Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

OUR WORST MENACE

We received many questions about fire ant control. We need to know the ants behavior in order to know how to get rid of them.

Fire ants are voracious forages; they will cover up to 100 feet in search of food.

Before using a fire ant bait, put out a piece of a potato chip or some other food product with oil in it. If after 15 minutes the ants have not swarmed the food particle, then do not use the bait, because the ants are not foraging.

Some have thought that distrubing the mounds would bring the ants out where they would find the bait. When disturbed, the ants switch from a foraging mode to one of rebuilding the damage or of attacking the intruder.

Probably the biggest problem we have is not using the baits properly. The bait is only good for one day after it is spread on the ground. Its poison is broken down by sunshine, heat and moisture. If we put the poison out and the ants are not foraging, we have wasted the bait.

The bait products are made from using a high protein feed, such as soybean meal, and putting the poison on it. Any carrier, such as soybean meal, that has a high oil content will go rancid when exposed to high temperatures. If it is rancid the ants won't eat it.

If you must store it keep in a cool place and don't store for over a couple of months. It is safer and most effective to use a container of bait once it has been opened.

Do not put the bait on top of the mound. Scatter out over the lawn or pasture area. A rate of one pound per acre is recommended and that is a very small amount.

We have more fire ants moving into the city. Use the baits when necessary then use the Diazion granules around the foundation of your house. The fire ants like to build under a slab. The Diazion can last for a couple of months.

A pasture infested with fire ants can be treated in the spring and the numbers reduced, but if no other insecticide is used the numbers will be back where they originally were by six months.

Some fire ants have only one queen per colony, but more frequently hills will have several. As long as one queen survives, the colony will continue.

There are several insecticides available for use and each offers advantages. Amdro is a slow acting insecticide which fire ants carry back to their queens underground.

Logic is an insecticide that is a hormone growth regulator. This product prevents the ants from reproducing, but it is slower to show results on the ant population, maybe taking several weeks to take effect.

This bait is not picked up by native ants, which are killed when we use the contact killers such as Orthene or Diazion. These insecticides are available in dust and liquids. The ants track the dust poison back to the mound whereas the liquids are designed to drench the whole mound area.

The Extension office has a spreader which fits on the back of a tractor that is designed to spread fire ant baits. If you would like to use this machine contact the Clark County Extension office.

Fire Ant Myth -- "Use grits or corn meal to kill fire ants. After being eaten the grits swell up in the ant and kill it."

I don't know where this got started, but ants can't eat solid foods. They suck juices from a food source, then the remainder of the food is carried out of the mound and put in their trash dump.