Keep vicious SC fire ants from wrecking your yard this summer with these tips

Patrick McCreless
·4 min read
6

Nothing will ruin the look of a front yard quite like the eyesore of a fire ant mound.

Many South Carolina homeowners have battled with the pesky insects for decades, as the invasive species has slowly spread across the state since the 1960s. Once fire ants have decided to set up shop in your yard, it takes little time before they’ve built dirt mounds.

And that’s just what you can see. Long before a mound is visible, fire ant colonies have burrowed through your yard to entrench themselves, damaging the yard’s ecosystem in the process.

Fire ants also can be far more aggressive than other species and have particularly painful bites.

Below are ways to rid your yard of fire ant colonies, followed by a list of methods long used, but are actually ineffectual.

Identifying fire ants

Before fighting fire ants, Clemson Cooperative Extension highly suggests that homeowners confirm that the species is truly what is plaguing their yards.

“Improperly identifying a pest can lead to pesticide failure, which is a waste of time, money, and, most importantly, an ineffective and possibly unnecessary pesticide application,” Clemson Cooperative Extension states.

Fire ants are reddish-brown with darker abdomens that grow between 2 and 6 millimeters. They also feature two nodes and 10 segments on their antenna.

If you’re not sure if you have fire ants, specimens preserved in alcohol can be submitted to the local county extension office for positive identification.

Use bait to kill fire ants

According to Aiken Pest Control, the longstanding solution to ridding yourself of fire ants is the use of bait.

“Bait works because it is taken and shared with the colony,” Aiken Pest Control states. “When the colony dies, the fire ants are no longer able to spread around the yard and continue to colonize.”

The bait can be used for targeting specific mounds or for large areas. Also, the baits used must be appropriately selected and placed for effective control.

Spread out the bait

Many products allow for individual mound treatments for fire ants. However, spreading the bait around — a method called broadcasting — has been proven to be far more effective, the cooperative extension states.

“When broadcasting baits in small areas of less than an acre, including yards, hand-held spreaders work well,” the cooperative extension states. “Do not use belly spreaders or drop spreaders, as the gate openings cannot be restricted adequately, and these put out too much product.”

Apply baits when ants are foraging

Baits should be applied when fire ants are actively foraging. Typically, fire ants will forage if the soil’s surface temperature is between 70 degrees and 85 degrees. You can also test if fire ants are foraging by placing a few regular, greasy potato chips in different areas of your lawn. After 20 or 30 minutes, check the chips for any ant activity. If there is activity, start applying bait.

Use fresh bait

Most baits are made with three components, an active ingredient, soybean oil as an attractant and defatted corn grit. If the soybean oil goes rancid, ants will no longer be attracted to it.

Apply bait when it is dry

Do not add water to bait. And apply bait at least 4 hours before expected rain.

What won’t get rid of fire ants

There are some methods that people have used over the years to rid their yards and homes of fire ants that simply don’t work. Here are some of the most common ineffectual methods, according to Aiken Pest Control.

  • Boiling water: The method is likely used because it is cheap and easy to do. And sure, boiling water will kill any ant is touches. However, fire ant tunnels can be deep and complex and it is highly unlikely that you will eliminate all the inspects in a colony with boiling water. Instead, you’ll mainly cause the fire ants to spread out and create multiple nests in your yard.

  • Sprays: There are relatively cheap sprays made to kill fire ants. However, such sprays are topical and do nothing to eliminate all the ants hiding underground. Sprays might also encourage ants to split up and create other colonies.

  • Corn grits: Corn grits are cheap and some people think if ants eat them, their stomachs will expand and explode. However, that won’t work since the ants cannot ingest solid food.