When the Fire Ants Take Over: Effective and Less-Toxic Solutions

There are several precursor of warmer weather in the Southern Plains : blooming wild flower , impertinently mowed lawn , and , alas , the visual aspect of fire ant cumulation . Nothing quite says “ Summer is come ” like fire ants . fervidness ants wish to sting ( and pay heed on ) and then stick from the abdomen , throw in a toxic alkaloid malice call solenopsin . Each sting bring welts or pustule and can cause an infection , an hypersensitised response or , in rarefied cases , death by allergic response . Unlike other emmet that may sting only once , one fire ant can prick multiple time , which take in it sharp dangerous to small children and pets — as well as a awful nuisance to the rest of us . The dear news is that there are good strategies for dole out with fire ant that do n’t expect a lot of work or a lot of money . These methods are on the safer side for people and other animals , too .

The crimson imported fire ant ( Solenopsis invicta ) make large pile with no visible entrance . Often you ’ll see several mounds crop up in your yard after a rain during the warmer calendar month . There are several universal approaches to dealing with blast ant mounds . My favorite is the one recommend by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service , which is call the two - step method . With this approach , you do a broadcast program program of mealy bait followed by a selective treatment of individual hill a week or so later . This approaching works for both large - scale commercial / agricultural use and for small - scale homeowner place setting .

Step 1: Apply the bait

granulose fire ant bait consists of a pesticide ( or two ) carried on Indian corn grits , which is picked up by worker ants and carried back to the colony , where it kills or sterilizes the tabby . The bait is fairly slow - acting and contains just a tiny amount of toxin . It is distribute over the area with a hand-held germ spreader set on the down in the mouth setting , with most baits ask just 1 to 1.5 pounds of production per Akka . This mean that the medium homeowner with a tail - Akka lot will only need a few ounces of granular bait . The bait will hardly be visible on the flat coat at this charge per unit , which make it very unlikely to be discovered by pet or shaver . Apply bait when no rain is expected for at least 24 hour and temperatures are affectionate .

The active component in fire ant baits include spinosad ( FertiLome Come and Get It ! ) , abamectin ( Ascend , Award II ) , hydramethylnon ( Amdro , Maxforce ) , and the slower - acting insect growth regulators methoprene or pyriproxyfen ( Distance , Esteem , or Extinguish ) . Fire ant decoy hold spinosad or methoprene are considered so low in perniciousness that they are approved for employment straightaway in vegetable gardens .

Step 2: Selectively drench

The second part of the two - step method acting is selective handling of individual mounds . This is comfortably done with a drench . For very small - weighing machine state of affairs , especially those where pesticide toxicity is of high worry , the drench can simply be 3 gallons of stewing water poured directly on the fire ant pile , which has been demonstrate to be about 60 % good . Another humiliated - toxicity drench is a diluted result of vitamin D - limonene , which is simply orangish oil . I have found orange rock oil to be in effect at treating individual mounds , but the oil can “ cauterise ” grass or other plants around the ant bed , especially in hot conditions , so exercise forethought . Other drenches use the same active fixings as the granular lure , such as the Conserve drench , which is spinosad - based .

If you only have a few heap , you may choose to treat the mounds individually with a drench . If you have more pitcher’s mound , you ’ll be better off doing both parts of the two - footfall method . The in force time to launch the chondritic come-on is in the spring or fall , or both , with fall applications helping to control flame ants the following springtime .

Karen Beaty is a horticulturalist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin , Texas .

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