Hi, gardeners,

Last spring we treated for fire ants outside the deer fence with Amdro. We had great success, and there were far fewer fire ants inside the garden throughout the rest of 2013.

(Inside the garden whenever we find fire ants we treat them with Orange Guard, an organic substance made from orange peels.)

We would like to follow the same method we followed last year so successfully: We are looking for volunteers to come at 7:15am this Saturday morning to Simple Gifts Community Garden to form a line of folks spreading the Amdro via broadcast (hand tossing) and individual mound treatment.

We will treat the four sides of the garden outside the deer fence.  Rain is not expected until Tuesday and the Amdro instructions say that we need just 24 hours of dry weather for the Amdro to be effective.

Here are some directions for applying the Amdro fire ant bait. (We will also hand these out at 7:15am in the garden.):

Directions for applying Amdro at Simple Gifts Community Garden:

Spread the granules as you walk very lightly, by broadcast – i.e., hand tossing. When you spot a mound, DO NOT DISTURB it in any way.  Apply a half-full water cup of granules in a ring around the outside of the mound close to the ground.  Do not pour from higher up to avoid dust drift into your face.  Do not pour the cup directly on the mound. This is a sneak attack!  The ants have to think they’ve found food.  If you pour it on top they will be suspicious and think it is an invasion. Treat every mound you find with the following exceptions:

·         Do not treat within 3 ft. of the garden fence at the top of the garden.  At the sides and bottom of the garden fence you can treat right up to the fence.  Do not throw granules inside the fence.

·         Do not treat anything within 10 ft. of the compost bins, leaves, chips and soil piles.  These products will go directly into the garden.

·         Do not treat within 20 ft. of the pond.  There are a lot of fire ants near the pond, but Amdro is highly toxic to aquatic life and we don’t want to harm the turtles, fish, and geese who live near the pond.

Please RSVP. We would greatly appreciate your help.

Fred D’Ignazio                           Anne Harrison

fred.dignazio@gmail.com         anneh@nc.rr.com