Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations fire ants

I found a very effective fire ant killer.

Ortho-Klor termite and carpenter and killer concentrate. It's expensive: one qt cost me $40. I mix 5oz in a 2 gal pump sprayer. Spray around the edge of the mound, then poke holes in the mound with the end of the wand, then when the ants come boiling out, spray over the whole swarming mess. Actually, it's kind of fun. The next morning, the mound is dead.

My question is: Can you use insecticides like this close to the pond edge? Somebody told me that you have to be very carefull using any insecticides around a pond.

Any comments anyone?

Tom Parker

Tom,

Kelly Duffie is going to be a great person to answer this question. E-mail him at kduffie@estesinc.com.

Most fire ant killers have an ingredient that is a fish toxicant. I would be careful with any insecticides around the pond or in the pond's watershed.

In urban areas, we often see fish kills as a result of fire ant killer washing into the pond. We also see the same thing in rural areas where ranchers and landowners are trying to control fire ants in their pastures.

Be careful!

Trent,

Thanks. So far I have only used it on the down slope side from the pond, and since my pond does not have a lot of watershed, I have been okay with it. I will email Kelly Duffie and see what he says.

Tom

I would be careful with any pesticide around your pond even though I hate fire ants. Most of the baits have a much lower concentration of the pesticides but even with them I would be careful about getting too close to the pond with them. I have had very good success with Logic and overnout.

Ortho-Klor is Dursban. It is good stuff, but thought it was outlawed. Wouldn't use it around ponds, though, but it does break down after 1 day. Over n' out or Orthene are safer, but slower acting. They allow ants to spread it thru the colony before they die.

Use Advion for fireants, unless a new fish-safe insecticide has been introduced in the last year. Kelly will know.

I had a carpenter ant problem at my house and trailer last year. I contacted Kelly who put me in touch with the right guy at Estes Chemical. He recommended a product called Phantom. It mixes with water. Then I did my in-laws house for sugar ants. I bought it it works. You spray the place where the ants emerge to come for water. They track through it and take it back to the nest. The problem with past ant killers is that it repelled them. This stuff doesn't. So, I took it to the country to try on fire ants. I put a rock by the nest and sprayed the mixture on the rock. Then I poured some beer in a hollow spot on the rock. That night, I went out and looked. Sure enough, they had found the beer and were going through the dried chemical. In 4 or 5 days, no ants. I picked beer because I figured that might be the only thing that animals wouldn't be attracted to. It worked. Coons and fire ants get into our empty coke cans or I would have used that for the sugar. Of course, I have no idea how many fire ant mounds I have so it's not going to be practical.

Insecticidal soap should work. Non-toxic to fish and humans.....and inexpensive

We had to battle with carpenter ants this past spring. It was untimely as they became a presence during marketing our summer place for sale. In fact, a prospective buyer discovered em for us (teriffic...the good news is we sold the place and rolled the cash into this new pond development). Anyway, I spent time with the pro exterminator and he explained: there is a colony with a queen. The goal is to "kill the queen" (scary thought?) He called the process "baiting". He used a gooey gel that contains a sweet agent to draw them; it is laced with the poison. It is in a hypodermic-type needle and is shot like a small caulking bead into various inconspicuous areas inside the home. Outside, he sprinkled a couple of pounds of what looked like fish meal (tiny flakes) that are also sweet and laced with the same poison. The ants likely reside in a colony/nest in the woods surrounding the home and scouts are working the home looking for a place to establish a new colony. They will ingest the bait, go back to the queen, and regurgitate it as food for her to partake. The poison is a prepared, slow killer so they make it back home to serve the burp-burger supper. He told me that in 2 weeks, they will be gone...he was right on the money. I can retrieve the name of the pro's product if needed...I remember finding it on the internet. It was kind of expensive, but man does it work.
DD-1,
I find it way too ironic (perhaps convenient?) that you selected beer as your sweet trap. I got this mental picture of a beautiful home & landscaping with 40 or 50 near empty beer cans presumably strategically placed throughout the entire property...almost as if someone just dropped em there, one after the other, and started the next one??? :rolleyes:

Brettski, actually there's no beautiful home and landscaping on my rural property. It's actually a mobile home with surroundings that I've given up on "landscaping". Actually pretty scruffy and we only weekend there.

I got the beer idea because we recycle aluminum cans. I toss all of them in a plastic tub and wait for my Grandson to either shoot them or crush them. I noticed that fire ants always built a nest under that tub. They fed on both coke and beer remains but everything messed with the coke cans. Presumably for the sugar. I experimented with 2 tubs; one for beer cans and the rest for soft drink cans. Coons always scattered and sometimes even shredded the soft drink cans but didn't really mess with the beer. Coons are smart. BTW, I haven't tried Diet Mountain Dew. I expect it would also be coon proof.

I have used granules for years around my pond and never had a fish kill. If the mounds are withing about 10 ft of the bank I pour boiling water on the mound, it doesn't kill them but they get mad and move and hopefully it will be away from the pond where I can get them. I have been battling them for about 10 years they will get inside the greenhouse and into the pots that I have plants in. No fun to pull a weed out of a pot and have 50 on your hand!

Bob in North Alabama