• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
Hunt County Master Gardeners
Hunt County Master GardenersTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Articles
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Program Overview
    • FAQ
    • Contact
    • Master Gardener Emeritus
    • Heritage Garden
      • Animal Name Bed
      • Heritage Garden Plant Database
    • Hunt County Master Gardeners Shutterfly Photos
    • Junior Master Gardener Program
    • Outdoor Learning Center
  • Events
  • Links
    • Hunt County Extension Office
    • Texas AgriLife Extension Bookstore
    • Aggie Horticulture
    • Aggie Turf
    • Texas Master Gardener
    • Texas Master Gardener Association
    • Texas Master Gardener License Plates
  • Resources
    • Plants for East Texas
    • Vegetable Resources
    • Fruit & Nut Resources
    • Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab
    • Soil, Water and Forage Testing Lab
    • Texas Superstar Plants
    • Earth-Kind Landscaping
    • Xeriscape
    • Insects in the City
    • USDA Plant Hardiness Map
  • CEUs
    • Log My Hours
    • Texas Master Gardener Association Events
    • Master Gardener Advanced Training
    • Earthkind Online Classes
    • Landscape Design Study Courses
    • American Horticultural Society Events
    • Texas Botanical Gardens and Arboreta

Fire Ants

May 23, 2018 by jhsanger

Fire Ants by Byron Chitwood, Master Gardener.

It’s that time of the year when you begin to notice that you have fire ants in your yard or pasture. Actually, they have been there all through the winter. They just set up housekeeping deeper underground to avoid the cold. Now that the temperature has warmed up, they have moved closer to the surface of the ground, especially after a rain. As the water level rises after a rain, fire ants will build a fluffy mound above the surface of the water level to protect the queen and babies. If you happen to disturb one of these mounds, they will come out in mass and attack and sting everything that moves. Where they sting, will get red, hurt, itch and eventually develop into a pus pocket. People who are highly sensitive to fire ants might require medical treatment. Take precautions when working in the yard or garden. Precautions include wearing knee high rubber boots with pants legs tucked in. Wear gloves and long sleeves. Work in the yard or garden during daylight hours so that you can see and avoid mounds.

Fire ants can be controlled using the “Texas Two Step” approach. Note, I said controlled, not eliminated. This method consists of the following procedures:

Broadcast Bait: Broadcast bait throughout your lawn and vacant lots with a hand held or push type spreader. Set the spreader on its lowest setting. There are many brands of bait available at your favorite garden and yard supply store. Follow the directions on the package. Most advise broadcasting 1 to 1.5 pounds per acre. This is not very much but that is all that is required for control. The fire ants will forage for food during the night and carry it back to the den where it is fed to the other ants and the queen. When the queen dies, that will be the end of the colony since she is the only ant in the family that lays eggs. All of the ants will eventually die, either from eating the bait or at the end of their life cycle.  Apply bait only when the weather is warm enough for the ants to forage. To determine if they are foraging, apply a small amount of bait on top of the mound and if it is gone within 30 minutes or overnight, they are actively foraging. Do not disturb the mound after application. This can cause the ants to move their colony.

Mound Treatment: If you have a problem mound, one that you can’t avoid, treat it by applying either a granular, liquid or dust type insecticide directly to the mound. Follow the directions on the insecticide container. Usually, the directions recommend sprinkling a small amount on the mound and watering it in with several gallons of water. Use a hand held watering can if you have one or a gentle spray head on the end of your garden hose. Water very slowly so that the insecticide has time to sink in and reach the deepest part of the ant colony.

It would good practice for your neighbors to treat for fire ants at the same time. It doesn’t take long to spread the bait and usually, it is more economical to buy large quantities of ant bait which can be shared with your neighbors. Most ant baits contain oil which will eventually get rancid after the package is unsealed. Sharing the cost and treating a larger area will forestall the next invasion of fire ants on your property. For further information on fire ants, go to the website http://fireants.tamu.edu.

Filed Under: Entomology, Turf Tagged With: Fire Ants,

Fighting Fire Ants

April 28, 2014 by stephaniesuesansmith

Fighting Fire Ants by Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D.

Fire ants have to be one of the most obnoxious insects in the United States.  Almost everyone who spends any time outside in our area has been stung by them.  They take over gardens, eat okra, blight lawns, and generally make a nuisance of themselves.  The most asked question for Master Gardeners has to be, “How do we get rid of fire ants?”  The answer is the Texas Two Step method of fire ant eradication.

The first step is to spread a bait product all over your yard.  You do this with an old fashion hand cranked fertilizer spreader.  Fill the hopper with bait and walk at a normal speed back and forth across your yard, cranking the spreader as you go.  This will spread enough product out for the ants to find but not enough to hurt birds, pets, or children.  Be sure and cover the whole yard, except for your vegetable garden.  No bait products are labeled for use in a vegetable garden.  The good news is that you can spread the bait around the outside edges of the garden and the ants will travel to it and get it.

Bait works because ants think it is food.  They gather it and bring it back into the colony.  Then they feed it to the queen.  The bait sterilizes her so she can’t lay eggs anymore.  The colony gradually dies as the workers die off.  This takes four to six weeks for the entire colony to die.

