Fire Ants

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Until now, insecticides have been the most common method of killing these painful pests.

That involved applying expensive insecticides two to four times a year at a large cost.

Treating all infested land would cost billions a year.

But because of the expense and hazard of these poisons, most landowners did nothing.

This allowed the ants to become an even bigger environmental and financial problem.

Organic Fire Ant Suppression

This organic fire ant treatment is a 2 step method that you can use to fend off these dangerous pests.

1. Drench mounds with Liquid Control formula, which is one part compost tea, 1 part molasses, and one part orange oil. Mix at 4-6 ounces of the concentrate per gallon of water for treating fire ant mounds.
2. Treat the site with purchased beneficial nematodes. Note that these are living organisms and must be used by the date on the package.

If you use the organic solution, ensure that the diversity of microbes, insects, and animals on your property is high. They're the best long-term control once you've weakened the colonies.

Thelohania Fire Ant Disease

This disease weakens colonies of fire ant colonies, particularly by diseasing the queen, whose egg production is drastically reduced. This disease results in 60% fewer ants per acre.

American scientists are testing Thelohania solenopsae, a South American parasitic nematode that causes this disease, in the US.

The other natural predator that controls fire ants in South America is the decapitating fly. They're effective not just because they remove ant heads, but because the surviving ants stop looking for food outside their nest while they try to avoid death from above.

Fire Ant Venom

• Composition is 95% alkaloids and 5% aqueous solution of proteins and peptides.
• Causes immediate and lasting pain.
• Is known to kill living tissue.
• Has killed people.
• A white pustule forms in about 24 hours after the bite, which takes about 10 to 14 days to heal.

Fire Ant Impacts and Costs

• Lower productivity.
• The insecticides used have been as damaging as the ants.
• People and animals (our pets and farm animals) require medical and vet treatment.
• Shorted out electrical equipment.
• Damaged lawn maintenance and agricultural equipment.
• The death of ground-nesting birds and mammals.
• Destruction of helpful garden predators and parasites that destroy problem pests.

Annual losses to agriculture are pegged at $750 million, while all other (non-agriculture) costs are set at $5 billion. That's almost $6 billion of death and damage caused by one insect species!

Much of the information above is courtesy the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

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