Get Rid of Ants in Your Lawn

Jan 18
09:11

2012

Ma. Theresa Galan

Ma. Theresa Galan

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Fire ants can be a major problem for any lawn. Because of their aggressiveness, fire ants are far different from traditional black ants. Fire ant colonies on your lawn can be very hazardous to not only your plants and animals, but also you and your family, especially if you have small children who like to play outside

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A fire ant’s sting can cause reactions ranging from nausea and irritation to more severe reactions. It would be wise to take action as well as good care and attention when eradicating your lawn of fire ant colonies

Here are some helpful suggestions for dealing with fire ants on your lawn.

 Fire Ants in many countries have no natural predators,Get Rid of Ants in Your Lawn  Articles as such, there is nothing you can grow to attract an enemy to handle the issue. The first thing you need to do when you come across a fire ant pit is step back and do not disturb it.

What you see on the surface running around are the worker ants. These fire ants can be stomped all you want, but that will not kill them or make the leave. Fire ants have a queen in their nest, you need to get to the queen in order to get rid of the ants.

Now that you have a little background, there are three things I suggest you do to handle your fire ant situation. First thing is the annoyance factor. Fire ants do not like to be constantly annoyed or agitated. Therefore, mowing your lawn, kicking their nest and in general aggravating the hive will make them pack up and move.

 This does not kill them, it will simply get them to move to a different location.

The second thing you can try if having them pack up and move is not enough, is boil water in a large pot. For me, this was the best technique as it does not introduce any chemicals into your yard. After boiling the pot place a funnel in the top of the fire ant put and pour the hot water into it.

The hot water should make its way down their system and kill the queen. If it does not work, you will have atleast agitated them and made them move. Try this again and again until you succeed! Keep in mind, the fire ant pits are deep and go underground for some way, so make sure you boil enough water to kill the fire ants!

Do not forget! Once you pour the water in the hole, the ants will come out charging. Pour and run!

Insecticides

There are two main types of insecticides to consider, dusts and liquids. Liquid insecticides are recommended for ant colonies as they are usually above ground. Dusts work better for underground colonies. You will also need to use a lot of liquid to cover the entire mound, at least a gallon per mound on average. Again the goal is to kill off the queens as they produce the off-spring.

Exterminators

If both bait and insecticides fail to remedy the problem you may want to consider calling a professional exterminator.  This option will certainly be more costly than the other two listed above but it will also be safer and ensure the problem is dealt with properly and the colonies are completely gone. When it come to the safety of your pets and children the cost is certainly worth it.

 For more discussion of this topic, you may refer to this links:

 ant control, pest control aucklandand insect control