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I'd say ours took at least 3 years to come back. LFA don't travel far on their own. I'm pretty sure they reinfested our yard because we moved things from areas where they weren't under control. I've also seen LFA crawling away from my boots after working in the back of the property.
The most effective product for us has been Siesta. But it takes a group buy to get it.
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I saw Antixx for sale today at the Gardener's Co-op in Hilo.
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(07-15-2022, 03:33 AM)kalianna Wrote: I saw Antixx for sale today at the Gardener's Co-op in Hilo.
I think the Co-Op buys from Nutrien and marks the price up 20%.
The ant lab is recommending a newer product called Maxforce Complete granules.
I skimmed some info on it and it appears to kill generationally similar to advion cockroach bait. Aka the ants that touch the dead ants themselves become carriers that eventually die and the ones that touch them.... the domino effect. It also baits and kills cockroaches. They are granules but I couldn't tell that it was a corn grit base and the application instructions didn't mention anything about keeping it dry.
It comes in different sizes as small as 8 ounces.
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You better read this, you can't use it around food crops or animals.
https://www.environmentalscience.bayer.u...-bait.ashx
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(07-15-2022, 07:32 AM)Obie Wrote: You better read this, you can't use it around food crops or animals.
https://www.environmentalscience.bayer.u...-bait.ashx
I thought that was pretty much the case with all of them except the Tango.
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I got the Maxforce Complete granules today. Too early to speak of the efficacy but when I went to open it, the lid felt loose and I couldn't tell if the seal had already been broken. With the corn grits its easy to tell when they have gone bad but this isn't a corn grit formula. It didn't smell weird but I don't know what its supposed to smell like.
I went to an area I knew the ants were, lifted a rock and saw them. I sprinkled a tiny amount of the product on the side under the rock that had no visible ants, and replaced the rock.
I went to a few other areas to look for ants and couldn't find any, so returned to the rock after about 3 minutes.
Not only did the ants already find the bait after 3 minutes, they were moving it, trying to take it down into their lair. I had never seen them do that with the corn grit products, they just would line up to suck the poison out of them. So not knowing if the seal was broken or not, the product is definitely baiting the ants. According to the literature the ants will die whether they feed off the product or just touch it, and their corpses will do the same for multiple generations. The granules are much bigger than the ants are, so I don't think they'll be able to move them with any significance unless they are able to break them down.
I'll look tomorrow to gauge the ant activity.
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I got the Maxforce Complete granules today.
When you post an update would you let us know where you bought it, and price?
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So after about 24 hours I lifted the rock. Most of the ants looked dead though there were a few moving slowly. Tomorrow I'll return with a tool and dig into the soil a little bit and see what lies underneath.
It was $80 for 4 pounds @ amazon. They had smaller sizes starting at 8 ounces. Though economies of scale make the 4 pound size the best bargain.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HFNDYO?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=pw016-20&linkId=a2d4ea009da7af3d281407f8564bca29&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
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terracore -
Do you have any additional comments about Maxforce Complete?
Better or worse than Antixx when the bag was fresh?
Would you recommend it?
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It's worked, quickly, everywhere we've used it, but we have only used it on small problem areas. I haven't had time to try it widespread or gauge it's efficacy over time.
