:x I have a terrible Fire Ant problem in my vegetable garden and am hoping someone out there can give me a good non-chemical solution to my problem. I really don't want to use the pesticide that I use on the rest of my lawn in my garden, I want to be able to eat my veggies...lol...I am hoping someone out there who has dealt with this issue can give me some good advice as to keeping them out of the veggie garden. Thank you in advance for your help.
Hi EKCMom3 and welcome to the GardenStew. Now on to your troubling Fire Ant question. Now I personally have not dealt with this issue living in Europe but I think I may have tracked down the perfect solution to your problem at this link Help! Need info on Natural pest relief! Hope it sorts out your problem
fire ants in the garden Having lived in south florida for 20 years, I became well acquainted with fire ants. I've had the blisters to prove it. when there is room, boiling water can be used and will kill the whole hill. If there is no room, I do know that ants like sugar, possibly you could sprinkle some sugar wherever they are and trail it out to a spot where you could use fire ant killer on it. My son swears that you can use corn meal with a little sugar sprinkled on it. He says, sprinkle it around the hill, and leave it, if the next day, they are still there, sprinkle more sweetened meal, he said sometimes it might take 3 times. I argued that rain would wash it away but he said, not always as it goes in the hill. You might want to give it a try and let me know. ok? Dorothy
I am intrigued about how painful a fireant bite is. Is it true that it hurts like hell and that it swells up? So glad I have never had the experience of coming face to face with one
Bump.....I thought this would be pertinent to us in the U.S. this time of year. Frank, thanks for that website. We will be looking for ant/fire ant control stuff this weekend. Our yard is becoming covered with little ant mounds. They may not all be fire ants but I have been biten badly by them in the past and really don't want to take any chances. Yep the fire ant bite is extremely painful. Hard to describe the itchy pain it causes, blisters badly and takes about a week to clear up.
I live in the south and we have a terrible time with them. Ive been bitten 100s of times so far this year since Ive been working with my yard. I use grits. I know it sounds funny but Ive been using it for years. Watch the weather channel. When theres no rain in the forecast, take the grits (the kind that you have to make yourself, not the instant). Make a soild circle around the hill. Sit back and wait. They will disappear within a week. If it rains or gets wet, you have to reapply it. You want them to eat it dry. They carry it back to the hill and feed it to the queen and eat it themselves. When they drink water, the grits expand in thier tummies and they explode, killing them. Its never failed me and its cheap.
