Hello gardeners,

This Saturday, March 2nd, we begin our new gardening season! Sandra and Ed Webb will be our garden leaders from 9 am until 12 noon, so if your schedule and the weather permit, come one, come all!

As we begin our new year at the garden we need to take a moment and think about our number one problem at the garden: fire ants. After extensive reading and investigation last year, Tonya, Anne, Sandra and I found that fire ants are really difficult to eradicate–especially if we are trying to use only organic methods. However, we did find out some basic facts that we would like to implement right away this year in the garden:

1. We need to stop placing flags into fire ant mounds. Apparently the vibration of the metal flagpole instantly alarms the ants, they alert their entire colony and their queen moves the colony to a new location. Also, the queen is amazingly fertile and turns out new queens and new workers by the thousands, and the colonies multiply quickly–all over the slope inside and outside the garden. Bottom line: when we put up the flags we disturb the fire ant mounds and we create a fire ant population explosion!

2. We may use flags away from the mounds, but the primary marker for a mound will be a paint circle around the mound. This doesn’t disturb the mound but it clearly marks the mound for our fellow gardeners. (Sandra is experimenting with the paint circles now.)

3. We need to take every precaution not to disturb the mounds. This has a two-fold purpose: a. Fewer people willl get stung by the fire ants. and b. The fire ants will not run, willy-nilly, and create new colonies around the garden.

4. Only designated garden leaders should treat the mounds once they are identified. This will result in fewer people (especially children) getting stung, and it will ensure that we mark the mounds correctly and not disturb them. Also it will allow us to log the mounds and keep track of them to gauge our treatment plan results.

5. We will start the year by using our current fire ant treatment method — Green Light Fire Ant Control bait with Conserve. Only garden leaders should apply the bait. A little bit goes a long way. It is expensive. And we don’t want to apply it directly on top of the mounds since this technique disturbs the mounds and will result in further spread of the fire ant colonies. Instead the bait should be very lightly spread around the edge of the mounds–but only by the garden leader.

In the meantime, we are looking into new organic pesticide treatments, and we will update you soon on procedures for controlling our fire ant population. Our garden leaders may be experimental and try different methods on different mounds and keep a treatment log to study the results. Also, can we please ask for your cooperation in our plan so that:

A. Only garden leaders treat the mounds so they can keep track and record any treatment into our log. (This lets us monitor which methods are most successful.)

B. All gardeners, young and old, need to wear solid, closed-toed shoes and socks whenever they are inside the garden. Please protect yourselves and your children.

Thank you for your cooperation and support. Please be vigilant when you are in the garden, both for your safety and the safety of your family members, children and fellow gardeners. Please write us or approach any of us in the garden if you have suggestions or any new information about fire ant treatment.

Tonya & Sandra & Anne & Fred