As the sun broke through Sunday afternoon after the glorious, blessed rains of last week, we slipped on our work gloves and headed outside, our thoughts and efforts returning to the state of our garden and lawn. Along with new blades of green, green grass, as the temperatures continue to warm this week, fire ant mounds will likely also begin popping up. While there are many ant poisons available, poisoning our yards and environments is arguably not the smartest way to deal with the problem. Fortunately, Dripping resident Howard Williams sent us a tip that homemade molasses and orange oil concoctions actually work very well to kill and repel fire ants. Williams explains that molasses repels fire ants, while orange oil kills them. A quick trip around the internet will produce a myriad of recipes for molasses and orange oil mixes, but here are a few that Williams suggests, plus his thoughts on each:

Molasses only (fertilizer and ant repellent):
2 to 4 oz. of molasses diluted in 1 gallon of water and poured around plants. Molasses increases microbial action in the soil (it's a great fertilizer). Since ants prefer depleted soil, it's likely the increased soil microbes that causes them to move on.

Molasses/orange oil combo for small mounds in garden beds:
2 to 4 oz. of molasses and 1 oz. orange oil diluted in 1 gallon of water and poured directly on ant mounds. Williams reports that this much orange oil is safe to use around plants.

Molasses/orange oil combo for large mounds in yard areas:
4 oz. of molasses and 4 oz. or orange oil diluted in a gallon of water and poured liberally on ant mounds. This amount of orange oil will kill the ants (quite dead) but may be too concentrated for certain ornamental plants. Mounds should be monitored since more than one application might be needed.