in article , Larry Blanchard at
wrote on 9/11/03 8:40 AM:

In article ,
says...
When I was a kid, I remember seeing a product that was in the form of a
powder. I think it was calcium cyanide, but it really was a long time ago.
It came in a can with a nozzle to insert the powder down the nest enterance.
Then, either from ground moisture, or added water, the powder would produce
hydrogen cyanide.


There used to be a product called cyanamid (sp?) that was used to kill a
lawn for replanting. It was a powder you applied and then watered in.
IIRC, it generated some form of cyanide that killed all vegetation
including dormant seeds. In about 3 days it decomposed to a fertilizer
and you then reseeded.

I only used it once, but it worked like a charm. I replaced a
grass lawn with dichondra and never saw a blade of grass trying to come
back. The stuff is undoubtedly banned now.

I tried tracking this down a bit, but Google didn't search the way I wanted
it to.

The cyanamide process, used by the American Cyanamid Corporation, was an
early method to fix nitrogen for fertilizer and explosives. It preceded the
Haber process that ultimately replaced the cyanamid porocess. Cyanamide can
be used directly as fertilizer. It can be used to produce cyanide products
when mixed with boiling water or in other high temperature processes. So I
do not think that calcium cyanamide itself was very useful to kill ants.

One fumigant that I used was metam sodium, also known as vapam or sodium
methyldithiocarb. I may still have some in my garage although it was banned,
at least in California when a trainload was dumped into a river. It was
pretty good for sterilizing soil.

Although it would be considered a metal-organic compound, I do not think
that it would meet with approval from organic farming enthusiasts.

Bill