Fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) are pesky creatures that were introduced to the US in the early 1900s. Since their introduction, they have spread to every state in the Southeast and beyond. The bad news is this pest simply cannot be eradicated. But the good news is that fire ant problems are treatable, and we can learn to live with this garden annoyance.
Pesticides that come in a drench formula, such as this one, must be mixed with water prior to application.
Photo Credit: Daniel Overcash
This bait can be broadcast over the entire lawn or applied directly to a mound.
Photo Credit: Daniel Overcash
What Not To Do
Let’s first address three home remedy treatments that do not work when it comes to controlling fire ants: The first involves placing grits on top of the mounds. The theory behind this method is that the ants will eat and digest the grits, the grits will expand and then eventually cause the ant to swell and explode. (Similar to the myth that rice is deadly to birds.) Alas, the grits treatment has proved to do no more than provide a food source for the ants.
The second home remedy is to pour gasoline on the mound. Not only does this not eliminate the fire ant problem, it can cause damage to the environment – and is illegal in most areas! Fire ants can live down to 3 feet in the ground. When gasoline is poured on their mound, the ants will sense that something’s wrong, retreat out of their home and just build a new mound 3-4 feet away. In other words, you’ll only succeed in relocating the fire ants and contaminating your lawn.
The third ineffective, yet popular, home remedy is to pour hot water into the mound to kill the ants. While this is much safer than pouring gasoline, the hot water has little chance of coming in contact with all of the fire ants, given the pests’ ability to retreat deeper into their intricately tunneled mound. Another downfall of this method (besides not killing the ants) is that you’ll kill all the vegetation that the hot water comes in contact with. Unless you want a polka-dotted lawn, you should really consider using one of the following effective treatment methods instead.
What You Should Try
There are two basic types of insecticides designed for fire ant treatment: baits and drenches.
Bait is either applied directly over the mound or over a larger area, such as the entire lawn. As the ants forage for food, they take the bait granules back to the mound to share with the others. A drench is used by mixing a pesticide with water, then applying a large amount of the solution directly onto the mound. As the drench solution comes in contact with the ant, it kills the insect. Both application methods work well to control fire ant populations.
But it’s a two-step method that has proved to be the most effective treatment for controlling fire ants. The first step is to do a broadcast application over the entire area with a bait. As the ants forage the area, they’ll pick up the insecticide and take it back to the colony. Four weeks after the broadcast treatment, the second step is to spot-treat any existing mounds with another bait or a drench. With this method, you should expect to be mostly free of fire ants for a year.
It’s important to note, though, that this takes time. Don’t expect to treat your fire ant problem one day and find all the ants dead the next. The ants have to take the chemicals back to their mound to spread it to the rest of the colony first.
In the treatment of fire ants, patience and persistence get results. The unfortunate factor in fire ant control is no matter how good of a job you do treating, it’s only a temporary fix; you’ll likely always be subjected to new colonies that move in from neighboring yards.
