Your experiences killing LFA (little fire ants)

[terracore]

Hello,

While I'm aware that there are other historic threads about little fire ants (LFA), there seems to be lacking a thread dedicated to controlling them.

Here's my experiences. I used about 80 bait stations (and about $80 worth of Amdro) placed on every tree. Where possible I put them in the tree. Where not possible I put them on the ground at the base of the tree (elevated on something to keep them dry). Where the dogs have access to the bait stations I put a large lava rock on top. We started about two weeks ago, and to date it hasn't seemed to effect the number of fire ants at all. And I never see them around the bait stations. I did stick one of those disposable liquid ant baits (the clear plastic kind filled with boric acid and something tasty to ants) at the base of a palm tree crawling with LFA and that did seem to wipe them out even though the ant bait wasn't labeled for fire ant use.

So my experience thus far: ant bait not labeled for fire ants=1, Amdro fire ant bait=0. Your experiences?

I can't broadcast spread the amdro because 1) It rains ever day and 2) the chickens eat it.

[Hunt Stoddard]

I would suggest smearing a little peanut butter on top of the bait stations. They can't resist peanut butter.

[Royall]

You might try putting some Amdro on the ground in strategic places and lay a piece of tin or old ply wood over it. That'll keep the chickens out, the bait dry, and ants like to be under stuff.

Royall

Hale O Na Mea Pa`ani

[birdmove]

Last year we had a new bunch of these ants start a new home right in a small garden area we had prepaired. I used Amdro and it wipred them out in 2-3 days.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[riverwolf]

.....also a new product out called "Tango". I think the Hilo Ag Dept. has it. I'm going to call Monday and will let you what I find out.
It's supposed to a good product for LFA's

riverwolf

[ericlp]

I've had LFA in Orchidland. I never won. Once they get in the trees even if you kill every ant on the ground you'll most likely never get them all in the trees (if it's even possible). Once the bait get's stale and the wind blows raining ants down to the ground your problems have just started back over again.

There was a phone number someone here recommended to call. I'd get professional help with this. But to each their own. I think the exterminators have access to special insecticides that you can't buy over the counter.

[allensylves]

It does no good for trees, but to knock them back from coming into the house, I mix Amdro with about the same amount of corn oil (the LFA people found it was the most attractive, more than peanut oil) and let it sit overnight. Then I take a spoon and put dribbles where ever I see trails and on some of the pier blocks. They cluster around the oil and in a couple days or so there are none left using that trail. It works best on an impervious surface (paint, metal, etc.).
Allen

Allen
Finally in HPP

[Royall]

quote:

---

Originally posted by riverwolf

.....also a new product out called "Tango". I think the Hilo Ag Dept. has it. I'm going to call Monday and will let you what I find out.
It's supposed to a good product for LFA's

riverwolf

---

It is about #600.00 for, I believe, 2.5 gallons..... If you get a group of people together to buy it, it might be worth it. A little goes a long ways....http://www.littlefireants.com/index_files/tango.htm

Royall

Hale O Na Mea Pa`ani

[Carey]

Tango is available, not at the Ag station, but at CPS (Leilani st in Hilo)...but it is wayyyyy expensive - over $600 for 2.5 gals....

I have used Amdro granular formulations ("Ant Block Perimeter" & Fire Ant Bait") , (have had luck with the barrier treatment around the house & on trails, limited luck with bait stations, luck mainly right on trails to fruit trees. We can usually get a good reduction for about a month with a full treatment, but the neighboring hordes will re-establish into the dead ants mounds, and we have to start all over again. This summer we started treating 2 neighboring yards & got another week or 2 out of a treatment...so this is probably best done on a large plot area.... but....

We are now trying Amdros newest & bestest (maybe) "Firestrike Yard Treatment" which again is a corn cob granular base with the old formulation (hydramethylnon) PLUS the S-Methoprene larvae inhibitor of Tango.... it has the same rain problems as the other two... we spread it around our orchard area and perimeter a week ago... ants are still using the trails, but less...

One problem with Tango & this new Amdro product is that they are not fast kill products, it supposed to take MONTHS to see the population decrease, as s-methoprene works on the larval development, not on the adult ants....

So we will see if this newest & best is any better....

[terracore]

Here's an article about how LFA was eradicated from a site in Maui using an "experimental treatment":

http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/news/2010-news-re...t-on-maui/
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2010/...5-092.html

The "experimental" treatment turned out to be off-label use of Indoxacarb (which has since been approved for fire ants under the brand name Advion) mixed into a paste and then applied directly to the trees. Unfortunately, for use on fire ants Advion is only produced in a granule similar to amdro and is essentially produced for ground mound fire ants like you see in the southern US. Apparently for the FDA to approve tree-based ant treatments, it costs several million dollars PER TREE SPECIES during testing in order for it to be labeled for such use. Thus, all pastes etc applied to trees using these chemicals are "off label" use and therefore, no such commercial preparation exists. In order to make your own paste you would need to use the chemical in the granule, not the granule.

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.det...28585.html states: "One difficulty - a permanent obstacle faced by farmers in Hawaii - is that labeling a pesticide, even an established one, for a new use costs tens of millions of dollars. Crops of limited production, like tropical fruits, don't provide enough of a market to recoup the cost, and, Vanderwoude said, "EPA is extremely conservative." It wants a separate trial for each variety.

Ants on the ground can be attacked with poison granules, but these don't work on trees. The first step, Vanderwoude said, was to develop a sticky vehicle, which is about the consistency of mayonnaise, to spread on the trees.

The poison was available, but a suitable bait had to be developed also.

The worker ants don't grow, so all they need is energy food - sugar, which they grow themselves by tending mealybugs and scale insects, harvesting the sticky secretions. A sweet bait won't attract ants, because they have plenty.

What's in short supply, said Vanderwoude, is protein, needed by the queen and males for reproduction. The ants quickly gobble up the local insects, so there is a permanent meat famine. The answer: protein-flavored snacks mixed with poison.

The bait-poison was developed in rainy Hilo, and Waihee is also wet, which adds another complication.

The granules lose potency quickly when they become wet, Vanderwoude said. However, it is the opposite with his tree bait. It loses effectiveness as it dries, so a little moisture helps restore it."

It doesn't look like there will be commercialization any time soon.