Evaluation of Fireban 12.5Wp for Red Imported Fire Ant Control, 1984

Fireban 12.5WP was evaluated as a mound drench for control of red imported fire ants in Boykin, South Carolina. In an unused pasture at the prison farm, 14 circular plots (100 ft diam) were delineated with the loction of fire ant mounds in each plot mapped. The degree of activity and size of each mound were also recorded. Activity was determined by slightly prodding the mound with a thin metal wire and then estimated by the number of ants coming to the surface using the following scale: 0 = inactive mound, 1 = 1-100 ants, 2 = 101-1000 ants, and 3 = greater than 1000 ants. A minimum of 5 mounds were found in each plot. To each of the 14 plots, 1 of 7 treatments was assigned randomly. The treatments were as follows: untreated check, water drench, chlorpyrifos 0.5% (standard) and Fireban 12.5WP at the following rates 2.0 oz in 1 gal water/sq ft mound, 4.0 oz in 1 gal water/sq ft mound, 2.0 oz in 2 gal water/sq ft mound and 4.0 oz in 2 gal water/sq ft mound. All water requiring treatments were poured at least 12 inches around the mound before drenching the mound itself (no more than one pint of material was used to treat the soil surrounding the mound). Mounds were left undisturbed prior to treating. Treatments were applied on 18 Jun 84. Any new mounds appearing in a plot during the second week posttreatment were plotted and treated at the same rate as the original mounds.