Coping wtih Fire Ants
by Billie Karel
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Fireants can swarm
out of nests in large numbers and bite and sting you,
so wear your boots, cowboys and girls!
Photo: Bastiaan “Bart” Drees,
Texas AgriLife Extension Service. |
Red imported fire ants have crept North
into the Carolinas over the past decade to become a nasty
little sign of summer. With fire ant mounds popping up
in yards, playgrounds and ball fields across the state,
it may seem like we’re
all doomed to suffer their bites, but fear not! These tips
can help you manage fire ants without resorting to toxic
chemicals, so you can enjoy a long hot summer without the
sting of fire ant bites…or toxic pesticides!
Getting rid of every last fire ant is not really
possible, so keep things in perspective. With a little common
sense and precaution, you can prevent fire ant bites, and
discourage them from making a home in high-traffic areas.
Mind the mounds! Fire
ant mounds look like hills of loosened soil. Disturbing
a mound will cause the ants to come out and attack – they’ll
climb up the nearest thing, most likely your leg, and start
biting. Ow!
• Keep an eye out for ant mounds when walking, picnicking or camping
in grassy areas.
• Mark ant mounds with flags or sticks so that others won’t
accidentally disturb them.
• When working outside in areas with fire ant infestations, don’t
wear sandals! Wear boots, or tuck your pant legs into your socks to prevent
fire ant bites.
No hospitality. Make your yard less friendly
to fire ants:
• Fix leaky pipes and improve drainage around your home—fire
ants are less likely to nest where they can’t access water daily.
• Your garbage is like a buffet for fire ants, so keep trash and recycling
areas tidy: empty and clean bins often, rinse containers, and replace trash
cans with holes in them.
• Clean up after Fido! Fire ants like to eat the fly larvae found in pet
droppings.
• Mow often; fire ants don’t like to nest in disturbed areas.
• Let other ant species thrive. Many native ant species are fierce competitors
of fire ants, so avoid the use of pesticides that might harm native ants, and
choose diverse native landscaping to provide shelter for native insects.
Least-toxic fire ant control
Be careful and patient when trying any of these least-toxic
control options for fire ants. Wear proper pants and shoes,
and dust your shoes and pant legs with baby powder or cornstarch
to prevent ants from crawling up.
Flood the nest with hot water. This cheap
and non-toxic solution will kill some fire ants and annoy
the rest into moving the nest someplace else. Add a squirt
of non-toxic dish soap to 2-3 gallons of very hot water,
and slowly pour the water into the mound. This works better
for new mounds, in the cooler morning and evening hours when
ants are more likely to be near the surface. You may have
to repeat this a few times to finish the job.
Make your own fire ant bait with
borax powder.
 Least-Toxic Fire
Ant Bait
Cool weather mix:
4 tsp. borax
1 cup sugar
3 cups water
Warm weather mix:
1 tsp. borax
1/2 can of cat food
(or 2 Tbsp. peanut butter)
Mix the ingredients (for the cool
weather mix, soak cotton balls with the liquid) and
place inside a glass or plastic container with holes
punched in the lid. Place the bait near the nest,
not on top of it. Don’t
allow kids or pets to play near the bait unattended. |
If home remedies haven’t worked, try a least-toxic
commercial product. Look for the active ingredients
boric acid, d-limonene (citrus oil), pine oil, or spinosad.
Follow all label instructions and use these products sparingly,
as some can irritate the skin or nasal passages or harm
non-pest species.
Try the “yellow flag system”. This
method was created by William Bailey of Elizabeth City Schools,
and involves marking fire ant mounds with yellow flags and
applying granular bait pesticide sparingly around the flag
area over a few days or weeks. Find the article describing
Mr. Bailey’s method, “School IPM in Action”,
in the archived edition of our Winter
2004 newsletter.
Good luck, and remember to mind the mounds!
Toxic Free News is a publication of
Toxic Free NC
206 New Bern Place, Raleigh, NC 27601, (919) 833-5333, Toll-free
1-877-NO-SPRAY
, http://www.toxicfreenc.org
Mission: Toxic Free NC advocates
for alternatives to toxic pesticides in North Carolina by
empowering people to make sound decisions about their health
and environment.
Staff: Billie
Karel, Program Coordinator; Ana
Pardo, Communications
Coordinator; Fawn Pattison,
Executive
Director; Jean Strandberg, Toxic Free Kids Intern.
Board of Directors: Colleen
Boudreau, Treasurer; Laxmi Haynes; Mindy Hiteshue; Cathy
Jones; Omar Laínez;
Michelle
Nowlin, President-Elect; Annie O'Leary; Katherine
M. Shea,
President; Allen Spalt, Immediate Past President.
Emeritus Board Members: Billie Rogers, Jane Sharp MacRae,
Erick Umstead.
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