Spraying for fire ants that works

[Bill Austin]

Thought I would share this I have found this to work very well. This is easy to make and cheap imo you will need an old propane tank they have to discard them when they don't pass safety check,20 feet of air hose,two quick release foe the hose,one air nozzle to spray with,one air release valve for the tank to let off air and a piece of pipe for your in take and one quick release for the top of the in take pipe that it.

Your mix is avaunt 90 grams, xanthan gum 60 grams ,2 gal water .one and half gal.veg. oil,one large jar creamy peanut butter.best to mix in 5 gal, bucket . The mix is not sprayed on you shot it on in spurts you just put a dab every 5 feet or so not very much. the reason for this sprayer is you can shot the mix up 15 feet in your palms the ants are nesting up high in the trees only treating down low does't work for very long. It's late I have to run to town to pick Nong up from the restaurant hope this is of some help.

[Bill Austin]

Some information I forgot you will need to pressurize the tank to 75 to 85 psi. Avaunt is made by Dupont and can be used on food crops. One treatment will last about 6 months

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Interesting set-up. Would a pressure washer gun work better than that air nozzle? Never heard of using peanut butter.

[Dypsisdean]

  On 1/15/2013 at 8:58 PM, Jerry@TreeZoo said:

Interesting set-up. Would a pressure washer gun work better than that air nozzle? Never heard of using peanut butter.

Jerry,

We (and the ag dept.) use a little peanut butter on a stick, placed in a pot, to see if it has fire ants. Also placing the sticks around a nursery or garden will tell you if the little devils are around. I haven't actually seen it work, which is good (meaning I don't have them, or buying them), but I have heard they can find the peanut butter fast.

[Dr. George]

  On 1/16/2013 at 12:30 AM, Dypsisdean said:

  On 1/15/2013 at 8:58 PM, Jerry@TreeZoo said:

Interesting set-up. Would a pressure washer gun work better than that air nozzle? Never heard of using peanut butter.

Jerry,

We (and the ag dept.) use a little peanut butter on a stick, placed in a pot, to see if it has fire ants. Also placing the sticks around a nursery or garden will tell you if the little devils are around. I haven't actually seen it work, which is good (meaning I don't have them, or buying them), but I have heard they can find the peanut butter fast.

We use a dab of peanut butter on any plant material coming onto the farm to screen for fire ants. Problem is, once the cardinals discover it, the peanut butter is gone in minutes. - gmp

[Dypsisdean]

It is probably worth noting that there are several types of ants that are called "fire ants." I believe what we have here in Hawaii are referred to as the "little fire ant." I'm not sure if that is the same type as in the So.East U.S. Could be that they don't like peanut butter.

[Kim]

I can confirm the peanut butter test works.