txrose's Blog

Fire Ants
Aug 7, 2008 | 7:28 PM PST
Tag:

If you live in Arkansaw or Texas you will understand the humor.

I lived in Illinois for twelve years  we really loved the fact that you could go to the state parks or your own backyard and throw a blanket on the ground and just look at the clouds and rest for a bit. The seasonal change in the trees and landscape was breathtaking.

 After  a while we decided we missed Texas and came back home.  Its around twelve hours of driving to get back here from there so I got tired about the time we reached Clintons hometown in Arkansaw I pulled over somewhere and took a catnap. When I was rested enough to continue I got out to check the oil I raised the hood and took out the dipstick wiped it off and started to insert it back in...when all of a sudden I looked like a bad orchestra conductor waving that dipstick in the air and trying to get whatever was attacking me off my leg!!! After all of that I got back in the car looked toward my son and remembered why I didn't like Texas!!! (Tx pride aside if you've ever been bit its easy to forget that pride thing)

Today I have been looking at benificial garden insects online. I figure I should get aquainted with them since while gardening we deal with bugs one on one. While surfing the net for information I came across a site from Galveston County master gardeners.  Here are some things they said about fireants:

The Good: Fire ants voraciously consume populations of fleas, ticks, termites, cockroaches, chinch bugs, mosquito eggs and larva, scorpions, etc.—after learning this, I realize that it really has been years since I last set off a flea bomb. A non-overstated culinary creed for fire ants could be the following: If it will stay still for a bit . . . then it's dinner!

The Bad:  A Texas A&M study reports that fire ants currently cost Texas over one billion dollars a year. Fire ants are found in more than two-thirds of the counties in Texas.

• The sting of a fire ant is painful and can cause an allergic reaction in some people. (NOTE: We typically refer to these negative encounters with fire ants as "being bitten." In actuality, the fire ant bite with their powerful jaws this is geared toward providing an anchor for itself while it plunges its stinger into the flesh—it's the latter action that leaves painful memories and even red welts, about twice the size of a normal freckle. A white blister typically forms within 24 hours.

• Fire ants cause severe damage to cattle and wildlife. Wildlife such as quail and other ground-nesting birds, reptiles and deer are especially affected by ants shortly after birth or hatching. (NOTE: In Texas, no endangered species has been reported to have become extinct.)

• Auburn University/Alabama Agricultural Experimental Station and Texas A&M/Texas Agricultural Experimental Station studies have demonstrated that large fire ant mounds can severely damage farm equipment during soybean and hay harvest and can sting farm workers handling harvested cotton and other crops.

• Fire ants interrupt our God given right to walk barefoot in our grass

comments from some former master gardeners in regard to what they liked about fireants were:

"They provide an additional form of aerobic exercise. More motivating than any fitness trainer, they inspire me to leap to my feet and dance around my front yard, while ripping my shoes and socks off. Sometimes I even feel like running."

"I like the nicely tilled soil hills they leave behind when they have vacated. I treat the piles with a mixture of orange oil, agricultural molasses and dawn dishwashing liquid. They run away and leave me a nice pile of soil that I move about as needed in the garden"

" Hmmmm . . . I think I love my fire ants because: 1.) Now I really watch where I put my feet when I'm outside—think of all the stubbed toes and sprained ankles that are prevented; 2.) Those little stinkers do an excellent job of picking up seeds, etc. like their other ant brethren; and 3.) They have forcibly made me notice and appreciate how neatly creatures evolve to fit their ecological niche. Now that I'm thinking about it, nah, I don't really love them"

Enjoy ! :)

benificial insects; http://aggie-horticulture.t
amu.edu/galveston/beneficials/
index.htm