Fall is here, which means it is time to “tackle” that team of ants that is setting up residence in your lawn. Fall is a great time for football, hiking, and destroying your fire ant population. The crisp weather that fall brings causes the ants to dwell closer to the surface of the ground, and fall and spring are the seasons during which fire ants are the most active. In the fall your fire ant colony is still very young, so they are easier to remove.
As with weeds, the best type of fire ant control is preventative, which means before you start seeing those huge mounds in your yard. Sometimes destroying fire ants mound by mound, can feel like taking one step forward and two steps backward, because as soon as you destroy one mound, two more will pop up. The best preventative and all around fire ant controller is the use of granular bait. These baits work slowly but are the most effective. Granular baits should be spread out one to three times a year in larger lawns and probably only once a year in smaller lawns.
If after applying the granular bait, there is still a mound in your lawn, you can use either a dry mound treatment or a liquid drench treatment. The dry mound treatments are easy to use and store. The liquid drenches are a bit messier, but quicker and best to use if there is a specific mound in an inconvenient area.
Broadcast insecticides are also an option. They are a little pricey but treat ants as they travel through the soil. These could be used in very specific areas of your lawn.
As with all pesticides or insecticides, please read your package labeling and follow the exact instructions. This will help prevent run-off from appearing in lakes and streams.
If you would like a solution for treating your ant population organically, look for products that contain Spinosad, which is a soil-born microbe that produces metabolites toxic to insects.
Fall is here, which means it is time to “tackle” that team of ants that is setting up residence in your lawn. Fall is a great time for football, hiking, and destroying your fire ant population. The crisp weather that fall brings causes the ants to dwell closer to the surface of the ground, and fall and spring are the seasons during which fire ants are the most active. In the fall your fire ant colony is still very young, so they are easier to remove.
As with weeds, the best type of fire ant control is preventative, which means before you start seeing those huge mounds in your yard. Sometimes destroying fire ants mound by mound, can feel like taking one step forward and two steps backward, because as soon as you destroy one mound, two more will pop up. The best preventative and all around fire ant controller is the use of granular bait. These baits work slowly but are the most effective. Granular baits should be spread out one to three times a year in larger lawns and probably only once a year in smaller lawns.
If after applying the granular bait, there is still a mound in your lawn, you can use either a dry mound treatment or a liquid drench treatment. The dry mound treatments are easy to use and store. The liquid drenches are a bit messier, but quicker and best to use if there is a specific mound in an inconvenient area.
Broadcast insecticides are also an option. They are a little pricey but treat ants as they travel through the soil. These could be used in very specific areas of your lawn.
As with all pesticides or insecticides, please read your package labeling and follow the exact instructions. This will help prevent run-off from appearing in lakes and streams.
If you would like a solution for treating your ant population organically, look for products that contain Spinosad, which is a soil-born microbe that produces metabolites toxic to insects.