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This is Roger Tinker, Owner and General Manager of All Star Pest Control in Columbus, Georgia.
I am going to discuss Fire ants and the things that do not work or should not be used. I will touch on some of the right ways to control fire ants as well.
1. Never use gasoline. Yes, you can kill a lot of ants, but you are not going to kill the Queen. There will be more fire ants as a result of trying to burn the mound because several colonies will emerge with many more mounds than there were.
Also, gasoline poisons the earth to the extent that grass will take a long time to grow back, if it does at all. Gasoline is much worse for the earth than most pesticides. Don’t poison the planet. PLEASE!
2. Don’t use products not labeled for fire ants. Fire ants are finicky eaters which means if you are trying to use baits for fire ants, which you should, you must use a bait labeled for fire ants or they will not eat it. There are special formulations of bait that may use the same active ingredient but a different food matrix for the fire ants.
3. Don’t waste time or money on sprays. Again, you will kill some fire ants, but they will get worse. Sprays will repel and make the fire ants mad. Mad fire ants are more ferocious and will travel further to find something to attack.
4. Don’t expect fire ants to go away overnight. Fire ants can be controlled, but it takes at least several days or longer to do so.
5. Don’t think that one treatment is going to keep the fire ants away. Wherever your house is, the fire ants were there first. You are not going to leave your home and fire ants are not going to either,
6. Don’t Give up! Set up a program that uses products labeled for fire ants and follow the label. Remember, if a one lb hammer can kill you, a 4 lb hammer does not kill you 4 times as dead. What this means is follow the label and do not “over” treat. Generally, I have found that treating every 90 days will give excellent control of fire ants.
7. And, finally one thing to do if you do not want to treat them yourself. All Star Pest Control has a fire ant treatment with a written guarantee!
Feel free to contact me if I can help you in any way.
