Add fire ant killer before, during, or after mowing?

That stuff is bifenthrin. That is not bait. That is a common contact insecticide. Mow. That will stir up the ants. Then put on the proper amount of product. Leave the area alone for awhile. Then check for progress over several days. More than likely you will have to do this as many times as the product tag allows in one year. You also may need a different product. To battle ants you really need to target the mounds if possible and start in the early spring. But now is as good a time as any if they bugs bite. Check with your local university extension office for more information. Do not worry about the GOOD bugs. Nature will supply you with plenty from all the land around you. If it were not for elimination of bugs the average roasting ear in the grocery store would cost 20 bucks.
 
possum said:
That stuff is bifenthrin. That is not bait. That is a common contact insecticide. Mow. That will stir up the ants. Then put on the proper amount of product. Leave the area alone for awhile. Then check for progress over several days. More than likely you will have to do this as many times as the product tag allows in one year. You also may need a different product. To battle ants you really need to target the mounds if possible and start in the early spring. But now is as good a time as any if they bugs bite. Check with your local university extension office for more information. Do not worry about the GOOD bugs. Nature will supply you with plenty from all the land around you. If it were not for elimination of bugs the average roasting ear in the grocery store would cost 20 bucks.
Click to expand...

This is true. According to what I've been able to research, it's not to exceed 200 pounds per acre per year. O_o? That's even a bit excessive in my book! But yeah- I'll slobber some on, and call it good until next spring- maybe Feb/March- and that should hold it over until Sept/Oct time frame
 
If you are dealing with the imported fire ant, contact your local agriculture authority.
If you have a bad infection they may come and deal with it.
Down here where all fire ants are considered invasive pests they are releasing Kneallhazia virus to infect the colonies.
Wont wipe them out totally but will in a single season bring an uncontrollable disaster down to a level where spot poisioning will become effective.
Lots of hoo har about which section of the community is to blame.
Farmers blame housholders for using too much broad spectrum incectacide wiping out local ant population.
Householders blame the brodacre farmers for preditor habitat destruction.
Both blame the government for slack quarrentine allow the #~**~# to get established in the first place.
And the government blames clandestine plant importers for bringing them in in the first place .
Thus the circle went round & round till they started to threaten the bannana industry because the pickers could not cut hands when being eaten alive by the fire ants.
Thus the Kneallhazia virus which comes from the USA
 
***/Swell/*** The fire ant's I have are "imported" from Texas. This virus they're using to kill the ants with- just for the sake of conversation does it work on Ex/former wifes? "asking for a friend"
 
I keep a vigilant eye on the ant population in my yard (4 acres) with all the rain this year in Sout Loosiana the ants have been pretty much left alone for most of the summer. I always tell myself I am going to count the mounds I treat but I always get side tracked. 30 to 70 is about the norm but I don't often have large mounds. I started using Bifenthrin last year but my favorite go to killer is Ortho... the white stuff when I am being lazy. Sometimes I treat large sections of yard if the ant population is increasing. Some of the 3 month ant killer I've used really does work but it doesn't kill the ants right away. I like dead ants by sundown. Ha ha.

So many people have ideas about how it should be done. I laugh when they tell me to treat the whole yard. Yea right 4 acres. So.... with Bifenthrin I take a stick with me, poke a hole deep into the mound and pour in a sufficient amount and then broadcast the mound and little around the perimeter.... Sometimes I have the spreader with me and I go 15 to 20 feet in all directions. Years ago, Once and Done used to really mean "Once and Done" that stuff was great but now... it is not the same so I don't use it. I am also careful not to use any ant killa that needs to be watered in. I am not carrying a bucket to water 50+ mounds.

So... Generally I cut the grass first. Wait a day for the ants to gather themselves and recover from the carnage of the mower.... then I strike. The mounds are easier to spot as the short grass more readily exposes enemy locations. At present the enemy is looming large in my thoughts and a significant offensive must be mounted soon but I am busy with other things. I like to strike in the evenings. I ride my Yamaha Zuma (see picture) around the yard with the weapons aboard. Search and Destroy. Muhaahahaa !!

Good Luck All,
Gene
 

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We moved into a house in February. There were probably 100 mounds or more in the yard. We went to Wally World and bought Ortho Orthene and sprinkled it over the mounds as directed. It did an excellent job. To kill fire ants you need to treat the mound and let them die before you run over it with a mower. Running over it with a mower only detracts from what you want to do. There are products out there that you can broadcast but this product did the best job of anything that I have seen. Regardless of how you get rid of them they will be back. So you have to look for mounds often and treat them as they pop up. Doing it this way is the most effective that I have seen and I live in Lower Alabama. About 90 miles from where they were first brought into the US.

Fire ants came to America via the Port of Mobile via a banana boat something like 100 years ago.
 
Congrats & welcome to the joys of home ownership-

We have been using plain ole "Grits" sprinkled around a ant hill. (Southern thing) Seems the fire-ants can't digest the grits, so once ingested the grit swells up thus exploding up the ant :laughing:

It works great & very low cost.

PS: I always mow first, then we hit any hills w the secret weapon "Grits".
 
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