For me this journey began recently after I moved to Texas for a job in the Oil Patch. Isn’t that why everyone moves to Texas these days, work? I walked into a colleagues office, he was an old, been around, wear cowboy boots everyday, sort of fella. I showed him my hand which had three fire ant bites on it. I said, “Um, these bites look nasty and hurt like a bugger. There is also a weird zit looking thing on the top. Do you think I should see a doctor?” After he recovered from laughing he said, “Why Lisa, those ain’t nothing but fire ant bites.” I knew they were ant bites (now I know they are stings), but to have this type of reaction on my skin? He assured me it was quite normal. I then made the mistake of googling “Fire Ant Bite” and realized my ‘problem bites’ were not a problem. Please, dear reader, unless you are a doctor and accustomed to gore, do not google “Fire Ant Bite”
Living with these fire ants is going to be difficult, and painful. So began my journey to understanding how to manage fire ants on my suburban oasis.
I am not interested in broadcasting poison across my yard. I am aware of the ecologic crisis facing humanity. I like to think of my yard as small patch of hospitable terrain in an otherwise concrete and chemical wasteland that is much of Harris County. I needed to find a solution for the ants that wouldn’t bother the birds and the bees. That solution was Diatoms!
The question then became, are Diatoms any better for the whole ecosystem than the poisons that I was going to use? Why are diatoms safer? Diatoms should be applied directly to ant piles when the piles need to be addresses. Therefore it only targets ants. When used properly Diatoms pose less risk than most items in your kitchen, and frankly, when used improperly the risk isn’t much higher. The primary threat is inhalation. So, please use outdoors.