I am having the same problem. The little bastards moved in just a couple weeks after I put in the raised beds. Ugh, it gives me the creeps. I've been using the suggestions in Howard Garrett's book and so far nothing has worked. This is what I've tried: 1. Use a soil drench containing orange oil. This does kill the ants on contact, but it seems to have no residual effect. As in, the ants will mill about inches away from where I poured the orange oil acting not the least bit repelled. The orange oil will harm your plants so I don't want it too close to where things are already planted. It's a good thing to use on mounds, but unless you can manage to get the queen, it just kills some ants and the rest move a few inches away. 2. Spread dry molasses. Again, this is supposed to repel ants and has no effect whatsoever. The ants are very happy to remain in my comfy beds. I've also heard beneficial nemotodes can help, but I haven't been able to find any. I placed an order for a spinosad based bait on Amazon today, as none of the stores in my area carried it. I hope the spinosad works.

I have killed huge fire ant mounds by using the used coffee grounds that Starbucks gives away for free. After experimenting with these used coffee grounds for 8 years, I have found all kinds of interesting uses for them. Mainly as a direct contact spray, I can take care of all the insects I have problems with, and I have 40,000 plants. I found that the coffee spray will not kill ants, but they ARE repelled by the used coffee grounds. This may take a little practice, but I take the used coffee grounds and mix them with enough water that they turn into mud. I put a thin layer of mud all over the mound, and I found out the trick is to cover another 4 inches farther than the mound because they try to tunnel out under the coffee mud. The only thing I can figure is that they refuse to dig through the coffee, and when they can't go out and feed the mound, the colony dies. One way or another, it kills the mounds. This is hard to do when you collect your own grounds, bit you can get so much at one time at Starbucks when you go at the right time of day. Sometimes, I have come away with about 60 pounds of used coffee grounds when I ask them for the bag they are filling behind the counter. On another note, try experimenting with coffee repelling ants and other insects. Like if you had a small garden, you could pour a barrier of grounds around the perimeter of the garden to keep them away. The barrier would also keep out mealy bugs, scales, aphids, and even spider mites. I never got to finish a formal experiment, but I would bet money that used coffee grounds would get rid of chinch bugs in the lawn as well.

Darn it. You figured it out before I got on the computet his morning, so I didn't have a chance to hoot and holler and say "No-o-o-o! Don't fall for this garbage." This hoax has been around for several years. For the record, anytime someone posts something about a "new miracle solution" for anything in gardening, there is a 99.99% chance it is a hoax or is something that is just flat-out ridiculous. Most of these so-called solutions have floated around for years and have been debunked. When I come across a new one I haven't heard before, I go to Snopes.com to see if they address it on their website, and they often do. As far as fire ants, I've been dealing with them since they first appeared in our part of Texas in the late 1970s or early 1980s. While we have better methods of managing them now, there still are few organic solutions that really seem to work. The one that works best for me is anything with Spinosad. It doesn't take out all the fire ants, but it greatly reduces their numbers. I don't even worry much about fire ants any more because, like cockroaches and rats and snakes, they are here to stay. I just try to keep their mounds out of my veggie garden and out of the areas where we commonly walk. The big ant worry now for all of us now in this part of the country is Rasberry Crazy Ants. They are real, they do exist, and the scientists and researchers in Texas (and probably elsewhere) are just beginning to study them. I hope they figure out a way to manage them before these ants make it this far north. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Crazy Rasberry Ants Wiki

Thanks for the advice. When we moved into the house, the previous owner had seeded heavily with rye. I spreaded weed and feed and lime around March. Then I spreaded green spring max around mid May. By the end of June, all of the Rye had died and I was left with very little fescue, wild Bermuda, and weeds. So for that reason, I have not watered. I just over seeded about 11 days ago and we have had tons of rain. However, after that I am not sure how I am going to water 3/4 of an acre without an irrigation system. I have not figured that part out yet. I had the fescue at my old house looking fairly good and mowed high, not the highset but 2 knotched below it. I'm looking to have tall fescue, if I can ever get rid of the weeds. I sprayed weed b gone with a pull behind sprayer about 7 weeks ago. It got rid of a lot of the weeds, maybe 3/4 of them. I didn't spray a second round because I wanted to seed this fall. There has been no shade in the back yard since the house was built. I planted 12 trees 3 weeks ago to get some shade in the future. Thanks for the advice krnuttle. So basically you are saying that I need to get my yard up to par and slowly treat the hill one by one?