- 'Tis the season for fire ants.
Looking for relief? Here are 5
home remedies to kill those nasty boogers.
5 Things that readers swear kill fire ants…
-
Sprinkle
grits around the mound. Readers say:
The ants will eat them, the grit will expand, and the ant will die.
Chance this works: 1 in a very big number. Why:
Like you, an ant won't eat food that is bigger or the same size as it is in one
meal.
-
Scoop
into a fire ant mound and place that on another fire ant mound. Readers say: The fire ants will wage war on
each other and exterminate themselves.
Chance this works: 0 in 10.
Why: If you were to scoop one ant mound to another
nearby ant mound the likelihood that it is the same colony is huge. Therefore you would be scooping ants from the
same colony. No war waged. No self-extermination.
-
Pour hot
water on mound. Readers say: This
either drowns or scalds them, but either one is good by them.
Chance this works: 100% to kill ants. 0% to kill colony. Why: Scalding water will kill a lot of small
little insects, but the colony is too large.
You might get rid of the mound, but it would likely re-appear somewhere
else.
-
Pour
gasoline on the mound. Readers say:
This makes more sense than hot water, especially if you ignite it after you
pour. <Warning, duh, this is not too
safe, not to mention bad for your yard.>
Chance this works: 1 in 10. Why:
Again, you will do a good job of killing any insect the gas comes in contact
with, along with the grass and plants around where the gas was applied. You might even get rid of the mound, but
again, it will likely appear somewhere else.
Plus it's bad for the environment.
Plus the desire to ignite will great.
Don't.
-
Lawn
mower. My favorite. Ok, be honest here - who hasn't taken pride
in mowing a fire ant bed?
Chance this works: Slim. Why:
Although this is the best of the bunch, it won't kill the colony. However it will put the surviving ants
(roughly 2,700,000,000 of them) in attack mode.
Seriously. To an ant's thinking,
something is attacking their colony and their queen. If you mow one, it would be best to stay away
for a while.
You would be shocked to know how many fire ants are residing under your
yard right this very second. Same thing
with termites. Queen removal is the only
way to be rid of the colony, and it's possible that a colony has more than one
queen.
It's best to sprinkle poison around the mounds and be patient. I know that is tough, but that is your best
plan of attack.