Rethinking fire ants

Mojo · May 29, 2009

Here in Texas, we have a pest that rarely bothers undamaged tomatoes, but will seriously bother undamaged tomato growers: fire ants.

Yankees cannot appreciate the hazard we face just by going into the garden barefoot. A well-mulched bed can conceal a sizable colony (they don't mound up unless the soil has been waterlogged), which you can then discover by carelessly dallying over a Cherokee Purple. This is the source of the famous East Texas Fire Ant Dance, wherein the victim jumps, whirls and capers about in a furious attempt to rid his legs of the attackers, who generally wait until they have established a presence en masse before simultaneously laying down the pain. I have seen grown men strip off their pants over their shoes in an attempt to be rid of the vermin. (Barefoot, by the way, is a good way to instantly locate them; a few bites on the foot are a good early warning; perversely, wearing shoes can actually make things worse by allowing the ants to go up your legs before attacking...)

("Oh, it's just a little ant bite, what's one or three?" I can answer that in one word: blisters.

)

Ordinary pesticides don't work well; about the only things that do work are Amdro (TM) baits (take a while), boiling water or kerosene on the mound (each problematic in their own ways, both involve locating the main mound and hoping Queenie is near the surface), or raspberry ants (which cause even more damage to electrical cables than fire ants, who are already notorious for infesting switch boxes and the like).

But this year I had something of an epiphany. Fire ants eat anything that can't get away from them: ticks, caterpillars, baby birds, even toads. That can be a useful thing. I have two beds, one with a significant fire ant presence and one without. The one without has a serious stink bug problem this year --but the one with has almost no stink bugs. Coincidence? I begin to wonder...

And so I'm going to try something: I'm going to leave the fire ants alone and let them set up shop in the beds. I've long since known that fire ants will guard okra jealously, I'm starting to think that maybe they can be persuaded to hang around and guard the maters. (NB they will invade bird-damaged fruit, so be careful when picking.)

Blueaussi · May 29, 2009

My fire ant problem was solved by an infestation of another exotic invasive species, the Argentine Ant. They've formed a mega colony in my neighborhood, and have pretty much wiped out the fire ants and termites. They swarm, but they rarely bite. They have also, unfortunately, had an adverse impact on some of the beneficial insects that lead to a jumbo-sized early season whitefly infestation, and we've had very cross words over the monarch caterpillar eggs and aphid herding.

So, if you live in the south, I guess you just have to pick your poison.

**Lee** · May 29, 2009

The aphid herding and the bites I get just from being in my garden are the reason this war will go on! Boiling water
didn't do too much against the ones in my garden last year.
So this year, if they come back, I'll have to figure out something new.

Lee

May 29, 2009	#1
Mojo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 317	Rethinking fire ants Here in Texas, we have a pest that rarely bothers undamaged tomatoes, but will seriously bother undamaged tomato growers: fire ants. Yankees cannot appreciate the hazard we face just by going into the garden barefoot. A well-mulched bed can conceal a sizable colony (they don't mound up unless the soil has been waterlogged), which you can then discover by carelessly dallying over a Cherokee Purple. This is the source of the famous East Texas Fire Ant Dance, wherein the victim jumps, whirls and capers about in a furious attempt to rid his legs of the attackers, who generally wait until they have established a presence en masse before simultaneously laying down the pain. I have seen grown men strip off their pants over their shoes in an attempt to be rid of the vermin. (Barefoot, by the way, is a good way to instantly locate them; a few bites on the foot are a good early warning; perversely, wearing shoes can actually make things worse by allowing the ants to go up your legs before attacking...) ("Oh, it's just a little ant bite, what's one or three?" I can answer that in one word: blisters.) Ordinary pesticides don't work well; about the only things that do work are Amdro (TM) baits (take a while), boiling water or kerosene on the mound (each problematic in their own ways, both involve locating the main mound and hoping Queenie is near the surface), or raspberry ants (which cause even more damage to electrical cables than fire ants, who are already notorious for infesting switch boxes and the like). But this year I had something of an epiphany. Fire ants eat anything that can't get away from them: ticks, caterpillars, baby birds, even toads. That can be a useful thing. I have two beds, one with a significant fire ant presence and one without. The one without has a serious stink bug problem this year --but the one with has almost no stink bugs. Coincidence? I begin to wonder... And so I'm going to try something: I'm going to leave the fire ants alone and let them set up shop in the beds. I've long since known that fire ants will guard okra jealously, I'm starting to think that maybe they can be persuaded to hang around and guard the maters. (NB they will invade bird-damaged fruit, so be careful when picking.) __________________ There is no logical response to the question, "Why won't you let me plant more tomatoes?"

May 29, 2009	#3
Lee Tomatopalooza™ Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NC-Zone 7 Posts: 2,188	The aphid herding and the bites I get just from being in my garden are the reason this war will go on! Boiling water didn't do too much against the ones in my garden last year. So this year, if they come back, I'll have to figure out something new. Lee __________________ Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad. Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread.

May 29, 2009	#2
Blueaussi Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: South Carolina Zone 8a Posts: 1,205	My fire ant problem was solved by an infestation of another exotic invasive species, the Argentine Ant. They've formed a mega colony in my neighborhood, and have pretty much wiped out the fire ants and termites. They swarm, but they rarely bite. They have also, unfortunately, had an adverse impact on some of the beneficial insects that lead to a jumbo-sized early season whitefly infestation, and we've had very cross words over the monarch caterpillar eggs and aphid herding. So, if you live in the south, I guess you just have to pick your poison.