For anyone who’s ever been bitten by a fire ant or two or three … knows 1. how much it stings, 2. how unsightly the mounds make a yard or grove look, and 3. how difficult it is to get rid of them and keep them at bay.I have tried the conventional route of spreading commercial agrichemical bait/granules all around my yard. Despite mild success employing this method, the red devils have come back with a vengeance each time --- even quicker now after every application. Treating the mounds individually with the bait or powder has yielded the same results. Pure frustration and desparation has led me even to pour boiling water down the holes. Nothing. Believe it or not, banging the mounds with a shovel and yelling didn’t do the trick either. Go figure. At least that failed exercise is a good stress reliever.
Recently, I received a newsletter in the mail from a landscape company I featured on the cover of Ornamental Outlook a little more than two years ago. Winter Garden, FL-based Biosphere Nursery has made its mark by taking a softer approach to gardens and landscapes through promotion of native plantings, basic landscape design principles, and other water-saving/sustainable techniques. I enjoyed learning about the company then and after perusing its latest newsletter, I am really happy to still be on the mailing list. Why? I spotted a little tidbit about a new possible fire ant control method. According to the blurb, University of Georgia ag department researchers have a recommendation for a concoction to possibly control fire ant colonies that is safe enough to drink. Really? So, what is it you ask? Brace yourself (insert drumroll)….club soda. Yep. Apparently,
the CO2 released in the beverage kills the queen. That’s all the damage you need to mow over any fire ant mound.OK, I’m game. Verbiage from the newsletter says to pour two capfuls of club soda directly into the mound. And that’s it. Sounds easy enough.
Not surprising, I have several active mounds ready to experiment on.
I will mark them, pour (shaken, not stirred), track what I hope is the demise of that particular colony, and report back.
In the mean time, bottoms up!
