Grits and Fire Ants ... Hooey or Hurrah?

We've got a humongous fire ant mound in my front yard, in the lush grass lining the sidewalk. When my beagle wuffles the grass (we think she can sense them moving around), they get all over her nose and bite her. And it's the worst when you're not paying attention and walk through the hill ... and then they crawl on your feet and legs. Eww!

A guy at the hardware center told my mom to sprinkle grits on top of the colony. The theory is that the ants would take the uncooked grains back to the larvae and the queen, and because the ants couldn't digest the grain the colony would die out.

My husband is generally a natural solution kind of guy, but when it comes to invasive insects he's not above applying direct insecticides. But with a dog and a child, we're a bit squirrelly with this option.

So back to the grits ... my son and I sprinkled a good cup of them across the top of the fire ant colony in the front yard this afternoon. It looked like the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro. And there must've been a million fire ants running around in a tizzy. But—they were carrying off little grains of grits. In less than half an hour the all evidence of hominy was gone.

And now I've found an article that has totally disillusioned me: Grits, Ants and Fire Ants: The Truth! Which pretty much debunks the whole idea of the grits. What a bummer if this is true.

• Do you have any "home remedies" for dispersing of fire ant colonies?
• And do you think this horrible article is right? Did I waste a cup of perfectly good grits?