ants on greens?? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Virgil Range

   

   0 posts
   
   9/5/2013 7:09 AM

   Is anyone haveing a problems with ants this year. I have had a few areas near the edges of greens. After talking to a few people I got some MaxForce Complete Granular Bait. I applied it and got about 85% control in a few days.
   Today I'm in st Louis at my cousins place and holly ants. He has the worst case of ants I've ever seen. Are there any methods of a curative solution besides max force? He would have to buy cases and cases of the maxforce. Any suggestions I can relay to him??

   
   
   
   
2. Williams Patrick G

   
   9/5/2013 8:09 AM

   I've had pretty good success spraying a Meridian and Scimitar tank mix. It works best to apply it in spring though.

   
   
   
   
3. Sowatsky Steve A

   
   9/5/2013 9:09 AM

   Allectus granular is good for spottreating . Needs to be watered in to dissolve granules and then regular cycle at night.

   
   
   
   
4. Ronald Conard

   

   4 posts
   
   9/5/2013 11:09 AM

   Virgil Range said: Is anyone haveing a problems with ants this year. I have had a few areas near the edges of greens. After talking to a few people I got some MaxForce Complete Granular Bait. I applied it and got about 85% control in a few days.
   Today I'm in st Louis at my cousins place and holly ants. He has the worst case of ants I've ever seen. Are there any methods of a curative solution besides max force? He would have to buy cases and cases of the maxforce. Any suggestions I can relay to him??

   
   
   Virgil,
   
   That is not a green, is it? I ask because for whatever reason, so far the turf ants don't colonize sand based greens, at least from my experience and everything I could find in the research. They will colonize the perimeter of the greens and tunnel about 6 feet into the green itself. But if that is a sand based green then I'm thinking about my future options in life. Why did we choose a career that fights Mother Nature's want for entropy?
   
   We have had a huge problem blow up here in the past few years and what is frustrating is there really are no effective baits labeled for the northern states. Baits are the most effective approach. Was the queen dies, the colony dies. Chipco Choice seems to work great where it is labeled. I'm glad to hear the the MaxForce Complete worked for you. I think most of the baits are too big for the ants to get them into the colony and to the green. The entrances to their colonies are too small.
   
   Brushing daily on the greens has really helped mitigate the problem. If it is feasible knocking down the mounds prior to mowing helps mask the issue. We've also raised the height of cut on fairways but we have bluegrass not bent. We are also in the process of aggressively core aerating and topdressing out about a 20 foot perimeter from the collar of the greens, in hopes that the ant colonies will eventually move to a more favorable environment.
   
   At this late stage in the year any control option will be kind of a waste as soon the mounding will die down until next spring. As was stated above, the control strategy is to get aggressive at the first site of mounding in the spring. The chemicals listed above are in my arsenal for next spring.
   
   Personally, I think this is going to be a huge issue in the years to come. I wish the manufactures would pursue options for us to help tackle the problem, but if you search the net for information there is not a lot out there.

   
   
   
   
5. Canedo Alberto J

   
   9/5/2013 12:09 PM

   FMC has a good product I use on insects. Talstar Professional Insecticide. I use it around my irrigation controllers, valves and anywhere I need to control ants. It is one of the products I use for cutworms, sod web worms and other insects on my greens. I also use Scimatar GC. Look up Talstar Insecticides at the FMC website and they also carry granular Insectice's. Hope this helps.

   
   
   
   
6. Chris Wiedenmeyer

   

   0 posts
   
   9/5/2013 1:09 PM

   Anderson's insecticide 3. Granular jus water it in. Takes care of them usually overnight with my experience. We apply it as needed and only where needed with a hand held homeowner type seeder.

   
   
   
   
7. Virgil Range

   

   0 posts
   
   9/6/2013 7:09 AM

   Thanks for the help guys. No Ron his greens r soil based and yep that's his green. I've never seen anything like it. I put some of the max force on yesterday but not nearly enough. Just looked at the green and maxforce didn't do much. I looked for 15 min and didn't find 1 ant. Maybe 1000 hills but not 1 ant. My cousin wants to know if these could be corn beetles?
   I have sand greens at my place. We both see the ants in area that have has either been very stressed in previous
   years or that area was completely dead. On my #4 there were 3 area that was scalped. Died off and reseeded in fall. Now the area are green and lush but have a lot if poa in it. That is where we see 95% of the ants.
   Probably th best thing to do is to just leave them alone until fall when cooler temps push than back into the soil and then next spring put a preventative down. Out if the products the guys talked about which one is the best?

