I decided to walk the whole property and look for fire ants. Might as well see how bad it is beyond the part of the yard we use, right?

Oh … my … god.

There’s one more collection of three well-established mounds that are close enough to one another, I’d guess it’s another multi-queen colony. The mounds themselves aren’t very large yet, so they are first on the list for boiling water in the morning. They are about the same size and composition as the one mound I totally eradicated with a mere one gallon of hot water.

There’s one non-mound group that took up residence under a wooden post I had at the end of one of my garden beds. I moved the post, and maybe they’ll move on to a location I can get to them easier. Can’t very well use boiling water near my plants’ roots.

There are a couple of very small mounds here and there I will get to before they are large, but aren’t a top priority.

Then there’s the mother of all fire ant mounds, formally known as the compost heap. Right on top is a neat and tidy little mound. I poked the leafy heap, and sure enough … nothing but fire ants. I ran away quickly. It’s a good thing I didn’t just walk back there and stick my hands into that to get some leafy matter for in the garden. I shudder to think what would have happened. I don’t think boiling water is going to work on that one, which isn’t going to stop me from trying anyway. The water should run through the leafy matter easily, and it’s entirely possible none of their actual nest in below the actual ground level.

Glad I went out and checked the whole yard^†. Now I know how big the problem is. Pretty damn big, but I think I can get rid of a lot of them just with the boiling water.

Now that awful huge one I have been working on for a couple of days? Diminished activity, little to no mound rebuilding, and many, many dead ant bodies lying in piles. I seem to have at least damaged them pretty well, so I will keep at it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I got rid of all the fire ants in the yard without using any poisons, organic or not? I’d really like that. It’s worth the trouble of boiling some water and carrying large pots back and forth a few times every morning to not use any poisons at all.

So the Fire Ant War goes on. Hopefully, it will be over soon, because I have to get back to the War on Pear Trees. Yes, the pear trees have made a new appearance again. Fewer than before, but still … I want none of them anywhere in the yard!

1. † Didn’t check beyond the woodpile though. After encountering the compost heap frull of fire ants, I was pretty much done with wanting to look for fire ants. [↩]