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Fire Ant Control!

I feel like an old cynic on the topic of organically controlling fire ants. 
(I don't think it can be done, tho I don't use chemicals, either) These 
pesky dudes are a real menace where we are in Central Texas. I've watched 
them haul aphids to my eggplants and let them 'graze'. At first I was 
overjoyed because I thought they were eating them, then I noticed several 
'shepherd' ants, and realized they were protecting the aphids and hauling 
them back and forth from their nests to the leafy grazing grounds.
They're simply amazing at adaptability. Used to be, yes, you could pick up a 
shovelful of one nest and dump it on the next one, and they'd fight till 
both were destroyed. Now, this practice has let to multiqueening, so no one 
nest ever is destroyed. It can only be practiced when they're actually 
mounding anyhow. Some phases in hot weather, they won't make a large mound, 
but 'percolate' through the topsoil. Generally, around in my area, it's 
thought that if you can't battle the ants while they're still in a mound, 
and they start to make the flattened nests, just give it up for that season!
Once, I thought I'd blast a nest away with a garden hose run down into it. I 
think I had 1/2 of a 50 ft hose used up before I gave up and blasted it 
anyhow. Never did reach a stop, but did have a hose full of mad ants to deal 
with. Boiling water will at least deter them, if you put it out on top of 
the working mound.
Diatomaceous Earth is said to kill them but I use it a lot, and haven't 
noticed much of a lessening in the ant population. Ditto ANTidote, a 
nematode that you inoculate the soil with and it's supposed to feed on the 
ants, especially the queens. Expensive, and I couldn't afford to treat my 
entire property, so any place I DID get a colony of parasitic nematodes 
going, the ants just waited till hot weather drove them further into the 
ground, and moved back into range.
Fire ants can and will eat thru eggshells to get to the chicks inside, so 
the ground dwelling bird population (and snake) has really taken a beating 
from them. Cattle operations have had to be staged so no late Spring babies 
are born because ants are really attracted to the proteins and moisture that 
occurs during the birthing process. One or two fire ant stings isn't going 
to bother most folk, but many children are highly allergic to their stings, 
and are more apt to get into a frenzied nest of them than an adult.
Northern Migration: Used to be said that the 50* mark would be the barrier 
for how far North the fire ants can travel and survive. Now that they've 
learned to take butterfly larvae into hibernation with them, (milking them 
instead of the more tedious aphids), and making multiqueen nests for 
survival insurance,  fire ants can survive longer winters and colder temps.
AND ON THE SLIGHTLY BETTER SIDE OF ANTS... I haven't had to worm my goats 
very often, and I think it's because the ants are breaking the cycle while 
the ocysts are in the soil.  I fear overuse of worm medications because 
internal parasites can mutate much faster than we can find new solutions to 
them. If I worm, aren't I poisoning my soil and the ants that may be eating 
the worm eggs and larvae, too? Bear in mind I don't have anything to back 
this up, but I run fecal exams before I just give out drugs to my goats, and 
I rarely have an overpopulation of parasites in the herd. Everyone else in 
the South has been having serious problems with worms, so.... I'm hoping I'm 
on the right track by letting the ants break the cycle.
And, a little humor: A good friend has had tremendous luck raising the 
exotic Lady Gouldian finches (extremely hard to breed in captivity), and his 
'secret'?  He encourages fire ants to mound in his yard so he can upturn 
their nests and pluck out all the ant eggs to feed to his little birds!
And, NO, I don't use Amdro nor any other bait type of fire ant poison, but I 
have heard their commercials, and they're hysterical... (Like Robin Williams 
on speed.)
martha
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