   
   
   
   
8. Becwar Benjamin G

   
   9/6/2013 8:09 AM

   I agree with Chris, Anderson's Insecticide 3. I had ants last year about this time and it took them out over night. My problem wasn't nearly this bad but I would expect 100% control even in that case.

   
   
   
   
9. Wahlin Scott B

   
   9/6/2013 5:09 PM

   TopChoice will fix this problem. I think Bifenthrin will give you longterm control.

   
   
   
   
10. Chris Wiedenmeyer

    

    0 posts
    
    9/6/2013 6:09 PM

    I do not have an infestation near that bad even without applications but I would think insecticide 3 would clear that up immediately. Fairly inexpensive, I can not remember price off top of my head by I wanna say less than $50 per bag. Is that what each green looks like? Maybe try one or 2 bags to see what it will do, then consider your options on the untreated greens???
    
    If he does try it please post an update with the results.

    
    
    
    
11. Ronald Conard

    

    4 posts
    
    9/7/2013 8:09 AM

    Scott Wahlin, CGCS said: TopChoice will fix this problem. I think Bifenthrin will give you longterm control.

    
    
    I don't think they are labeled for northern courses. At least the TopChoice isn't.

    
    
    
    
12. Ronald Conard

    

    4 posts
    
    9/7/2013 8:09 AM

    Chris Wiedenmeyer said: I do not have an infestation near that bad even without applications but I would think insecticide 3 would clear that up immediately. Fairly inexpensive, I can not remember price off top of my head by I wanna say less than $50 per bag. Is that what each green looks like? Maybe try one or 2 bags to see what it will do, then consider your options on the untreated greens???
    
    If he does try it please post an update with the results.

    
    
    
    I hope you are right. I'll try it next spring but this is becoming a big problem here on the high plains and the people I have spoken with, and in my own experience, indicate the result of using a chemical that just kills the workers and not the queen has a very limited effect, regarding length of time of control. Most guys are seeing a chemical work for two or three weeks at first, then that control diminishes to less than a week over time.
    
    These ants burrow up to three feet deep and there are billions upon billions in any one colony. I have a hard time picturing in my mind how a pesticide applied to the thatch layer will simply clear up the problem long term without the queen being taken out. She just lays there and cranks out generation after generation of workers. It's not as easy as sprinkle a little powder and problem solved, as one of my new seasonals tells me.
    
    That's why the manufactures of products like Choice need to get on the ball and get their products labeled for northern states. They are going to miss out on a very profitable situation as this problem expands. I talk with sales people from the Denver and few even know the problem exists. The others look at me like I'm making this up. But snooze you lose on this issue.

    
    
    
    
13. Larry Allan

    

    0 posts
    
    9/8/2013 9:09 AM

    Ronald Conard, CGCS said:

    Chris Wiedenmeyer said: I do not have an infestation near that bad even without applications but I would think insecticide 3 would clear that up immediately. Fairly inexpensive, I can not remember price off top of my head by I wanna say less than $50 per bag. Is that what each green looks like? Maybe try one or 2 bags to see what it will do, then consider your options on the untreated greens???
    
    If he does try it please post an update with the results.

    
    
    
    I hope you are right. I'll try it next spring but this is becoming a big problem here on the high plains and the people I have spoken with, and in my own experience, indicate the result of using a chemical that just kills the workers and not the queen has a very limited effect, regarding length of time of control. Most guys are seeing a chemical work for two or three weeks at first, then that control diminishes to less than a week over time.
    
    These ants burrow up to three feet deep and there are billions upon billions in any one colony. I have a hard time picturing in my mind how a pesticide applied to the thatch layer will simply clear up the problem long term without the queen being taken out. She just lays there and cranks out generation after generation of workers. It's not as easy as sprinkle a little powder and problem solved, as one of my new seasonals tells me.
    
    That's why the manufactures of products like Choice need to get on the ball and get their products labeled for northern states. They are going to miss out on a very profitable situation as this problem expands. I talk with sales people from the Denver and few even know the problem exists. The others look at me like I'm making this up. But snooze you lose on this issue.

    
    And most people thought Carl Sagan had passed years ago. My recent experience using Pyrate (Dursban) seams to really knock them back on the surface but from what I've read you really need to do a pass or two outside of the green to have any long term effect.

    
    
    
    
14. John Boyce

    

    0 posts
    
    9/10/2013 8:09 PM

    Aloft made my Arysta is a combo of bifentherin and clothianidin (arena). Works great for ant control here in coastal SC.

    
    
    
    
15. James Smith

    

    112 posts
    
    9/16/2013 8:09 AM

    If it is ants top choice may do the job. I had something very simular recently on my greens but it ended up being earwigs. I actually found one starting the mound and watched it for about 15 minutes.
    
    Productive little rascals!.