Kava for fire ant control

[Piper Methysticum]

Kava might even be good for exterminating fire ants. Tested used kava (Fiji Waka) on mounds in the yard over the course of a week or so. Stirred the mounds up each day, when they came out looking to sting I sprinkled it all over the mound. Didn't see immediate results but kept at it and soon the mounds were inactive. Normally you need to use nasty poisons on them that are bad for the environment so this could be a really good alternative.

 

[verticity]

Kava might even be good for exterminating fire ants. Tested used kava (Fiji Waka) on mounds in the yard over the course of a week or so. Stirred the mounds up each day, when they came out looking to sting I sprinkled it all over the mound. Didn't see immediate results but kept at it and soon the mounds were inactive. Normally you need to use nasty poisons on them that are bad for the environment so this could be a really good alternative.

They're probably not exterminated, they are just experiencing the ant equivalent of bed-lock.

 

[Piper Methysticum]

I should dig them up and see if that's what's happened. Need to try some fresh poison Isa next time instead of used Waka, see how long they can make it before they turn yellow and die of hepatotoxicity, and watch them suffer with dermopathy before that.

 

[verticity]

I should dig them up and see if that's what's happened. Need to try some fresh poison Isa next time instead of used Waka, see how long they can make it before they turn yellow and die of hepatotoxicity, and watch them suffer with dermopathy before that.

That's pretty cruel.

 

[Deleted User01]

Kava doesn't cause hepatotoxicity as far as I know. But that would be a great organic way to treat fire ants. Let us know what you find. You either made them move or it stifled their delicate nervous systems. If the worker ants are too lethargic to forage, that would mean death for the queen and death for the ant hill. Interesting stuff. I use Amdro and we have a ton of Fire Ants here in Texas.

 

[verticity]

Do ants even have livers?

 

[Piper Methysticum]

Tomorrow I'll try to get a pic of the big mound that went bye bye. Shame I didn't get a before pic but you know what the typical mound looks like it was the standard size. Flat as the surrounding earth now. Looks maybe even another any species has set up camp right by it. maybe they are raiding the eggs and killing it off.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

Just make sure they didn't move out into a nearby mound or tree. When I lived in Houston a colony moved around the back yard a bit as I tried various ways of killing the queen. At the time (1997) I could buy dangerous chemicals from a nearby store. Self-Chem they were called (maybe they're still around, who knows) but it was a chain (!!) that sold industrial/commercial chemicals in small quantities for household use.

They sold me something for fire ants that they said (paraphrasing across nearly 20 years) "You spray it on the mound. When it dries, it crystalizes, and the crystals stick to the ant hairs and get slowly worked upwards and into the body to be absorbed. Then the ant's dead in 2 hours. But not before he's had a chance to rub up against all the other ants in the colony. Eventually the toxin makes its way via the ant labor system to the queen and kills the mound. It takes like 2 weeks or more, if memory serves.

Nasty stuff.

I wonder if that's even legal any more.

Oh, and the sign on the store: "Self-Chem:Your Neighborhood Chemical Store"

 

[tomkrat]

i used to have a cardboard sign that said "tomkrat: your street corner pharmacist"