5 Things that readers swear kill fire ants…

Sprinkle grits around the mound. Readers say: The ants will eat them, the grit will expand, and the ant will die.

Chance this works: 1 in a very big number. Why: Like you, an ant won’t eat food that is bigger or the same size as it is in one meal. Plus do the math. Even if it did work your fire ant colony has millions of ants. At one grit per ant, that’s a lot of grits.

Scoop into a fire ant mound and place that on another fire ant mound. Readers say: The fire ants will wage war on each other and exterminate themselves.

Chance this works: 0 in 10. Why: If you were to scoop one ant mound to another nearby ant mound the likelihood that it is the same colony is huge. Therefore, you would be scooping ants from the same colony. No war waged. No self-extermination. No bueno.

Pour hot water on mound. Readers say: This either drowns or scalds them, but either one is good by them.

Chance this works: 100% to kill ants. 0% to kill colony. Why: Scalding water will kill a lot of small little insects, but the colony is too large. You might get rid of the mound, but it would likely re-appear somewhere else.

Pour gasoline on the mound. Readers say: This makes more sense than hot water, especially if you ignite it after you pour. <Warning, duh, this is not too safe, not to mention bad for your yard.>

Chance this works: 1 in 10. Why: Again, you will do a good job of killing any insect the gas comes in contact with, along with the grass and plants around where the gas was applied. You might even get rid of the mound, but again, it will likely appear somewhere else. Plus, it’s bad for the environment. Plus, the desire to ignite will great.

Don’t.

Lawn mower. My favorite. Ok, be honest here – who hasn’t taken pride in mowing a fire ant bed?

Chance this works: Slim. Why: Although this is the best of the bunch, it won’t kill the colony. However, it will put the surviving ants (roughly 2,700,000,000 of them) in attack mode. Seriously. To an ant’s thinking, something is attacking their colony and their queen. If you mow one, it would be best to stay away for a while.

You would be shocked to know how many fire ants are residing under your yard right this very second. Same thing with termites. Queen removal is the only way to be rid of the colony, and it’s possible that a colony has more than one queen.

It’s best to sprinkle poison around the mounds and be patient. I know that is tough, but that is your best plan of attack.