This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: Ants terrorize children

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

At 08:20 PM 3/9/00 -0500, Vasha wrote to us about her ant problems in Alabama.

I presume you meant red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) by the 
description of "the biting kind".

It is *easy* to kill individual IFA's--boiling water will do it.  However, 
if you don't kill the queen (and there's at least one in every mound), the 
colony will simply whisk her off and start up a new mound elsewhere on your 
property or the neighbor's lot.

These bugs are tricky.  They have sophisticated sensing behaviors and 
protect the queen at all costs from any toxicant threats.  USDA research 
recommends toxicant-laced bait products because the foraging IFA's bring 
these materials back into the interior of the mound and that behavior gives 
you a better shot at killing the queen.  Pouring an insecticide drench onto 
a mound will kill zillions of individuals but very likely won't get the queen.

Whatever method you select, be absolutely sure to follow label directions 
to the nth degree.  It is a violation of U.S. federal law to apply 
insecticides in any way other than according to the EPA-approved label on 
the container.

I have edited some IFA publications, but I'm not sure if any have been 
posted to the APHIS Website.  You can visit www.aphis.usda.gov and click on 
Publications and then use the built-in search engine to see what's up for 
public view.

Interestingly enough, IFA got into California for the first time only last 
year.  The baddies hitchhiked inside bee shipping pallets that were being 
sent into the state for pollination of crops.  Of course, the climate is 
perfect for IFA's in California, so this is a bad situation.  I believe our 
people worked cooperatively with the state to jump on this situation and 
eradicate the IFA's as soon as we discovered they were onsite.

--Janet


______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to sqft-unsubscribe@listbot.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement:
redtag.com offers UNBELIEVABLE prices on a wide variety of brand
names. Get a boys or girls MURRAY 20" bike for only $29.99! Compare
as high as $99. To receive 10% off any purchase TODAY go to
http://www.listbot.com/links/redtag2
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index