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+--- Thread: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) (/showthread.php?tid=10885)
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - sputnut - 05-14-2013
If they love peanut butter, then why not get the liquid and stir it into some pb and put it around for them to eat and share and die? I use terro here in Illinois, and it works great, IF they eat it. I make a small pile of sugar on the counter ( behind the microwave), then soak it in terro, they eat it, share it, and die in about 2 weeks. Maybe mix terro with pb and smear it around. An added bonus... pb can take a little rain.
comin' your way soon!
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - terracore - 05-14-2013
quote:
Originally posted by sputnut
If they love peanut butter, then why not get the liquid and stir it into some pb and put it around for them to eat and share and die? I use terro here in Illinois, and it works great, IF they eat it. I make a small pile of sugar on the counter ( behind the microwave), then soak it in terro, they eat it, share it, and die in about 2 weeks. Maybe mix terro with pb and smear it around. An added bonus... pb can take a little rain.
comin' your way soon!
terro doesn't make a dent in LFA
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - Lee M-S - 05-14-2013
a friend who used to be a pest expert for the USDA said that boric acid mixed with peanut butter worked well for fire ants. He also had a neat delivery system: make up a batch of the poison peanut butter, then stab plastic drinking straws into it (to fill the straws). The straws keep the bait dry and can be hung in trees.
Of course, I use peanut butter to test new plants for antfestation; unfortunately, my cats like peanut butter and associate new plants with peanutty treats, and one of them is going blind in one eye due to fire ant bite. Now we have to put the plants where the cats can't get to them while we test.
><(((*> ~~~~ ><(("> ~~~~ ><'> ~~~~ >(>
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - Carey - 05-14-2013
Lee
Here is the LFA Ant Labs recipe for a boric acid, peanut butter gel bait for the LFAs (printed right after I invested in 'Firestrike' last fall!)
Follow the proportions, and make only what you can use up in an application.
http://www.littlefireants.com/LFA%20Fact%20Sheet%206.pdf
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - terracore - 05-15-2013
If you look around their web site their is an article about an LFA eradication attempt on a Galapagos island and if I remember right, the boric acid bait was the lowest performer in the long term.
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - Carey - 05-15-2013
The big thing to remember is what is the insecticide labeled for...I am not sure any are labeled for direct apply to orchard/food plants, "Firestrike" is labeled for pasture, and last fall that was the only one labeled for that use...I had not found any that are labeled for orchards LAST FALL (things may have changed)
All of the gel formulas are shown to be used on plants, and Ant Lab videos seem to show using gels in what COULD be orchard areas.... but if you are harvesting the fruit for your use, be aware of the labeling for your health... If you are providing the fruits to others...you may even be REQUIRED to be aware of the labeling (not positive on that, but if you are supply your fruit to others, you should be )
(repeated because we have 2 threads current & this is important to remember)
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - sistersue - 05-19-2013
Fire ant control is easy if you buy TALSTAR brand, available only at Garden Exchange on Keawe St. in Hilo. It's expensive but it works. You only have to very sparingly sprinkle it around and it works like a miracle. It's what the professional exterminators use, I think. At least this is my experience.
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - steve1 - 05-21-2013
The only REAL solution to the LFA problem will be biological control, because biological problems can only really be resolved using biological control. (unless you take the nuclear route)
Chemical control is a band-aid approach at best, and the only people really getting positive results are the hardware stores, garden shops, and other wholesalers and retailers who keep selling more and more chemicals as LFA continues to spread. (oh yes, and the state gets to keep tacking on 4.166% on all those chemical transactions)
Want a solution? let people and businesses and businesses write off up to $1000 a year in direct tax credits against their efforts to control LFA on their property. That might pique the curiosity of the State and they might actually get around to trying to find a biological solution for LFA.
In the meantime we continue to suffer...and they continue to spread.
As far as chemicals which have and have not worked so far: Started out cheapest with homemade boric acid-peanut butter-and sugar. But I probably used too much boric acid and later read that you have to keep it down at like 1/2 % or so or the ants won't eat it. Also tried those Terro traps and the liquid wick ones. Didn't work either. Finally broke down and tried Amdro, both the red and black and the green label ones. Didn't do anything and I think Amdro only works if you don't really have a severe infestation of LFA. Upon later reading and esp through the LFA Google group list it sounds like the poison in Amdro may be effective but the bait is not very effective. Perhaps rancid oil, and some people say the humidity in Puna air makes it go bad pretty soon after opening the container.
Decided to try synthetic pyrethroids because they kill quickly and effectively. Am now mostly using bifenthrin (? sp) which is also the active ingredient of Talstar P, but in a variety of products made by Bayer as well. Synthetic pyrethriods are potent neurotoxins but people and our warm blooded pets have livers to remove the toxins from our systems. Ants and other insects don't have livers so they die pretty quickly.
Also use Maxforce expensive granules from BEI inside the house where the dogs can't eat it for the ones that blow in from the neighbor lots. Samer poison as Amdro but much better bait.
