Little fire ants at Richardson Beach Park (Hilo: 2014, how much)

[Robin Rossi]

Originally Posted by Fredesch

Still can't tell if Richardson Beach has a real problem or not. Why are big island threads always rambling this way and that? Anyone avoid any of the beaches with little fire ants?

And has anyone applied for a grant to teach coqui frogs to eat little fire ants? I hear the county council has lots of descressionary funds...

Must be the VOG!!!!

[PukaFace]

We have LFA's at 17th off of Kaloli. I believe thay are all over the lower elevations of Puna and Hilo up to parts of Hamakua according to the state's website. Some posters on the Punaweb forums mention that the LFA's may have spread originally from a plant nursery here in HPP. The state website mentioned above by KaraBenNemsi is a good source of info- they have formulas that you can mix up yourself to spray in the trees. We use Amdro on the ground.

[hunterseat]

I've been bitten by Texas fire ants and Mississippi fire ants. Seems the more moisture in the environment, the worse the sting. They can leave little white-head looking pimple/blisters. Imagine my surprise when, here on Oahu, I stepped off the pavement into the grass to remove a thorn from my shoe/flip-flop/slipper. I put my bare foot down in the grass and got absolutely attacked! I knew exactly what that was! Little or big, mound-building or condo-dwelling or pontoon-boat living, fire ants are fire ants in my book. YUCK

[davephan]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Yes, unfortunately they've taken a beachhead there.

They have shown up in hotspots all over. A couple of years ago I planned to pick up a load of compost at the Hilo landfill, which is about 3 miles due south of there, but when I got there another guy waved me off, saying it was full of LFAs, and sure enough, I would have had a disaster on my hands if I had loaded it up and taken it home.

We also have to be careful with buying potted plants from the farmers markets and local nurseries. Besides examining them very carefully for LFAs and coqui frogs I quarantine them by sealing them inside big plastic bags I keep on hand for the purpose, and placing them in a sunny spot for a few days to "solarize." That's enough to cause any critters or their eggs to cease to be.

At the park you just need to be very vigilant about where you park it.

Would it be possible to get put small batches of compost in plastic bags to cook them in the sun? I think that the compost would have to be thin enough so that each unit of compost would fully cook. If the compost was too thick, the insects could hide from the heat and avoid being killed. Maybe this would be as difficult as killing insects with boiling water for yards of compost, broken up into many small batches.

We go through about 5 or more yards of compost per growing season with our gardening in Minnesota. It would be harder to effectively garden the way we do now without compost.

[Robin Rossi]

Originally Posted by davephan

Would it be possible to get put small batches of compost in plastic bags to cook them in the sun? I think that the compost would have to be thin enough so that each unit of compost would fully cook. If the compost was too thick, the insects could hide from the heat and avoid being killed. Maybe this would be as difficult as killing insects with boiling water for yards of compost, broken up into many small batches.

We go through about 5 or more yards of compost per growing season with our gardening in Minnesota. It would be harder to effectively garden the way we do now without compost.

Make my Well Done with a spash of A-1 on the side, please.

[whtviper1]

This came out today, apparently fire ants can kill you:

Georgia Woman Dies From Fire Ant Sting - ABC News

[KaraBenNemsi]

Originally Posted by davephan

Would it be possible to get put small batches of compost in plastic bags to cook them in the sun?

There's a lot of worry about the composting program the county runs. I.E. coqui eggs, LFA, coffee berry borer, centipedes, crab spiders. Keep in mind that the shredded compost heaps cook internally. So much so that it sometimes even self ignites. You see the steam coming off it when the stuff is loaded. I have loaded my pickup many times with a pitch fork and it was a sauna! The inner batches are sometimes carbonized, real burned looking from the composting process. Nothing is alive there.

Now that the Kailua station moved the operation to the Waikoloa landfill I assume more people dump their fresh green waste everywhere and that will be a prime contamination source.

[hunterseat]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

This came out today, apparently fire ants can kill you:

Georgia Woman Dies From Fire Ant Sting - ABC News

Very sad. Tragic.

[whtviper1]

Too bad they can't figure out how to train the fire ants to go after the frogs - that might actually be a good movie, Fire Ants versus Coqui Frog, Battle for the Big Island.

Hawaii takes aim at invasive little fire ants - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

"The invasive ants first landed on the Big Island 15 years ago. They live in trees, where they infest crops and bite agricultural workers. They also live on the ground, where they attack people and pets."

[OpenD]

I like the details from that article...

Hawaii lawmakers have advanced a bill aiming to study and kill an ant species that threatens the state's economy and ecology.

The bill provides more than $500,000 toward coordinating efforts to corral and destroy the little fire ant. It includes money to pay for trained dogs to sniff out the tiny pests.

Because if they don't stop Little Fire Ants (LFAs) here, state officials now realize, they'll soon be on all the islands.