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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 |
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