On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 9:09:28 -0500, Donna deMedicis wrote
WILL the cold kill the little rat *******s? IF I simply
leave it there until April, will the little biting things be
dead?

Nah. Presumably it's imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta). They slow
down in the winter but pretty much nothing non-nuclear kills them
reliably. They may abandon the aboveground part when it's really cold,
but will move back in on any day that warms the pile. I assume that
their northern limit is determined by cold, but it has to be serious
ground-penetrating cold to stop them, not when South Carolina calls
cold.

I have my doubts that drowning them is likely to help, but I'll be
interested to hear if it does. There's information about them at

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...d%20Fire%20Ant

This page describes the ants' response to flooding:

If the ants sense a change in water levels in their nests, they will come
together and form a huge ball that is able to float on the water, with the
workers on the outside and the queen inside. Once the ball hits a tree or
other stationary object, the ants swarm onto it and wait for the water
levels to recede.

I would also say that due to their small bodies, ants seem to be able
to survive being underwater for a long time -- probably they can absorb
considerable amounts of oxygen even from water.

I have noticed that fire ants like it warm. Most of the nests I see are
in full sun. Almost none in shady areas. So if you keep the compost
pile cool, perhaps they won't be as likely to invade. Of course this
will also slow down the compost.

If I'm forced to poison them (and we're talking non-native ants here,
so natural management isn't always feasible), I'll use something with
bait and very small amounts of readily degradable insecticide. At least
the insecticides today are far less toxic than what was available 30
years ago. But at the same time, Amdro is not approved for food crops,
and my understanding is that it never will be -- could not pass the
required tests.

I read a few years ago about tests on the feasibility of introducing a
wasp that preys on the fire ant in its native environment. This sounds
awful, but it fact it's a wasp that's much smaller than the ant. The
web page mentioned above also discusses proposed biological methods of
control. At least the lesson has been learned that introducing new
organisms to control previous introductions can make a bad situation
worse, so these aren't going to be seen for a long time.

Edward