harvest the bait. Broadcast these granules all over the infested area on a nice day so that the fire ants get all of the bait. The worker ants will take the granules into the mound. Be patient because these baits take about 6 weeks to take effect; the mound will die. You should have control for many months and additional spot applications of the granule baits when you see small mounds restarting should keep things tolerable (or with just a mound or two, boiling water poured on the mound when it comes up after a rain is very effective).
If you coordinate with neighbors and use the same treatment area-wide on the same week, you will reduce the rate of re-invasion. We find that native ants increase after such treatments and that's good because they serve useful functions including helping to resist fire ant invasion. Imported fire ants are often the worst where native ants have been disrupted by soil disturbances that accompany home and road construction, or exterminated by broad spectrum pesticides.
Here's the suggestion: 3/4 lb. hydramethylnon in baited granules (under trade names "Amdro" or "Siege") mixed with 3/4 lb s-methoprene in baited granules (under trade name "Extinguish") broadcast applied per acre. A report published on trials with this mix is on the web: Amdro/Siege, a metabolic inhibitor, takes 3-6 weeks after ants consume it to show an effect and the effect lasts for several months until a re-invasion occurs. Extinguish is a growth regulator that takes longer to show an impact, but then can last a year or more. Since these things are not instantly toxic, workers can distribute each of them throughout the colony long before effects set in. While these compounds or breakdown products definitely would not be good for frogs or fish, if application occurs during a period when no run-off rains are anticipated, all of the active material will be taken into fire ant mounds within 30 minutes. Persistence in the environment is relatively short for both.
The answers to this question change frequently. Consult the TAMU extension service web site at fireant.tamu.edu/.
First, put small pieces of hot dog as bait around the yard. Visually match up ants that come to bait with fire ants that you see by disturbing the mounds. If you have an area dominated by ants other than fire ants, avoid treating that. If you do have fire ants, use Amdro, Award, Logic or similar granule bait preparations. These don't kill instantly but give the workers a chance to take the bait back to the mound as food where its pesticides disrupt reproduction by hormonal control over queen ants. Fire ants forage out of underground tunnels that lead all around within 100' of a mound. Therefore use a broadcast spreader to evenly distribute the bait over your yard.
Pick a mild day on which you first determine that the ants will swarm a piece of hot dog. That means they will efficiently harvest the bait. Broadcast these granules all over the infested area on a nice day so that the fire ants get all of the bait. The worker ants will take the granules into the mound. Be patient because these baits take about 6 weeks to take effect; the mound will die. You should have control for many months and additional spot applications of the granule baits when you see small mounds restarting should keep things tolerable (or with just a mound or two, boiling water poured on the mound when it comes up after a rain is very effective).
If you coordinate with neighbors and use the same treatment area-wide on the same week, you will reduce the rate of re-invasion. We find that native ants increase after such treatments and that's good because they serve useful functions including helping to resist fire ant invasion. Imported fire ants are often the worst where native ants have been disrupted by soil disturbances that accompany home and road construction, or exterminated by broad spectrum pesticides.
Here's the suggestion: 3/4 lb. hydramethylnon in baited granules (under trade names "Amdro" or "Siege") mixed with 3/4 lb s-methoprene in baited granules (under trade name "Extinguish") broadcast applied per acre. A report published on trials with this mix is on the web: Amdro/Siege, a metabolic inhibitor, takes 3-6 weeks after ants consume it to show an effect and the effect lasts for several months until a re-invasion occurs. Extinguish is a growth regulator that takes longer to show an impact, but then can last a year or more. Since these things are not instantly toxic, workers can distribute each of them throughout the colony long before effects set in. While these compounds or breakdown products definitely would not be good for frogs or fish, if application occurs during a period when no run-off rains are anticipated, all of the active material will be taken into fire ant mounds within 30 minutes. Persistence in the environment is relatively short for both.
The answers to this question change frequently. Consult the TAMU extension service web site at fireant.tamu.edu/.