If you’re starting a fall “to do” list for your home
garden and landscape, add “treat for fire ants” to your
list.

“Overcast days when the ants are actively foraging are
excellent times to apply treatments,” said Beverly Sparks,
an Extension Service entomologist with the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“The temperature should be between 65 and 90
degrees,”
she said, “so spring and fall are the best application
times.”

Don’t Treat if Rain is
Forecasted

Treat for fire ants on a day when rain isn’t in the forecast.
“It needs to be dry for at least 24 hours after you apply
your treatment,” Sparks said.

To effectively fight the fire ant battle, neighbors should
join forces. “If you treat and your neighbors don’t, the
fire ants can rapidly reinfest your yard,” said Sparks.
“Neighbors
have to work together and treat at the same time. And you can’t
just treat once and expect to get rid of them.”

Sparks said you have to begin a treatment program or you
won’t
be effective.

When you apply a fire ant bait, it’s best broadcast the
product
over the infested area.

“Broadcasting is much more effective and cost-efficient
than spot treating mounds with contact insecticides,” Sparks
said. “If you want quick results, use Amdro. It works in
four to six weeks, while other bait treatments may take several
months to control the mounds.”

New Control Makes Fire Ants
Sick

Sparks and a team of UGA entomologists are testing a new
control
method for fire ants. And they’re finding it effective.

“We have released a microsporidian into fire ant colonies
in south Georgia,” Sparks said. “This is a biological
control agent that weakens the fire ant colonies and allows
other
ant species to be more competitive with them.”

The control agent is introduced into the colony by infested
larvae, which then spread it through the entire colony.

“The challenges we face in using this technology include
mass production of the microsporidian and dispersal of the
control
agent from colony to colony,” said Sparks.

Entomologists are also searching for other biological
controls
in the ants’ homeland.

Native to South America, the ants were first recorded in the
United States in Alabama in the 1920s. The red imported fire ant
quickly earned a top spot on Americans’ most hated pests
list.

The ants can sting repeatedly, and the result is a burning,
itching area that often develops a white pustule.

Some Farmers Like Fire Ants

Most people hate them, but fire ants can be an asset to
cotton
and sugar cane farmers.

“We’ve found that cotton and sugar cane fields that
contain
fire ant mounds, also contain less crop pests,” Sparks said.
“The fire ants eat the pests.”

Almost 300 million acres in the southern United States are
infested with fire ants. “The most recent infestations are
in New Mexico, Nevada and California,” said Sparks.

Here in Georgia, losses and control costs for fire ants
exceed
$52 million per year.

Fire Ants Hate Cold Weather

“Fire ants aren’t a problem in states like Missouri and
Michigan because they can’t survive the cold,” Sparks said.
“They can’t survive freezing soil temperatures for more than
a week.

“We first thought they couldn’t survive in the Georgia
and Tennessee mountains either,” she said. “But with
mild winters and behavioral adaptations, they’ve managed to
spread
and survive in these cooler regions.”

Fire ants can also move into walls of homes or other
protected
areas to survive the winter.

Sparks spends her days searching for ways to control fire
ants.
But she doesn’t think we’ll ever eliminate them.

“With the technology we have today, we aren’t going to
eradicate them, she said. “We are going to have to learn
to live with them and control them in an effective, safe manner
around our homes and recreational areas.”