Ant Hill Farms
After any dry spell, it is not unusual for people to call me and ask what to do about the ant mounds in their yard or pasture. I usually ask what kind of ants do they have and the answer is “The kind that bites.” Ant mounds are prevalent in much of this area. At the family ranch, all you see are native ants. The ranch has deep sand which fire ants hate. Of course native ants can cause problems, but it is usually the imported fire ant to which they are referring. These ants were imported to Houston from somewhere in South America and have taken up residence, and don’t want to leave.
While other ants build mounds, the imported fire ant can build a tall mound. Farmers and ranchers that mow their fields know how bad it can be with the tractor and mower bouncing across the pasture. The tractor usually responds when blades crashing into the mounds, power down the engine due to the drag of the blade through the soil. It seems that cutting mounds dulls the blades faster than mowing grass and weeds. I once worked for a company that had a field office in Rosharon, Texas. The fire ant mounds were so thick that I could walk from mound to mound without touching the ground. Of course no one in their right mind would do that. The local ranchers were losing calves as quickly as they were born. Employees around the office would apply a very toxic poison to the soil to keep the ants at bay, but due to the high rainfall, they had to reapply the poison frequently. Fire ants eventually worked their way across the state and are found in about every county. Everything from boiling water to exhaust gas has been used to kill the critters. And a lot of poisons have been used. But the problem is poisons also kill a number of non-targeted animals, fish, insects and amphibians downstream. We humans sure do know how to mess up nature. A major problem is that people do not understand how to correctly apply poisons. If you pour poison directly on the mound, the ants will generally just move the mound a few feet away. Many poisons do not reach the queen. And without killing the queen, the nest will continue to thrive. Ant mounds were once ruled by one queen ant. But humans and poisons have taught the ants to adapt to the poisons by adding multiple queens to the nest. Kill one queen and there is another waiting to take her place. You can never kill an army of ants without killing the queen. There is a ranch not too far from me that the neighbors call “Ant Hill Farm.” Everyone knows an Ant Hill Farm near them. It is not the name of the ranch, but it is known for all the ant mounds that constantly dot the landscape. It is obvious that the rancher does not treat ant mounds. Cattle suffer trying to get a bite of grass from atop the mounds, but cattle need to eat. There is not much grass anywhere else on the place.
This fall, the rancher will broadcast ryegrass and oats and what isn’t eaten by birds, will end up inside the ant mounds. (You have undoubtedly seen ant mounds with tuffs of winter grass exploding out of the mounds.) It seems to make sense to apply ant bait a couple of weeks before seeding winter annuals. With the cost of seed and fertilizer, wouldn’t it be worth the extra expense?
Ant baits are great if you understand how to apply them. It only takes a pound of ant bait per acre to kill 80 percent or more of the mounds. We used a pound and a half to kill over 96 percent of all ants in Rosharon and that was over 100 acres treated. The secret is to broadcast the baits everywhere except on the mound. Any bait that hits the mound will be pushed under the soil by the mound builders. While this is counterintuitive to the marketing, this method works.
At my nursery, I typically use a one pound container to treat four acres for an entire year. I put out bait every two weeks beginning in May through November. I put three small holes in a bottle and shake a few granules out as I walk. This needs to be done after the dew has dried and with no rain forecast for the rest of the day. The bait must be fresh-you wouldn’t eat a wet or stale potato chip and neither will the ants.
With this method, forging ants will pick up the bait and take it to the queen or queens. Within two to three weeks the mound starts to crumble and die. To check for ant mounds any time of the year, just put out a potato chip on a dry day and see if they come to eat it.
I hope everyone will share this bit of information.Too many poisons have been used that do not kill ants, but do kill many of nature’s creatures. I use “Come and Get It” ant bait. It has an organic poison, not a toxic chemical poison, and it works just as good as the leading brand.
David E. Will is a Schulenburg farmer, rancher, nurseryman, landscaper, and consultant. He can be reached at 830-629-9876 or by email at dwill207@satx.rr.com.