Best Management Practices:

Fire Ants

Fire Ant queens are larger than the Fire Ant workers are and have wings that can carry them up to 12 miles to establish new colonies.  This helps to explain their ability to move from area to area and why they have expanded so rapidly.  When disturbed, Fire Ants become aggressive and will sting and cause a painful pustules.  Fire ants move often and start new colonies. An effective and easy application to control Fire Ants is the use of Fire Ant Baits.  Fire Ant Baits work best when used in the spring and early summer.  For Fire Ant Baits to be effective, ants must first be foraging, the ground must be dry and the bait not allowed to become wet.  They should be applied late in the evening.  Some recommended and excellent products are Ascend Fire Ant Bait, Amdro Pro Fire Ant Bait , Award Fire Ant Bait, Extinguish Professional Fire Ant Bait, Max Force Fire FC Ant Bait and Extinguish Plus Fire Ant Bait and DuPont Advion Fire Ant Bait.

Fire Ant Mound Drenching is an effective, popular but a more labor-intensive manner to control Fire Ant.  To drench a Fire Ant mound, mix one to two gallons of pesticide solution as a drench.  A gallon of finished solution is required for most large Fire Ant mounds but 1/2 gallon may be used for smaller mounds. This ensures that you kill Fire Ants deep into the colony structure.  When Fire Ant mounds are properly drenched residual pesticide the residual effect of that product will continue to kill returning and foraging ants. Synthetic pyrethroids are safe when used in accordance with the product label.  When treating Fire Ant mounds with any contact insecticide or professional bait, do not disturb mounds before treating.  Keep pets and children away from treated areas until dry.  The middle of the morning is the best time to drench a Fire Ant mound while the sun is warming up the colony and their activity increases.  Excellent products to be mixed for mound drenching are Cynoff EC, Bifen I/T, Demon Max or Demon WP,  Prelude, Talstar P, and Tempo Ultra SC .  You should always keep pets and children off all treated areas until dry.

When granular treatments like Allectus G, TopChoice Fire Ant , Talstar EZ Granular or DeltaGard G Granules may be applied with a granular spreader. These products should provide control as long as three months.  TopChoice Fire Ant Control gives most optimal long-term control and may be broadcast at any time of year but is most effective when used in the spring of the year.  Top Choice Granules are advertised to provide control for up to one year.

Best Management Practices courtesy of

BES-TEX Supply, LLC      P.O. Box 664     San Angelo, Texas 76902      325.653.1300