Controlling Fire Ants
By Stephen Janak

Information compiled from:   Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project

The current, proven method to best control fire ants in the home yard is called the Two-Step program.

Two-stepping includes broadcasting a bait insecticide over your entire yard sometime between late August and mid-October, and then treating individual, problem mounds with an approved mound drench, granule, bait, or dust insecticide.

For the entire current list of baits and contact insecticides, follow this link: http://fireant.tamu.edu/files/2013/05/2013-Fire-Ant-Bait-Misc-Control-Products-5-30-13.pdf

 

Step One: Broadcast baits

Baits are slow-acting and require weeks to months to achieve 80% to 90% control. Bait products can be used to easily treat large areas effectively. They contain extremely low amounts of toxins. For best results:

• Use fresh bait, preferably from an unopened container.
• Apply when the ground and grass are dry and no rain is expected for the next 24 to 48 hours.
• Apply when worker ants are actively looking for food, usually in late afternoon or in the evening. To test, put a small pile of bait next to a mound and see if the ants have found it within 30 minutes.
• Apply baits with hand-held seed spreaders. Don’t apply baits mixed with fertilizer or seed.
• Baits can be applied anytime during the warm season. When applied in late summer/early fall, ants are still foraging and it’s easier to predict weather patterns. Then the bait can take effect over the winter while you’re indoors. Re-apply baits once or twice a year.

Broadcast bait product options:

• Amdro – Not to be confused with Amdro Pro. Full effect of the product on the ants takes 3-6 weeks. May be used in corrals and other animal holding areas, NOT for use in hay pastures or where livestock used for food or feed production is grazed. Refer to label for specifics.
• Amdro Yard Treatment Fire Strike – Full effect of the product on the ants takes about 3-6 weeks. Residual activity lasts usually 1-3 months if applied in the spring and, 3-6 months if applied in the fall. Can be applied through a regular fertilizer spreader at 5 lb per 5,000 – 10,000 sq ft. May be used in corrals and other animal holding areas, NOT for use in hay pastures or where livestock used for food or feed production is grazed.
• Distance – Relatively slow, 1-3 months applied in spring, 3-6 months in fall. Distance may be used on turf in residential/domestic sites, institutional sites, uncultivated non-agricultural areas, or on indoor and outdoor container or field grown ornamentals in commercial nurseries.
• Spinosad bait products (also called Conserve) – “Ferti-lome Come and Get It” and “Southern Ag Payback Fire Ant Bait” may be applied in lawns and other turfgrass or recreational areas, including golf courses, parks, playgrounds, and playing fields, ornamentals growing outdoors, tree fruits, citrus, stone fruit, tree fruit. Application to vegetables and single mound treatments in rangeland and permanent pastures are allowed with Ferti-lome product. Additional applications may be required.

 

Step Two: Individual Mound Treatments

Chemical

With dust products, no water is needed and they act fast. However, they leave a surface residue. Liquid drenches generally eliminate mounds within a few hours and leave little surface residue after application. Granular products are relatively fast acting and usually require putting granules on and around the mound and then sprinkling 1 to 2 gallons of water on without disturbing the mound. Closely follow directions on the label.

 

Look for products containing these active ingredients for chemical control (see FINDING THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT IN PESTICIDES below):

• Organophosphates (acephate) – These products interfere with nerve cell transmission. They are relatively quick killing and are formulated as aerosols, liquids, dusts (Ortho® Orthene® Fire Ant Killer or Surrender Fire Ant Killer) or granules. They can be applied as mound treatments or surface treatment. Follow label directions.
• Fipronil 0.0143% – Topchoice® Insecticide or Taurus™ G insecticide granules. Takes 3-6 weeks for full effect, but VERY long true residual activity. May observe control for a year, particularly on clay soils. Expensive when compared to the use of fire ant baits. Use in high traffic areas or where long term control is needed. No agricultural uses. The Topchoice or Taurus G product are restricted pesticides and not available through usual retail outlets.
• Spinosad (0.5% liquid) – considered all natural or “organic.” Has a fire ant mound drench statement on label. Available from The Scotts Company, Ferti-lome or Bonide (Captain Jack’s Dead Bug). Scott’s Green Light® Lawn & Garden Spray is OMRI® listed meaning it is approved for use in organic gardens. Spinosad is a biopesticide made from naturally-occurring soil microbes. The final product contains no living microbes.
• Amdro Fire Strike Mound Treatment (0.36% hydramethylnon + 0.25% s-methoprene) – A single package for homeowner for application to individual mounds at 2-5 level tablespoons/mound. Not to exceed 2 lb/acre. May be used in corrals and other animal holding areas, NOT for use in hay pastures or where livestock used for food or feed production is grazed.

Organic

Pouring 2 to 3 gallons of very hot or boiling water on the mound will kill ants about 60% of the time. Otherwise, the ants will probably just move to another location. Very hot or boiling water will kill the grass or surrounding vegetation that it is poured upon. Other natural or organic methods include mound drench products containing plant derived ingredients (e.g. botanical insecticides) and biological control agents.

 

Look for products containing these active ingredients for a more “natural” or “organic” method of control:

• D-limonene – an extract of citrus peels that can be used to control fire ants and some other insects. Can be found in several mound drench products (e.g., Orange Guard Fire Ant Control, Safer® Brand Fire Ant Killer).
• Spinosad (0.5% liquid) – considered all natural or “organic.” Has a fire ant mound drench statement on label. Available from The Scotts Company, Ferti-lome or Bonide (Captain Jack’s Dead Bug). Scott’s Green Light® Lawn & Garden Spray is OMRI® listed meaning it is approved for use in organic gardens. Spinosad is a biopesticide made from naturally-occurring soil microbes. The final product contains no living microbes.
• Pyrethrins + Diatomaceous Earth – Pyrethrins are naturally-occuring toxins extracted from certain plants, usually chrysanthemums or African Daisy. Diatomaceous Earth is a soil-like substance containing Diatoms – single-celled organisms whose cell walls are made of silicon dioxide (silica is the main component of glass). As a result, when small insects crawl through the Diatoms, their bodies are cut in many places, as if walking through glass shards. Usually a powder that can be applied dry or wetted. This type of product is available from Diatect (Results Fire Ant Killer) or Organic Solutions (Multipurpose Insecticide)

 

NOTE:

Pyrethroids are not recommended for fire ant contact control. Pyrethroids may suppress foragers, but may not kill the colony. Often, repeated applications are necessary to achieve some level of colony control. This uses a large volume of insecticide, thus, beneficial insects may be affected. Other products like the fipronil granule product are applied at sub-lethal rates and effects on other insects is minimal.

Recognizing pyrethroids:

Pyrethroid common names always end in either -thrin or -ate.

Examples:

permethrin, cyfluthrin or esfenvalerate, allethrin, resmethrin.

Notice the common suffixes -thrin and -ate? The only tricky thing to remember is that the common name pyrethrins (note the plural form) still refers to the original plant-derived mixture from the chysanthemum flowers. Many organic gardeners accept the use of pyrethrins on their crops because this product is organically derived, but there is nothing natural about pyrethroid insecticides. If you wish to garden organically, don’t confuse pyrethroids with pyrethins (or the older term, pyrethrum).

 

FINDING THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT IN PESTICIDES

When looking for the Active Ingredient in pesticides, consult the front of the label. There should be a small square of information such as the example below that includes the common name of the active ingredient (in the example below, Permethrin) as well as the true chemical name of the active ingredient (in the example below, [*3-Phenoxyphenyl) methyl (+) cis/trans 3-(2,2-dichloroethenyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate]).

‎