Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Fire Ants

October, 07, 2008 , by Billie Karel

It’s been an especially good year to be a fire ant in NC, and kind of a painful one for the rest of us. How do you get rid of them without toxic pesticides?

Toxic Free Fire Ant Removal Tip #1: Boiling Water.

Boil up a full kettle, then slowly pour it into the mound. Not all in one big gush, but in a slow stream so the water can trickle down into the tunnels that the ants build underground. They say it takes 2 or 3 gallons, so go back and boil up a second or third round (or if you have more than one kettle, boil them all up at the same time!). This treatment works better in the morning and evening, and will cause the ant mound to die out or move camp 60% of the time. If it doesn’t work at first, try again a week or so later. Note: this will kill, er, cook any grass, veggies or flowers that are around.

Next week: toxic-free fire ant control that’s kinder to grass, veggies & flowers.

Read Toxic Free NC’s article: Coping with Fire Ants

Got a whole farm’s worth of fire ants? Check out this extension article on Organic Fire Ant Management

Get more at ToxicFreeNC.org