Fire Ant Experiment in Garden
Fire Ant Experiment Report
Master Gardeners Sonia and Rick
We chose three locations and three different drench mixtures to apply
1. an equal amount of the orange oil mix and Neem Oil mix,
2. orange oil mix only and
3. Neem oil mix only).
The first location was in the compost pile. It was a gigantic ant mound that measured 5’X3′. We used 6 gallons of the orange oil mix and 6 gallons of the Neem Oil mix.
The second location was in front of the extension building—close to the sidewalk. The fire mound was small and measured 12”x10”. We poured 2 gallons of the orange oil mix.
The third location was also in front of the extension building but closer to the building. The fire mound was small and also measured 12”x10”. We poured 2 gallons of the Neem Oil mix.
Rick is going to check the three locations next week and note any increase or decrease in ants/activity. May want to put some kind of food source like a chip or piece of hot dog. Once the evaluation is made, then he will apply another round of drench. Thank you Rick! We will check the following weeks but do not plan to apply any more drench mixtures.
First Check: There was no activity Friday at the fire ant mounds Sonia and I treated on Tuesday. I took pictures but did not do any additional treatment. The Orange Oil burned the grass but the Neem did not. We used some compost from near that treatment but there was no evidence that the mound moved. There was some ant activity about 3 feet from the orange oil treatment but I’m not sure if that mound was there Tuesday or not. This rain on Saturday will force them to pop up again so we will see where they are next week.
Second Check: In the area previously treated for fire ants: the mound at the compost pile had no activity, the mound treated with neem had no activity, the mound treated with orange oil was not active but two additional mounds within two feet of it are present and active – I assume they just moved over.
Third Check: The mounds previously treated by the extension office are the same as Friday. The Neem treated mound is inactive and the grass is lush. The Orange oil treated mound is inactive but the grass is yellow and the two new nearby mounds are active. An active mound in the middle of row two was treated with Neem. An attempt was made to treat fire ants in one of Sheila’s raised beds with Neem, but there is no well defined mound so the treatment was dispersed where I saw ants. I don’t know if that will be effective.
Fourth Check: The combination Neem/Orange application on the compost pile still had no activity. We also checked the perimeter out to a couple of feet in each direction and did not see any ants. The orange only mound had no ant activity on the original mound but there were three new mounds within 4′. Of these, two had no activity and one was very active. The neem only mound had no activity in the original location and there was a new mound about 1.5’ away with a little activity with few ants. In addition to the original locations, a neem only treatment was used along one side of Sheila’s garden last week. On Tuesday we treated an ant mound next to the pepper bed(bed 2?) and one near a peach tree.
Fifth Check: Rick and I checked the ant mounds on Tuesday and this is what we found. The combination Neem/Orange application on the compost pile still had no activity. We also checked the perimeter out to a couple of feet in each direction and did not see any ants. The orange only mound had no ant activity on the original mound but there were three new mounds within 4′. Of these, two had no activity and one was very active. The neem only mound had no activity in the original location and there was a new mound about 1.5’ away with a little activity with few ants. In addition to the original locations, a neem only treatment was used along one side of Sheila’s garden last week. On Tuesday we treated an ant mound next to the pepper bed (bed 2?) and one near a peach tree.
Sixth check: Rick and I checked the ant mounds on Tuesday and this is what we found. The combination Neem/Orange application on the compost pile still had no activity. We also checked the perimeter out to a couple of feet in each direction and did not see any ants. The orange only mound had no ant activity on the original mound but there were three new mounds within 4′. Of these, two had no activity and one was very active. The neem only mound had no activity in the original location and there was a new mound about 1.5’ away with a little activity with few ants. In addition to the original locations, a neem only treatment was used along one side of Sheila’s garden last week. On Tuesday we treated an ant mound next to the pepper bed(bed 2?) and one near a peach tree.
Seventh Check: Also, a quick update on the ant experiment. We found that the compost pile had ants—very far from the original location and Rick treated with neem oil last week. The ‘orange’ only pile showed no ants in the original but we found ants in the secondary mound and will treat when we get more orange oil. The neem oil only location that was treated a second time on 10/30 had no ants in either mounds.
Eighth Check: Just a quick update from today. The original locations- neem/orange oil combination(all of the compost in this area have been used), neem oil only, orange oil only had no signs of ants today. Last week there was activity at the secondary mound for the orange oil only location so maybe the cold weather has the ants going deep. The compost pile had lots of ants about 2 yards away from the original location. It was hard to tell exactly where the center of the mound was but it was treated with a combination neem oil and orange oil. Best guess:) In addition, there was a mound next to the garlic bed and it was treated with orange oil only. It looked like someone had treated with granules in the bed before. Maybe with the weather warming up later in the week we will see more activity.
Ninth check: I just wanted to let you know that I treated several spots in the garden with Neem oil only—I used 6T for 2 gallons of water. The raised beds 2, 4, and 9 were drenched as well as the trial bed #9.