I usually alternate products. Seems that they get immune and it becomes less effective. That's where I'm at with Amdro now.

I use Orthene. Wasp and hornet spray is also handy for a quick and permanent kill..

The best long term solution is going organic. I lived in Mesquite for 25 years and my yard....once I got rid of the fire ants hardly ever got them again while my neighbors constantly had them. When I did get a mound it would be near the property line coming off their yard. The problem with organics is the initial cost. Right now I live near Terrell on 5 acres and it was FLOODED with fire ants when we bought the place about year and half ago. Right now I have about 10% or less of the fire ants I did have and I'm slowly running them off/killing them. You cannot find a chemical type ant killer that works to date....or or we would not be having this discussion. 95% of people use some form of chemical/pesticide and 95% still have/get ants. Gotta get to the queens and most people alarm the ants when confronting the mound.....scurrying the queen to a safe place heaven deep in the ground/mound or ....the ants become immune to the chemical over time. For spot treatment I use Garrett juice with orange oil mixed in. Once you get somewhat control over the ants use dry molasses spread over the yard like fertilizer. SNEAK up on the mound and pour juice over center of mound slowly.....it will follow the tunnels down and get the queens before they scurry deep....as they boil out drench the mound entirely at the end. It will kill all.....not on contact though. But getting the queens is critical.

I disagree about there being no chemicals that can kill the entire mounds.

I know better. That's why I started this thread.

Personally, the use the Taurus SC has been a tremendous success. It kills by not being detected on the worker insects as they carry it on their bodies throughout the mound, to the queen as well. Then it kills them in a few days time. It doesn't alarm the mound. They just go about their business until they wake up dead a few days later.

Really, I don't know enough about your methods to have an opinion. If it works through time as you say, and you are happy with that, then I'm glad. But a 10% reduction in a year and a half isn't the results I want.

Over N out once a year will take care of them.

I usually use Amdro as well, but heard from a co-worker that he prefers Orthene.

Yep! It's the active ingreedient in most the termite products. (Taurus, termidor, etc...) they also have a broadcast version that comes in a metallic orange bag. Isn't cheap though.

Here is my go to for fire ant control. He is taking a well deserved break right now before going back to work.

I hope your right about your product as I would try it. But just remember, every chemical/pestacide to date has touted the same thing early on and the fire ants get immune to it, not completely but a built up immune system. BTW its not 10% reduction ... over 90%. I have 10% OR LESS than I had 1.5 years ago, and their PERMANENTLY gone. I'll guess by this fall/winter I'll be 5% or less, and if you saw the ants I had in the begginning its pretty amazing how many ants I've killed/run off.

If your grass is healthy then ants will not stay.

It's not.

The drought is bad down here. Last time we have had enough rain was 2017 after hurricane Harvey.

Doesn't appear to be improving this spring.

After trying all kinds of poisons and always having them come back, I put out dry molasses** on the lawn - front and back.
Something about it boosting the microorganisms in the soil, that the ants can't stand and drives them away.
Dadgumit it worked! I applied it again the following year, then about every 2-3 years after that.
I noticed that it also sped-up decomposition of grass clippings & thatch.
My lawn health improved dramatically over 2-3 years - in the front the half that was always patchy and full of ants now had thick full grass, and -0- ants.
You can get 50# bags of it at the feed store - (**Howard Garret the Dirt Doctor was always talking about the stuff on the radio)

What rate do you apply the dry molasses?

I have a hard time finding dry molasses sometimes, where are you getting yours from?

Yep. One thing you will notice when your grass is getting healthy is the GOOD ants that will start replacing the BAD ants.

BDB, Which ants are good ants? Serious question.

What rate do you spread the dried molasses?

Thank you

[quote=BbarVRanch]To take off from an earlier thread...

I see fire ants are vicious this spring after the Deep Freeze.

Thought I'd share how I control them here at the ranch with great success.

I used to put out Amdro. But I think they must have changed the formula, or something... It just doesn't kill fire ants like it did years ago. Also, after baiting mounds, I started finding dead birds around areas I'd put it around the mounds. Pretty sure they were eating it.


