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Anyone know of a readily available and cheap way to get rid of fire ants(other than gas or diesel)? I've tried the Spectracide mound destroyer which didn't seem to work. I've got about a dozen or so mounds in my 1.5 acre back yard and with a mobile 2 yr old son I need to get rid of these bastards. They hurt like a mother....worthless creatures they are!
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Spectracide works You just have to keep treating every mound you see, and accept the fact you can't kill them all
I keep a container on my riding mower so I can treat them as soo as they appear
One shot, one kill........ It saves a lot of ammo!
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Past several years of drought did a number on em here. But I doubt you want that tragic an action.
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Move farther North.
Once they get started in an area, they are there to stay. You have to stay on top of it and put out poison. You'll kill that mound, but another will pop up somewhere else within a few weeks. Best advice I have is to just be diligent and kill off each mound ASAP before it gets big.
They are worse during wet summers BTW.
Most people don't really want the truth.
They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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gasoline and a match
did you know there is yet another ant that is taking over the south and slowly but surely wiping out the fire ants? For now they are only in a few counties but they will spread eventually and they take out fire ants.
They are harmless to humans but they mass in huge numbers in the walls of houses or barns, and they love to chew up electronics and power equipment.
Last edited by KFWA; 09/25/14.
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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They are tough bastids from what I understand. You need something very fine they can drag back into the mound like Eliminator Powdered Insecticide
Liberalism is a mental disorder that leads to social disease.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I believe Amdro Fire Ant Bait is the gold standard around here. Doesn't kill 'em by tomorrow but eventually poisons the whole colony. http://www.amdro.com/Product-ChooserDrought has done a number on 'em around here too, that and crazy ants. Birdwatcher
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Campfire Regular
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OP
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Move farther North.
They are worse during wet summers BTW. I'll deal with the ants before I move any further north We've had a mild and wet summer so that would explain the increase in mounds. I hate the things with a passion!
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2011
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Gasoline is your friend
Last edited by chlinstructor; 09/25/14.
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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did you know there is yet another ant that is taking over the south and slowly but surely wiping out the fire ants? For now they are only in a few counties but they will spread eventually and they take out fire ants.
They are harmless to humans but they mass in huge numbers in the walls of houses or barns, and they love to chew up electronics and power equipment. Crazy ants. One morning I followed a stream of 'em in a trail fully 70 yards long running down the gutter on our street But they do kill fire ants, and termites, and also appear to control ticks and chiggers like fire ants do. Birdwatcher
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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yea from what I've read we may hate them more
but given I've run into ponds on golf courses more than once thanks to fire ants, I'm having a hard time believing it now
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Amdro...a teaspoon next to each mound will do it. You just have to keep an eye out for new mounds.
One of my younger brothers sat down on one when when he was about 1 1/2 years old; sent him to the hospital
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Dec 2006
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yea from what I've read we may hate them more
but given I've run into ponds on golf courses more than once thanks to fire ants, I'm having a hard time believing it now golf what is this you speak of?
Liberalism is a mental disorder that leads to social disease.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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in my younger days when I thought spending $60 to waste a saturday chasing a ball around was a good thing.
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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yea from what I've read we may hate them more Strangely enough the West Side of San Antonio right where I'm at was one of the first places to get 'em. We've had them for several years. Extremely mobile colonies. I've left a car in the driveway for a week and had 'em make a nest under the floor mat of all places. And if you leave anything edible out, they'll find it, even bags of dry pet food. Unlike fire ants too they climb, cant hang a hummingbird feeder without an ant trap of some kind. The flip side is they are small, don't bite, and if you remove the food source they ain't usually a problem, leastways IME. I'll take them over fire ants. Birdwatcher
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Don't know about fireants, but Golden Malrin flybait kills the hell outta our red ants when sprinkled on a hill......
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Advion fireant bait. It contains indoxacarb as the active ingredient. Syngenta markets it, but it is a DuPont insecticide. I did a lot of the R&D with it for use in veggies and row crops. It works great for fireants.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Some guys have use baby powder i hears. An exterminator I know says the powder they use in homes is borex?
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Some guys have use baby powder i hears. An exterminator I know says the powder they use in homes is borex? Baby powder does nothing, and Borax doesn't kill the Queen, which is the only real way to hurt the colony
One shot, one kill........ It saves a lot of ammo!
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With that few mounds, I'd have me a few low country boils and dispose of the boiling water down a hole you poke down the center of the nest. It has worked for me. I don't think they can run from hot water. I always thought that a steam cleaning wand shoved down the mound would cook them too.
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