Would love to try using Tango (s methoprene) recipe on the
littlefireant.com website because it is even less toxic to mammals than pyrethroids and over the long term would probably have better long term control, BUT the $650 price tag per 2 1/2 gal. is pretty high and the most walking around cash I ever have is a Jackson or two. Also, the network of LFA colonies here in mid HPP (ground zero)is huge and interconnected and unfortunately all those Albizzia lots owned by people somewhere else make great nurseries for LFA colonies. We WILL NOT be able to get successful control of LFA until we have a mechanism in place that allows trespass of unmaintained Albizzia lots, and this is really one of the things our State and Conunty governments should be focusing on. I am bordered by 2 Albizzia lots owned by people on Oahu who don't give a hoot and I can't afford to tend to their problems- but their problems blow onto my property every time the wind blows. This is exactly the sort of issue we need government for... but when is the last time you ever saw a government body think proactively?
Forgot to mention, s-methoprene (Tango) is a hormone disruptor which keeps the ants in a juvenile state so they can't reproduce- but atter application you have to wait for months for the adults to die off, and you may have to reapply every couple-few months to keep them immature. Not sure how this would affect our dwindling honeybee population......But it's all good, Right?
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - unknownjulie - 05-21-2013
I have only used "greenlight" fungus bait in Texas to control fire ants there, but they are different than little fire ants here. But the bait is pretty much nontoxic. The ants take this fungus back to the nest and it kills the colony. It worked well, but of course, it was an ongoing battle. Have not had to deal with the ants here. YET!
RE: Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants) - terracore - 05-22-2013
quote:
Originally posted by steve1
The only REAL solution to the LFA problem will be biological control, because biological problems can only really be resolved using biological control. (unless you take the nuclear route)
Chemical control is a band-aid approach at best, and the only people really getting positive results are the hardware stores, garden shops, and other wholesalers and retailers who keep selling more and more chemicals as LFA continues to spread. (oh yes, and the state gets to keep tacking on 4.166% on all those chemical transactions)
Want a solution? let people and businesses and businesses write off up to $1000 a year in direct tax credits against their efforts to control LFA on their property. That might pique the curiosity of the State and they might actually get around to trying to find a biological solution for LFA.
In the meantime we continue to suffer...and they continue to spread.
As far as chemicals which have and have not worked so far: Started out cheapest with homemade boric acid-peanut butter-and sugar. But I probably used too much boric acid and later read that you have to keep it down at like 1/2 % or so or the ants won't eat it. Also tried those Terro traps and the liquid wick ones. Didn't work either. Finally broke down and tried Amdro, both the red and black and the green label ones. Didn't do anything and I think Amdro only works if you don't really have a severe infestation of LFA. Upon later reading and esp through the LFA Google group list it sounds like the poison in Amdro may be effective but the bait is not very effective. Perhaps rancid oil, and some people say the humidity in Puna air makes it go bad pretty soon after opening the container.
Decided to try synthetic pyrethroids because they kill quickly and effectively. Am now mostly using bifenthrin (? sp) which is also the active ingredient of Talstar P, but in a variety of products made by Bayer as well. Synthetic pyrethriods are potent neurotoxins but people and our warm blooded pets have livers to remove the toxins from our systems. Ants and other insects don't have livers so they die pretty quickly.
Also use Maxforce expensive granules from BEI inside the house where the dogs can't eat it for the ones that blow in from the neighbor lots. Samer poison as Amdro but much better bait.
Would love to try using Tango (s methoprene) recipe on the
littlefireant.com website because it is even less toxic to mammals than pyrethroids and over the long term would probably have better long term control, BUT the $650 price tag per 2 1/2 gal. is pretty high and the most walking around cash I ever have is a Jackson or two. Also, the network of LFA colonies here in mid HPP (ground zero)is huge and interconnected and unfortunately all those Albizzia lots owned by people somewhere else make great nurseries for LFA colonies. We WILL NOT be able to get successful control of LFA until we have a mechanism in place that allows trespass of unmaintained Albizzia lots, and this is really one of the things our State and Conunty governments should be focusing on. I am bordered by 2 Albizzia lots owned by people on Oahu who don't give a hoot and I can't afford to tend to their problems- but their problems blow onto my property every time the wind blows. This is exactly the sort of issue we need government for... but when is the last time you ever saw a government body think proactively?
Forgot to mention, s-methoprene (Tango) is a hormone disruptor which keeps the ants in a juvenile state so they can't reproduce- but atter application you have to wait for months for the adults to die off, and you may have to reapply every couple-few months to keep them immature. Not sure how this would affect our dwindling honeybee population......But it's all good, Right?
As far as I know, phorid flies are the only natural killer of LFA. For every species of fire ant, there is a phorid fly species that kills them. phorid flies have been released in 12 states to control regular fire ants, I do not know if they have been evaluated for LFA. Knowing Hawaii's problems with introduced species, it might be a long time before phorid flies are introduced here. Phorid flies help keep fire ant populations in check. They do not eradicate them.