I live in Austin and I use beneficial nematodes to control both fire ants and fleas. It is completely natural and does not harm pets or children. I've been using them for several years and have not had fleas or fire ants in my yard since beginning to use them. The application process is a bit tricky - you have to put water on them and strain the nematodes out of the soil they are in and then you have to spray them on the yard with a hand sprayer or hose end. Then you have to water them in and be sure to water the yard occasionally.
Beneficial nematodes are microscopic organisms and they eat the fire ant and flea eggs so the colonies cannot live in your yard. You can buy them from any gardening center that sells organic products. In Austin you can get them from the Natural Gardener or Red Barn Nursery (and probably other places too, that I don't know about). Also, because of the warm winters in Austin, the nematodes often live through the winter and as such, only need to be reapplied every 2-3 years. I went 3 years the first time I used them and then I reapplied on the fourth year, just because I didn't want to take the chance of getting either fleas or fire ants in my yard. Of course, this doesn't mean that my Rowdy might not pick up fleas from walks or other animals - but it does mean that they won't set up housekeeping in my yard. I took the beneficial nematodes to my cousin in Oklahoma who was having problems with fire ants and they did the trick for her too so I'm pretty confident that they work in most any area with fire ants. |