Do Worm Castings Repel Fire Ants?
One of the newer organic products being promoted for repelling fire ants are something called "worm castings."
Worm castings or worm feces is naturally produced as a part of the worm life cycle, when worms are fed a diet of various forms of biodegradable materials such as compost, paper, food waste, and any other organic material.
According to the owner of California Vermiculture, worm castings possess an enzyme known as chitinase. It seems that insects do not like chininase because it actually dissolves chitin, which is an essential ingredient in the insect's exoskeleton. The worm feces also have the ability to activate multiplication of the chitinase-producing bacteria found naturally in plants. Insects, including fire ants, will not eat plants that contain high levels of this ingredient and also will not walk on it. A nice side effect is that the castings are also an excellent nutrient for plants.
Supposedly, the chitinase also makes the plants taste bad and when used to treat fire ants, 10 weeks after treatment the area was still fire ant free. The castings are packaged by Hahn in a product called “Wormgold.”
Liquid castings can be used as a spray to administer a concentration of chitinase topically to the leaves and stems of plants, but are only a temporary repellent. They can also be added to the hydroponic feed liquid for plants to provide sufficient level of chitinase to repel insects.
Hidden Valley Hibiscus, of San Diego, California, also offers a very pure form of worm castings.
So does it actually work? There is pretty clear agreement that it cannot kill fire ants, but only repel them at best. Some people are adamant that it works, but I could not find any studies online or any clearly unbiased sources to support the claim. I wouldn't rely on this alone to solve the problem, although you can order it for pretty cheap online. One thing to consider: it is good for the soil in gardens, so if ants are getting into your plants then it might be worth trying. You could also buy some worms of your own and let them loose - they'll help the soil, and if it really works they can act as your own perpetual castings factory.
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Sources and Useful Links::
http://www.hiddenvalleynaturearts.com/acatalog/wormcast.htm
http://www.dirtworks.net/worm-castings.html
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