Cob: RE: I absolutely cannot believe this!

[David Knowlton]

amdro works. environmentalists (i include myself) please relax.

in the past bugs were controlled with chemicals that lock up the nervous
system killing the bug (or cat or human). recently low toxicity baits have
become available. they don't kill everything indiscriminately. they require
much less poison to kill because they are ingested.

the directions on the box are almost accurate. but take them a step further:
don't pepper the mound. sprinkle a few grains and see if the beasties take 
it.
if so, follow directions. learn to recognize the fire ant and don't kill 
helpful
species - they help keep the baddies out. also. amdro kills about 85% each
time you use it - so there is no magic bullet. you survey your space for the
fire ants and treat accordingly - you can't win, just maintain a holding 
action.

put diluted bleach, or ammonia on the bites right after they occur to break
down the formic acid they bite with.

good luck  david


>From: "Everhart, Gabe" <geverhart at hjhigh.com>
>Reply-To: "Everhart, Gabe" <geverhart at hjhigh.com>
>To: 'Kim West' <kwest at arkansas.net>, "'coblist at deatech.com'" 
><coblist at deatech.com>
>Subject: Cob: RE: I absolutely cannot believe this!
>Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 07:40:11 -0400
>
>Oh, just thought of something else I read once: try citris oil and/or
>molasses.  Fire Ants supposedly hate it.  Try this link:
>http://dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=25
>
>Good luck.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Everhart, Gabe
>Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 7:20 AM
>To: 'Kim West'; 'coblist at deatech.com'
>Subject: RE: I absolutely cannot believe this!
>
>
>Kim,
>I feel your pain.  Living in Floirida we have had more than our share of
>battles with the Red Imported Fire Ant.  Have you considered that they may
>have flown OVER the barrier?  Newly hatched young queens fly away to start
>new colonies on whatever nice piece of earth they can land on.  I think
>there are some males that can fly as well.
>
>Don't know if people in South/Central America could offer that much advice 
>-
>the fire ants aren't as much of a problem down there, so I've read.  Too
>much native competition.  They're much more pervasive here in the good ole
>USA where they lack an army of natural rivals to keep them in check.  And
>people just keep making the problem worse by spreading 'broadcast' poisons
>over their property, which kills the fire ants, and everything else as well
>- making it easier for the next crop of fire ants to take over again.  The
>best defense against Fire Ants is a healthy, diverse entomological
>ecosystem.  But don't get me started.
>
>Sorry, no constructive advice here.  Perhaps Borax mixed into the cob? (or
>something more deadly?)  Just a thought.  Of course you don't want to put
>poison in the walls of your NATURAL home...
>
>Gabe
>
>Is entomological a word?
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kim West [mailto:kwest at arkansas.net]
>Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2003 4:52 PM
>To: Cob List
>Subject: Cob: I absolutely cannot believe this!
>
>
>
>OK. This is just unreal to me. I am hoping that someone here will have an
>answer because I know without a doubt that people here have built, or are
>building, in South and Central America. We live in the southern United
>States and have imported fire ants that come from the regions mentioned
>above. I noticed while doing the foundation that they love to immediately
>inhabit the places that they assumed we were preparing for them--the 
>trench,
>the ditch, and even the rock walls that the mortar had not even hardened 
>on.
>They would be up and crawling around the mortar as soon as we got it in the
>wall. We tried non-toxic methods to get rid of them to no avail. They
>thrived on the stuff. So, I went and got a bag of 5% Diazinon that I knew
>would do the trick. The ground level floor of the house is/was currently
>just up to having the layer of washed gravel down to prevent water from
>wicking up through the ground into the house, so when I did a perimeter
>poisoning I also poisoned the ground floor area hoping that it would have
>done its job and gone away before we moved in since it is supposed to be
>gone in 6 weeks and it would be much longer than that. The perimeter
>poisoning done it seemed to work great and we saw no more fire ants. We 
>also
>poisoned mounds we saw nearby.
>
>As we built the cob walls I noticed that mold was growing about 3 days 
>after
>the cob was down so I started applying a layer of lime to stop the mold.
>That worked fine also. When I left the cob uncovered it dried too
>quickly--or it was getting wet from the rains when they came, so I started
>putting hay on top of the lime and liming the top of the hay also. This 
>also
>served the purpose of keeping the dogs off the walls--once they got a whiff
>of the lime they left. Now today, just before rushing in here to try and
>find some help, I uncovered some of the older cob wall to make sure it will
>be ready to receive the next layer, and what did I find? FIRE ANTS! Living
>right there in the lime and cob! How they got across the poisoned perimeter
>barrier I have no idea--the barrier goes at least five feet out from the
>house and we have done it twice in the last 2 or 3 months. One of the boys
>said that they went under everything and I have a hard time believing that.
>If so, they started out 5 feet from the house, went down about two feet,
>went horizontally underground for at least nine feet to clear the poison 
>and
>the cement bond beam, then came up in the cob somewhere that magically I
>forgot to poison. I may be wrong, I'm not buying that!
>
>NOW--Like I said, I know that there are people here who have built in
>Central and South America where these imported fire ants came from in the
>first place. Since they are building there they must have come into contact
>with them and found ways to defeat the little devils. You can't have a cob
>home with fire ants making their mounds in the cob. It turns a hard
>compacted cob wall into a pile of grainy dirt! And these suckers are doing
>it in poisoned and limed dirt. Please do not tell me that I should have
>built the rock wall taller--these devils have climbed at least 8 feet to
>make a home in an outside overhang above the bay window in the kitchen 
>where
>we are currently living. I'm at a loss. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT ARE/HAVE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BUILT IN 
>CENTRAL
>AND SOUTH AMERICA DOING/DONE??????????
>
>
>

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