In article ,
Elliot Richmond wrote:

On Fri, 23 May 2008 11:33:43 -0500, Omelet
wrote:
I just hate fire ants so!

Me too. But control of Solenopsis invicta is within our reach, if not
quite within our grasp. The phorid fly approach still shows great
promise, although it will be a decade or so before there are enough of
them out there to do any good. For local control, both Amdro and Logic
still work and are environmentally close to benign.

I use Amdro mostly, and beneficial Nematodes.
I was unaware that Phorid flies ate fire ants... I try to discourage
those as they tend to get into crops of Oyster mushrooms and other
edibles.


On the other hand,the raspberry ant, Paratrenicha sp. (near pubens),
is apparently very difficult to control. The man who first noticed
them basically says that he hates it when he gets a call about them
because he knows the caller will be disappointed.

And, while they have no stinger, they are far from harmless. They suck
the moisture from plants, feed on beneficial insects such as ladybugs
(ladybird beetles) and eat the hatchlings of the highly endangered
At****er prairie chicken.


Elliot Richmond
Itinerant astronomy teacher

Do poison baits work on them?
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people
until they put their foot down." -- Stephan Rothstein