Last week in Hilo there was a lightly attended presentation on the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata).  Glenn Taniguchi from UH Manoa and Tommy Thompson who works out of Hilo, tag teamed a very scary reality check for those attending.

In 1999 the tiny (1/16”) red to orange colored fire ant was discovered in Hawaiian Paradise Park.  Apparently already too late to be totally contained because of the frequent movement of infested material by infected plant nursery operations.  By May 2006 there were 50 known little fire ant infestations in East Hawaii.  In a now all too familiar scenario, short of a miracle it is already too late to eradicate this particular uninvited pest

Voted the “worst ant possible” at a recent gathering of ant researchers in Kona, we growers (especially as eco-growers) face a gathering storm.  Effective (and registered) controls are few and toxics available like "Amdro," which manage to kill a bunch, must be used and monitored constantly and we have no research for controls specific to our tropical climate. It seems that in most large infestations not all the ants are killed, because of highly successful survival abilities; High reproduction rates, multiple queens, omnivorous diets, adaptation to any environment, and difficulty in finding the tiny ants until they have totally “blanketed” an area.    

Their initial infestation is gradual.  They do not travel far to establish new colonies, but rather take a “pod- like” approach and steadily bud off from the original colony to cover an ever-increasing area… completely and thoroughly. They can live and thrive on the ground, on plants and seed pods, in trees, under rocks, in lawns, orchards, wet, or dry and are to date documented in areas on the island up to 1400 feet (although there is no reason to think they will be limited by elevation until they reach areas high enough to frost at night).  An entire colony can live under a leaf, a few colonies under a rock and in trees...never coming down and even in somewhat large bean and pea pods, in fact just everywhere is a habitat for them, they even have been know to join together and raft across water.  This ant has shut-down farmers in other parts of the world because workers would refuse to harvest crops in infested trees. In large infestation they will even move right into your home (we have friends on the island with that experience).  It is a continuing nightmare.

The sting is multiple, very painful, burns and itches for a long time - up to 2-3 weeks.  If left unchecked these ants will cover everything, and will rain down on you harvesting fruit or pruning.  They make the lives of animals and pets miserable and are quite capable of blinding them.  If you are initially unaware and lucky enough to personally not run into them they are capable of contaminating a huge area before you even know they are there.

So why is this not on the radar screen? If they are not in your backyard you are probably clueless about a growing island-wide disaster.  Very few of us are shouting about this yet, though there is information out there, and limited (very limited) research and mapping going on, it appears this one was meant to take us by surprise. After all there is the Coqui, rat lung (a disease carried rats and imported slugs), stinging nettle caterpillars, etc, etc. all demanding our attention and resources.

This is such a “non- issue” that three grants recently applied for that would keep research for control methods on the island were rejected!  After December, there will be nobody in the state working to find ways to control this pest. It’s up to all of us to get on this one immediately.  Just think of the number of plants we buy, swap, the banana kiekies, the soil moved around, cinder and (GULP!) dump mulch.  We think this one is close to shouting, “The house is on fire!!”

There is a great little info pamphlet from UH called “Stop the Little Fire Ant” available at the Extension Service on Komohana (CTHAR Insect Pest publication IP-24 May, 2006).  It describes how to use sticks smeared with peanut butter to check for the presence of ants on your land, to check all incoming and out-going plant and soil material. It’s really a simple method.

We must all make this an immediate issue in every way. We must push for full and immediate funding for inspection, detection, research on control measures (including eco-methods) and every way possible to create island-wide awareness of the magnitude of this problem.

Please get on it now - you DON”T want this guy on your land or in your home.  Make it an issue... with every politician and in every publication on the island.  Help us on this campaign - we can’t expect a few people to do all the heavy lifting on this one, it has the potential to quickly and seriously affect each of us.