Prairie Lawn Critters and Pests

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

You could also try a battery-powered ground spike from Lentek ($20) that emits ultrasonic vibes at a relatively low vibration. Ground-burrowing mammals will tend to avoid it. This ground spike will cover 7,500 square feet, and is sold through garden magazine ads or at http://www.repelandkill.com/repelgophers.shtml .

FIRE ANTS

The red fire ant was accidentally imported to Alabama 70 years ago and has been spreading throughout the deep South ever since. Colonies build 12-to 18-inch-high mounds in lawns or gardens, or they'll make nests in house or outbuilding walls. Aggressive if disturbed, fire ants advance in large numbers, grab an intruder with their jaws and inject a painful sting. Small children and adults allergic to insect venom may be in real danger.

If the problem is severe, if they've moved into your house or driven your children from the play area of your lawn, you may need professional help. An exterminator can apply some of the more virulent poisons without harming nontarget species.

Organic purists can reduce colony numbers by flushing an ant mound with liminoids - the bitter chemicals found in citrus fruit rinds. To do this, finely grind lemon and orange peels in a food processor, and heat up some orange or lemon juice. Quickly shove the small end of a large metal funnel into the mound, dump the pulp into the funnel and pour the hot juice through it several times. Renew the pulp periodically.

For do-it-yourself control of serious infestations in either house or yard, the natural insecticides pyrethrum and rotenone are available in injector-tipped applicators. Unfortunately, these are only mildly effective. We recommend that you consider nonpoisonous baits containing Hydramethylnon (Amdro®) that gives the insects a fatal tummy ache. Or, try fenoxycarb (Award Brand of Logic®) and avermectin (Ascend®), which act as insectgrowth regulators. Both take a while to work, but worker ants will take the baits down into the nest and eventually all the egg-laying queens will be killed. The effects are residual, and will even work against a new colony that tries to move into an old nest.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print