So... Now I use Taurus SC. It's a concentrated termiticide, and killsfire ants and other ant beds like cut ants, etc., never to come back. https://www.solutionsstores.com/taurus-sc-termiticide



Spray the entire mound and all entrances you find. It won't kill them like "right now, this instant"... But it's undetectable to the insects, and they carry it throughout the hive, and spread it to all the insects in the hive, and kills the whole thing within a few days.

Mix it with water just a bit stronger than the label suggests, because you are putting it on the ground where it's absorbed.



I've used it on wild bee hives as well where aggressive bees were keeping me out of certain areas. Spray down the hive, and give it a few days. No bees.

Just thought I'd share, in case some of you are tired of the Amdro game not working. [/quote
the world is losing pollinators, I would do something else for the bees, UNLESS they are the bad arse kind

I think a lot of people bought into the false narrative that honey bees are endangered. That is just no so, and has been debunked for awhile.



https://www.agdaily.com/crops/are-honey-bees-endangered/

Have I killed bees? You betcha.

I explained in my original post that I've killed hive of aggressive bees because I could not get someone to come out and capture them.

I'm not going to let an aggressive hive of bees keep me indoors, or keep me from working my cattle, or fixing fence.

Wish everyone would re-educate themselves about the infamous "bee shortage", and any causes of decline and the fact that bee ratios are now near historic highs.

2 kinds of ants I see more and more as I get rid of the fire ants...one is the BIG RED ants that look ferocious but are nice to have around. They have a central mound and are coming and going all the time. I got bit by one at my dove lease last year and they HURT....but that was just a freak thing, they are beneficial. Two....an ant that when you disturb the mound and put your finger on it....they just crawl around and never go up your finger, some mistake them as fire ants but they are not....if you want to know if a mound is fire ants just put your finger on a disturbed mound and they will run up your finger and stop to bite you.

carpenter ants I will treat as a fire ant...get rid of them. Sugar ants are a pest....we get them rarely and spray for them but they usually are not a problem. They always are inside the house also


molasses....I do not have a certain rate. I toss out by hand. The great thing about organics is you almost cannot mess it up by over spreading.....its ORGANIC. Under spreading can cause you to not get the desired results though. I spread 1/3 of my lawn to run the little bastards off that area,....then hit another 1/3....then the last 1/3. Then there my neighbors problem.

Those big red cut ants are what horny toads eat almost exclusively. The fire ant pretty much annihilated the big red ants which caused the horny toads to go extinct in many areas.

I bought a twin pack of Orthene at china mart because my Facebook friend William Oxner likes it .

Bengal used to work well for me. Not worth a [censored] now.

feed stores usually only stock it for winter season, but you can usually ask and order some of they aren't currently stocking - Tractor supply, Atwoods, etc.

I'm gonna experiment with liquid molasses this season for my back 20 acres - I think it's more highly concentrated and it's easier to find a gallon for like $10 and stocked year-round as hunting supply.
Diluted with water of course. Gonna spot treat first - still can't get a straight answer on using the liquid over a large area (sulfur content, etc).
I know the dry-molasses works - I put it out fully around house with a fert- spreader - maybe 1/2 acre a few years ago, and I think I used 3 or 4 bags, but I think that would be too pricy for my back 20 acres.
I have sandy soil here, and the fireants love setting up shop in any sunny spot. I already tried last couple seasons putting out maybe 20# of Amdro (4 5# bags) in the back field - It 'slowed them down' for the season, but new mounds popped up in 'untreated' areas, and this season they are back in full force as if I had never treated the field.
That's one reason I don't like using poisons, the ants will just move and setup shop about 10 feet away - also because we run animals here, and I also don't want to be poisoning things downstream of me, etc.
In my yard, around house, still NO fire-ants even a couple years later after molasses.

I dump a gallon of bleach and then a gallon of vinegar down the hole.

Kills them all.

For mounds around the house, I mix 2 ounces of blue dawn in with a gallon of hot water from the kitchen sink. Huge mounds take two gallons. Soak mound completely, slowly, so it soaks down as far as possible. It kills on contact, is safe, and inexpensive for yard control.