ARGGG!!!! Fire ants have taken over my compost pile

[obsessed]

ok so I did the pesticide thing and they arent' quite dead yet. But anyway that pile is lost to the illustrious garden of my dreams. I want to build another pile. Should I put it in the other side of my property? or will they move to the second pile..... I am getting desperate..... I NEED NEED NEED soil organic matter...... I NEED IT!!!!!!!

 

[Madfarner]

Fireants are the worst pest here in SE Texas. First, get a bottle of Parsons Household ammonia. When you get stung, IMMEDIATELY scrub the bites with ammonia for 15-20 seconds, then wash it off. The bites won't sting, blister, or itch. To organically treat the mounds, this recipe is from Bob Randall, Ph.D., author of "Year Round Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers for Metro Houston".

Mix 1 gal water, 1 Tbsp molasses, a sqeeze of liquid dish soap, and 3/4 cup citrus oil. If you can dig up the mound, put as much of it as you can in an empty 5-gal bucket, squeeze dish soap over it, and fill it with water from the hose. Then spread the citrus oil solution over the area where the mound was, and dig it in as well as you can with a garden fork. If you can't dig up the mound, pour the citrus oil mix over it and dig it in as well as possible. some ants may survive and make smaller mounds nearby, so you'll have to keep at it for a while.

This will keep poison out of your compost. None of the poisons work worth a crap, anyway.

Madfarmer

 

[rosajrms]

Here is what Jerry Baker says:

Q: Ants! Ants! Ants! Their hills are everywhere! How can I evict them from my property without resorting to toxic chemicals?

A: You can try either of the following controls:

Make your own ant bait by mixing 1 tbsp. of bakers' yeast and 2 tbsp. of sugar in 1 pint of water; spread this mixture on pieces of cardboard, and place them around your yard.
Pile up instant grits or corn meal in and around their hills; once eaten, the grits expand inside them, and they soon go to that big anthill in the sky!

http://www.jerrybaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=2

I know how the bites burn and itch. Got bit once in Mississippi. Have had shingles too, they are about the same level of pain and itching!

Best of luck to you

 

[beak]

Lived in Tx 7 years. Couldn't believe those fire ants. You wipe out a mound they just move a few feet down and start again. Sat on a curb once to change a tire and they crawled in my shorts, never sat on the ground again in Tx. They're so small you don't feel them till they bite.
Good luck. We just moved to get rid of them.

 

[Texan]

another way would be to find the mound and pour SUPER hot boiling water on it.

We still do this here at our place but the truth is they just move somewhere else, but it seems like if its in your compost pile then that is what you are after, right

 

[obsessed]

They are back. This is my third pile and they found it. Dang them. I lost a whole pile last year cause I used chemicals. This year I am going to turn up the heat. maybe they won't like it so much if it is hot. How can I heat up my pile?

 

[Texan]

They are back. This is my third pile and they found it. Dang them. I lost a whole pile last year cause I used chemicals. This year I am going to turn up the heat. maybe they won't like it so much if it is hot. How can I heat up my pile?

I dunno, I feel like I am going to have this problem as well, as I am going to build a big compost pile. Maybe if they heat up like they are supposed to the ants wont be able to survive, is that what you are thinking?

Mjd

 

[blue skys]

A master gardener told me dryed molasses will get rid of them. You should be able to get it at a feed store. I haven't tryed it yet, but I need to.

 

[Texan]

A master gardener told me dryed molasses will get rid of them. You should be able to get it at a feed store. I haven't tryed it yet, but I need to.

I hadnt heard that, I have some of that around.

 

[ddawn]

I use ammonia on all stings, even mosquito bites, scratch it in, don't even rinse. Even works on Portugese Man-o-War. Dissolves the protein of the toxin, or so I have read.

Try finding the little buggers into your worm bed.... or your house.... I can keep their numbers down but have never found anything that actually gets rid of them.