Eliminating Fire Ants - Southern Style

Fire ants.  A boil on the rump of any deep south native.  Don't get me wrong, I admire their God-given work ethic and strength, but that respect only goes so far.  Too many times have I been innocently strolling through my yard only to be attacked by a swarm of fire ants, or to find them living in one of my potted plants.

Spring begins the months of elimination to the fire ant population.  Of course I prefer to create an organic experience for their untimely demise, so chemical fire ant killers are out of the question.  Especially when we're talking about a potted tomato plant or lemon tree.

The all-natural answer?

Grits.  Serious.

Just like this:

So, I always pick a dry day, well after the dew is gone and a few days before you know it's going to rain.  Sprinkle the grits around the ant hill.  Don't sprinkle it directly on the hill, they tend to freak out and scatter, then they won't have anything to do with you and your grits.

How does it work?  Well, the scout ants or whatever they are called, bring the grits into the colony, they get fed to the queen, and she expands after eating them and basically explodes.

For some evil reason, that brings a smirk to my face.  Is that bad?

The colony can't live without their queen and they all end up dying.  Or eating grits and you get more explosive ants.  Hee, hee.....

If your grits happen to get wet, you'll have to try it again, because just like in the queen's belly, the grits will swell and expand and be of no use.

Go get ya some ants.  Southern Style.