The best time to spread the bait is in the early mornings, when it is cooler and the ants are foraging.  Do not spread it during the heat of the day as the ants will not get it before it goes rancid in our heat.  You can spread it in the evening when it is cooler as ants will forage again then.  Make sure any product you spread is fresh or the ants will not eat it.  Even ants reject the rancid fats in old bait.

What if you have a big ant bed in a high traffic area, or in a place where they are stinging kids or pets?  Then you use the second step of the Texas Two Step.  You buy a drench or powder designed to be spread right on the offending bed and use it to kill the most problematic ants quickly.  Most people cannot find all the fire ant beds in their yard so just using drenches or powders to kill fire ants is impractical.  In addition, you cannot use them inside a vegetable garden, so if you have a bed in your vegetable garden you will have to spread bait around the perimeter of your garden for the ants to find.  However, drenches and powders do a good job of killing ant beds that are actively threatening the health and welfare of people or pets by killing the bed quickly and with finality.  Be sure and follow the label directions on all products you use.

Filed Under: Entomology Tagged With: Fire Ants,

Fire Ants

June 14, 2011 by stephaniesuesansmith

Fire Ants by PJ LaRue Smith

It’s a perfect day, you’ve got a glass of iced tea in one hand, lounging in your favorite

lawn chair, and all is well in your world. Suddenly, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH! Iced tea and chair

go flying in two different directions, and you’re up like a shot doing a wild slapping, stomping

dance. To anyone living in the southern US, the reason for this bizarre behavior is obvious – fire

ants!

The “imported red fire ant”, is the one most are familiar with in Texas. As the name

implies, these ants are imported, red, and will cause a burning sensation, much like a match on

the skin. Afterward (within 24 hours after being stung) a white pustule will form and the worst

part of the itching (which lasts for approximately three days) begins. Just as is the case for bee

and wasp stings, those who are particularly sensitive to the ant stings can suffer far more severe

reactions – anaphylactic shock and even death. According to a leaflet produced by the Texas

Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Society, “fire ants are the most common cause of allergic

reactions to stinging insects in Texas”; “Severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) occur in 1 – 6 %

of people stung by fire ants and occasionally these reactions may be fatal”.

Here are a few tips to avoid being stung:

  • TEACH children and visitors about fire ants and their hazard.
  • LOOK before you step, or put a chair, child seat, etc. for any sign of a mound (even a
  • small one) or foraging ant activity. If highly sensitive, place a light colored blanket, or tarp on
  • the ground before setting up the lawn chair. (This not only acts as a physical block, but also as a
  • visual aid.) When moving pots, look for surface disturbance of the soil, or mound activity at
  • drainage hole sites. It is prudent to tap the side of a pot a couple of times and watch for ant
  • activity – a clear sign that the pot should be treated before picking it up.
  • WEAR protected clothing. When working outside, wear boots, tuck pants inside
  • socks, and use gloves when working.
  • SPRAY insect repellents on clothing or footwear (these treatments can temporarily
  • discourage foraging ants).
  • CONTROL ants in areas used most frequently by people or pets.
  • AVOID high risk locations. Areas around trash containers, frequently used picnic
  • areas, spilled animal feed, due to the ready availability of food, are particularly attractive to fire
  • ants. If a large number of mounds are noted, exercise caution when choosing a place to sit – fire
  • ants often forage far from their mounds.

Due to worker ants using their jaws (mandibles) to gain leverage to sting, merely

jumping into water or running water across ants will not remove them. The best approach is to

knock them off briskly by hand (or a glove, cloth, etc.). If you are working in the garden and

suddenly find your gloves covered with fire ants – remove your gloves as quickly as possible and

slap any remaining ants off. (If, like myself, you fall into the 1-6 percentile of susceptible

individuals, do not be shy about divorcing yourself of fire ant covered clothing. Failure to do so

CAN become a matter of life and death.)

Texas A&M has an excellent website that covers medical treatment and control of

this bane to outdoor enjoyment at http://fireant.tamu.edu/.

Filed Under: Entomology, Turf Tagged With: Fire Ants,

Find Us on Facebook logo

Articles by Topic:

  • Composting
  • Earth-Kind
  • Entomology
  • Events
  • Flowers
  • Fruits and Nuts
  • Gardening 101
  • Herbs
  • History
  • Keyhole Gardens
  • Ornamentals
  • Plant Diseases
  • Recipes
  • Roses
  • Seeds
  • Square Foot Gardening
  • Trees
  • Turf
  • Vegetables
  • Water Conservation
  • Wildlife
  • Winter

Article Key Words

African Violets Asparagus Bag Worms, Bees Birds, Bluebonnets, Brown Patch, Butterflies, Composting Dragonflies eGardening with the Master Gardeners, Fall Tomatoes, Fire Ants, Fruit Trees Garlic, Gifts, Grapes, Grasshoppers, Greenhouses, Keyhole Gardens Late Fall Vegetables, Late Spring Gardening, Leeks Notable Texas Gardens, Onions, Poison Ivy, Poisonous Plants, Potatoes Propagation Pruning Trees, Rainwater Harvesting, Raised Beds Rose Hips Spider Mites, Spring Vegetable Gardening Squash Bugs, Summer Trees & Shrubs, Turf Grass, Valentines, Vegetables Watering Water Wise Gardening, Wildflowers, Winter
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System Member
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information