Did I goof?

[Rusty]

My latest venture into raised beds I did a bit differently than before. This time I laid down black plastic, then added the wood sides, and finally filled it up with the offal from my horse stalls. I added 10# of lime and 5# of bone meal and stirred it in. Then I covered the whole thing with another sheet of black plastic and weighted it down. I've been hoping it would "cook".

That was the first week in March. This morning I pulled back the black plastic to see how things were doing and discovered...ants. Fire ants to be specific. They are building nests in my raised bed and under the bottom sheet of black plastic!!! Not only that, but there is no heat at all in the bed even though I used all that fresh manure.

Now what do I do?!? I try to be as organic and natural as possible but fire ants and I do NOT get along. Enough bites and I wind up with a fever and feeling like I've got the flu. The ants HAVE to go. But HOW? And how do I keep them from coming back?

And was gardening always this difficult or am I just getting old? I remember enjoying my last garden, but these last 5 years trying to start one here in Alabama have been anything but fun!!! What am I doing wrong again?


Rusty

 

[vfem]

We had a fire ant problem under a tree in my front yard, I spread some DE I use in my chicken coop over them. I think I did 2 treatments before they were gone. They just moved somewhere else I am sure, but it got rid of them.

Chances are they had a nest close by to where you set up and the heat from the bed let them wake up and get to work early in the season.

 

[Rusty]

Hmmm. I wonder if I should have spread some DE under the first sheet of black plastic--the one that is under the bed? I have half a dozen or so beds to go yet, so I may try that as a preventative.

Thank you!


Rusty

 

[mandieg4]

If you don't want to use pesticide and you haven't planted yet you can pour boiling water on the beds. That will get rid of them for now. Let me know if DE works to prevent them, I fight them all year long.

 

[mandieg4]

edited to remove double post

 

[lesa]

Well, there is one good thing about being in zone 4, no fire ants! Do you think it is something about the plastic that is attracting them? If so, you could really do without it. If you have inches of dirt, plastic that far down won't do much to deter weeds....if that is what you were using it for... Good luck!

 

[Ariel301]

We have problems with fire ants here too. They are all over our yard. We don't like to use pesticides on our garden where they could get onto our food or be eaten by pets or children, and this is a solution I found that worked really well on all sorts of ants. You mix 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water in a small saucepan and boil it until the sugar dissolves and it sort of becomes a thin syrup. Then stir in a couple of tablespoons of borax laundry soap, place it in disposable dishes wherever the ants are. The borax kills the ants, but it is not dangerous to people or pets. The ants will also carry the sugary sweet stuff back to their queen to feed it to her, so you will kill the whole colony that way. It seems too simple to be true, and that is what I thought, but it really does work!

 

[Rusty]

We have problems with fire ants here too. They are all over our yard. We don't like to use pesticides on our garden where they could get onto our food or be eaten by pets or children, and this is a solution I found that worked really well on all sorts of ants. You mix 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water in a small saucepan and boil it until the sugar dissolves and it sort of becomes a thin syrup. Then stir in a couple of tablespoons of borax laundry soap, place it in disposable dishes wherever the ants are. The borax kills the ants, but it is not dangerous to people or pets. The ants will also carry the sugary sweet stuff back to their queen to feed it to her, so you will kill the whole colony that way. It seems too simple to be true, and that is what I thought, but it really does work!

Do you think this would work if I poured the syrup directly on the mound? The bed already has 4-5 mounds starting and I am afraid the boiling water would just encourage them to move to another spot inside the bed. I like the idea of using DE under the plastic, but hesitant to spread it all through the growing medium.

And, yes, the reason I put down the plastic in the first place was to discourage ants and grubs from moving into the beds.

So much to learn and so little time to learn it! Thanks all!

Rusty

 

[obsessed]

I am constantly battling Fire ants in my garden. I often get them in my coompost pile. I have used blood meal to get rid of them. It makes the pile too hot for them to live and they move but inevitably come back some time later. So for that I just dont turn the pile so often when I know they are there and I wear shoes a bit more ( ok I am lying I wait til I get bit up bad then put on shoes). I just went to transplant some collards into the garden this weekend and for some reason used my hand to scoop out some dirt to place the collard in and ended up reaching my hand into a new nest. My hand was covered and is bit up bad. But i didn't do anything for the ants. I find that they will eventually move but will always come back. For now I am just going to avoid that spot of the bed.......


Oh and they picked your garden because they like the moist and warmth that the compost provided during the cool winter. If it get too hot/dry they will move.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

I downloaded some recipes for common gardening problems. Here is one for fire ants (I live in Ohio now and have no idea why I copied this one).

To Kill Fire ants "Ant Death"!
1 Gal H20
1 T molasses
1 squeeze liq. Soap
6 oz (3/4 Cup) Citrus Oil
Stir up or chop off top of mound, pour mixture into mound, completely encircling it. Retreat as needed. Recipe can be diluted to 2 oz of citrus oil. Use a garden
fork to thoroughly mix ant mix into mound. Most mounds die immediately.

I was looking for something for Septoria Leaf spot. I have one for that if anyone is interested. I haven't used it yet but after the last 2 yrs. I am getting desperate.