Fighting Fire with Fire – Larry Torches Fire Ants

Mark from Kansas
#1. August 31st, 2010, at 3:47 PM.

I would like to post a comment but, I don’t know what to say!

Bentley
#2. August 31st, 2010, at 3:58 PM.

Just say what’s on your mind, Mark!

Dave Pawson
#3. August 31st, 2010, at 5:53 PM.

I’ve used ant powder in my wormery cum compost heap. They keep building
their nest there, then I come across a heap of ant eggs.
Out with the ant powder and they die down for a month or two.
Not tried a blowtorch though….

Heather Rinaldi
#4. August 31st, 2010, at 9:12 PM.

Wow! Now that made my day, lol. Fire ants are just nasty critters…wish we could get rid of them once and for all…especially without chemicals.
Larry, you are one creative character, I salute you!

Paulo Silva
#5. August 31st, 2010, at 11:36 PM.

I use the same method to kill small ants, only a little difference, I avoid hitting the compost with the flame because it kills other animals including worms, I kill them in their path to the compost, best way is to put something they like in the path, they gather there to take the stuff and it’s easy to kill many ants in a few seconds.

If the nest is inside the compost you just add more water than usually and the ants will be gone fast, they don’t like water.

If the nest is outside the compost, burning the ants doesn’t work because they keep coming from their nest, best way is to find the nest and destroy it completely, burn the nest. You can also spread coffee grounds and/or diatomaceous earth around your compost, ants don’t like.

LARRY D.
#6. September 1st, 2010, at 2:09 AM.

Paulo,not sure what kind of ants you have? But where i filmed these ants,in the rear left corner,i have 15 pounds of coffee from SB’s.And the ants are all over it.I added piles of water to my bin.At least six gallons.And my isopods headed for higher ground.The ants hung around.I just had some build a nest in some real wet peat moss.They don’t follow rules.No worms were harmed in the making of this video.They stay down enough during the day.I leave my bin open,and they get indirect light.
A bin this big would be hard to build on legs out of wood.It weighs in the thousands of pounds when full!
You can actually use a heat gun to do the same thing.It generates a lot less heat.But still enough to do the ants in.
Heather-My sister lives where you do,and i hear they even short the street light boxes out.And last time i was in Texas,i had to get used to holes in the ground with ants,instead of big sand mounds where i live!

Jean Kruse
#7. September 1st, 2010, at 2:29 AM.

When I lived in Mississippi years ago we would deal with fire ants like this-find 2 separate fire ant hills- quickly take a big shovelfull of ants from one pile and dump it on the other pile and then a scoop of the second pile and dump it on the first pile. The ants fight to the death and soon both piles are gone. Always worked and no chemicals involved just moving fast so as not to get bit.

Mark from Kansas
#8. September 1st, 2010, at 2:35 AM.

OOOOH Jean!
That sounds like more fun than watching the bug zapper

John Duffy
#9. September 1st, 2010, at 3:27 AM.

Man…
I hope those little buggers never find their way to Indiana! I hate the smell of burning flesh…On the safety side, it sounds like Larry had all his bases covered and should be congratulated on that front…Good luck getting rid of those little monsters. I’ve yet to hear anything good about fire ants

Jennifer S
#10. September 2nd, 2010, at 1:08 PM.

The boiling water treatment was suggested to me when I first moved to Florida. I haven’t tried it – I’m pretty certain it would hurt me when I spill the boiling water on myself as I try to drag the hot pot through the house and out into the yard!

I try to be organic in my yard, but I lose my mind with the fire ants. I’ve had some success with diatomaceous earth, but I do not use it in the worm bin. I’ve been told it is safe for worms if there isn’t a lot added, but I have yet to try it. My worms are inside in a Worm Inn now, as the ones in my Can o Worms outside were cooked during a heat wave.

Christy Olson
#11. September 3rd, 2010, at 5:00 PM.

I have lived in Florida and I was raised on a ranch in Texas…The boiling water does not work. They just move over about a foot and start again. I found that using Dawn dish soap really helped to repel the ants in general. I would use a hose sprayer and spray the entire yard with the dish soap. I had to redo it every time I watered or if it rained. Very time consuming but it did help. In Texas we have to be really careful were we get our hay. The fire ants will build a nest in the center of a bale of hay and when you unload the hay you unload the ants.

James M.
#12. September 7th, 2010, at 7:34 PM.

I live in Florida and have lots of fire ants. Fire ants are carnivorous and they love worms. Every spring I treat my large home lot, 2+ acres, with Amdro. It’s a growth regulator, not a pesticide. I have to retreat half way through summer but ant mounds are reduced by 99.9%.
For some reason fire ants are attracted to ozone produced by cycling pressure switches in water pumps. After a few dozen get smashed be-tween the closing points their insulating bodies prevent the pump motor from starting and you run out of water. They also are strongly attracted to okra pods. Hundreds of them will cover a pod and nip small holes in the skin and drink the juice.

Matt
#13. September 19th, 2010, at 3:53 PM.

James I am glad i read that about the pressure switches. Here in northern California my dad had carpenter ants that would do that on the contacts. I never could figure out the attraction they had for the pressure switch, but sure enough the well would stop working and the culprit would be the ants, for the most part an easy fix to get the pump working again

joel Le Grand
#14. October 19th, 2010, at 3:17 AM.

I am in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A.
I have a few friends who want to keep redworms too.
We all have the fire ant problem.
Thank You for the Quick reply.

joel Le Grand
#15. October 19th, 2010, at 3:26 AM.

To John Duffy reply #9 in Indiana.
The fireants(all four kinds) can not live in land with a long hard freeze.
This is because they stay active all time, 24/7- 52weeks-365 days a year.
So they are a Southern problem, unless the whole Global warming thing is real, then it is a matter of time.