You’re Fired

Starting in September, the population of imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) explode around the garden. The ant population dramatically increases in fall, with mounds rising several inches overnight, especially after heavy rains. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that there are currently a shocking 13,475 million tons of fire ants living illegally in the US.

Fire ants spread during mating flights, where they can rise as high as 300′ in the air. This allows the ant infestation to move up to 9 miles every year. Not only can fire ants kill plants where they build a mound, they are attracted to electricity, and are well-known for getting into underground wiring and shorting out electrical boxes.

To beat them back as much as possible, we feed the ants a bait, which the workers take into the mounds. Often within an hour, it renders the mounds inactive. Below, you can actually see them moving the bait into the mound.

Fire ants moving bait into their mound.
Imported Fire Ant mound

5 thoughts on “You’re Fired”

  1. What type of bait do you use? I had a problem this past summer in south coast Massachusetts. Sometimes we get a cross between the little black ones and the red.

    1. We use two different baits, Advion Fire ant bait or Citric Acid. Citric Acid is highly toxic to fire ants and there are commercial products like Orange Guard, but Orange-flavored Tang (yes, the stuff you drink) is much less expensive and quite effective, although slower acting than Advion.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 20 MB. You can upload: image, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

Discover more from Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top