08-23-2015, 01:50 PM
"Also, if you use the same pesticide all the time, they can become resistant to it. Try a different poison every 3 months to avoid breeding super ants."
I've never tried contact insecticides against LFA except for the spray variety that sprays on a surface and kills for 21 days. That stuff is fast and final. Any 6 legged creature that tries to walk across it won't live long enough to pass along any resistance... but it only works inside. Sometimes you can get a can of "ant and roach" variety at the Malama Market on sale for under $4.
Outside I've used Amdro, Extinguish, Firestrike, Siesta, and similar varieties of fireant BAIT. Ant bait is different in that it is intended for killing colonies rather than individuals. The only effective varieties I have found are poisoned corn grits. The LFA (being smaller than the grits) suck the corn oil and poisons out and take them back to the colony and share them. THEN THEY DIE. All the little plastic bait stations sold, regardless of brand or active ingredient, are 100% worthless. The sweet boric acid variety will kill some LFA, and you will see dead LFA thinking that its working, but those LFA all die before they can return to the colony and poison the queens. When more workers go out than come back, the LFA colony responds by increasing output of both workers and breeders. That's why the "natural" "hippy" ant control techniques based on what Grandma said (even though grandma's ants weren't LFA) actually make the problem worse.
Amdro and Extinguish have worked for me a few times, then the ants seem to no longer be attracted to the bait. I don't know why. Siesta works much faster (the ants stop showing up less than a day after you put it out) and it has worked consistently. I imagine it will eventually quit working but until then, it is the best product I have found for completely decimating the ground-dwelling LFA. You will have to use a gel product to kill the ones in the trees and elsewhere, and find a method to get the gel bait to where the ants are. Not so easy with a 100' tall albezia with a 1 acre canopy. (LFA only travel about 10' from their individual nest... so work those logistics out on that albezia... and please post your solution here).
Siesta is more expensive, and harder to find (they have it at Pahoa feed) but in my experience it is 1000% more effective than any other bait granule I have tried, and I have tried EVERY product available locally and most of the others available on the internet.
"One of the Master Gardeners gave a talk about pests; he said the colonies tend to be about 10 feet apart, but that can vary."
I spoke to a master gardener who told me that the LFA would be wiped out a few days after using Tango. Based on that BS advice I wasted over a hundred of dollars and many months, suffering over a hundred stings in the process, following a regimen that doesn't work. Don't trust a master gardener when you should be listening to Billy The Exterminator.
eta: content
I've never tried contact insecticides against LFA except for the spray variety that sprays on a surface and kills for 21 days. That stuff is fast and final. Any 6 legged creature that tries to walk across it won't live long enough to pass along any resistance... but it only works inside. Sometimes you can get a can of "ant and roach" variety at the Malama Market on sale for under $4.
Outside I've used Amdro, Extinguish, Firestrike, Siesta, and similar varieties of fireant BAIT. Ant bait is different in that it is intended for killing colonies rather than individuals. The only effective varieties I have found are poisoned corn grits. The LFA (being smaller than the grits) suck the corn oil and poisons out and take them back to the colony and share them. THEN THEY DIE. All the little plastic bait stations sold, regardless of brand or active ingredient, are 100% worthless. The sweet boric acid variety will kill some LFA, and you will see dead LFA thinking that its working, but those LFA all die before they can return to the colony and poison the queens. When more workers go out than come back, the LFA colony responds by increasing output of both workers and breeders. That's why the "natural" "hippy" ant control techniques based on what Grandma said (even though grandma's ants weren't LFA) actually make the problem worse.
Amdro and Extinguish have worked for me a few times, then the ants seem to no longer be attracted to the bait. I don't know why. Siesta works much faster (the ants stop showing up less than a day after you put it out) and it has worked consistently. I imagine it will eventually quit working but until then, it is the best product I have found for completely decimating the ground-dwelling LFA. You will have to use a gel product to kill the ones in the trees and elsewhere, and find a method to get the gel bait to where the ants are. Not so easy with a 100' tall albezia with a 1 acre canopy. (LFA only travel about 10' from their individual nest... so work those logistics out on that albezia... and please post your solution here).
Siesta is more expensive, and harder to find (they have it at Pahoa feed) but in my experience it is 1000% more effective than any other bait granule I have tried, and I have tried EVERY product available locally and most of the others available on the internet.
"One of the Master Gardeners gave a talk about pests; he said the colonies tend to be about 10 feet apart, but that can vary."
I spoke to a master gardener who told me that the LFA would be wiped out a few days after using Tango. Based on that BS advice I wasted over a hundred of dollars and many months, suffering over a hundred stings in the process, following a regimen that doesn't work. Don't trust a master gardener when you should be listening to Billy The Exterminator.
eta: content