To get rid of fire ants, you need to go after the colony and not the mound. The best way to do this is to broadcast bait across the yard, which foragers will carry to the queen.
Fire ants are bad enough to encounter on your own. You quickly find out how they get the name. But if you try to improvise by stomping the mound down, hitting it with a shovel, or dumping boiling water on it, you’ll find out just how bad they can get. Disturbing mounds leaves survivors to relocate a few feet over, sometimes even splitting into multiple colonies as they go.
Effective control comes from broadcasting bait. Workers take it back to the queen. These baits are best applied in dry weather when ants are foraging, which happens mostly in the spring and fall in Houston.
That said, sometimes you can't wait for bait. For colonies that need to go right now, professionals can help. They do this by using a targeted drench or granular application. This comes in handy if you have, say, an ant colony right by the mailbox.
It’s important to remember that in Houston, fire ants are always a presence at least to some degree. The Gulf Coast climate has active colonies nearly year-round. New queens fly in on every warm humid evening. Treated yards are open to reinfestation from every untreated lot nearby. This is why one-off applications seldom work for long.
There are still a few things you can do to reduce the attractiveness of your yard to fire ants. You can fix leaky spigots and avoid overwatering. Fire ants love moisture in dry spells. It also helps to keep mulch away from foundations.
If your yard has developed a mound problem with a personality, Mosquito Squad of Houston can help. Mosquito Squad treats fire ants at the colony level, helping protect your yard with recurring service built for Gulf Coast pest pressure.
