My War Against Fire Ants

Fire ant stings are painful, but at least fire ants aren't the world's most venomous insect. Though they aren't going to kill me, I still don't want them in my yard or home, so I've been getting educated about how to manage them. The ants use chemicals to signal each other so they can sting you all at one time. They also use chemoreception to find food. You can use this information to your advantage.

The USDA recommends using baits to selectively control fire ants in your yard. You can place the baits near the fire ant colonies so that only the fire ants pick up the poison to return to their colonies, leaving other ants and insects as undisturbed as possible. It is not a great idea to use the baits to control ants in or very near your house, however, because the chemical trails left by fire ants saying 'dinner is served' will attract ants from outside, making your problem worse.

One method of keeping outdoor ants (and roaches and other crawling insects) outside is to poison the perimeter of doors and cracks with boric acid or borax. You may have boric acid around your home if you tried the green fire project. In addition to making a cool crystal snowflake, borax is a common natural cleaner and insecticide. Boron is toxic to people as well as to insects, so boron compounds should not be used on or near food or houseplants. Pyrethrins are probably one of the better insecticide options for in-house control because that have a low toxicity to humans and pets and are biodegradable.

Another tidbit of information I picked up concerned using grits to kill fire ants. Grits don't kill fire ants. Actually, many of the poisoned baits use grits as the food to lure the ants. However, if you place grits on top of an ant colony, the ants will move the entrance to the colony. This may give the mistaken impression that ants are dead.

If you have fire ants, they may not build mounds, like in the photograph. The colonies may be deeper in the ground when the weather is dry and hot. Also, ants are attracted to electricity, so colonies may be found near fuse boxes and outlets. I'm told eradicating them isn't really possible, but control isn't too hard, provided you use the proper chemicals and strategy. Not grits. Not gasoline/fire (attractive as that option sounds). Not all-out chemical warfare on all insects. I'll let you know how it goes.

How Borax Cleans | Natural Mosquito Repellents
Photo: If the ground isn't too dry or hard, fire ants may build mounds.