5 Facts About Fire Ants and How to Control Them

Fire ants are damaging and a significant threat to commercial operations. Here are five fire ant facts operators need to know, plus tips for how to control them.

1. Fire Ants Can Deal Damage

Fire ants can take a toll on essential equipment and infrastructure, resulting in downtime and economic consequences. While fire ants are small in stature, they’re mighty in numbers. They come together to build tall, hard mounds that can cause blade snags in field machinery. They’re also a dangerous threat to electrical infrastructure, as they can chew through wires to cause short circuits and occasionally nest in metal casing.

2. Fire Ants Can Stunt Crop Growth

Crops are especially vulnerable to the threat of fire ants. Fire ants feed on the buds and fruit of almonds and citrus crops, which can diminish the yield of your harvest. They also can cause problems for nurseries, turf and sod by disrupting the water and root systems that keep grass green and healthy.

3. Fire Ants Can Harm Employees

Fire ants can pose potentially life-threatening risks to people and employees. Not only do their stings hurt, they are powerful enough to be fatal for humans in rare instances. Fire ants also don’t take kindly to their colonies being disrupted and can attack quickly when disturbed.

4. Fire Ants Can Negatively Impact the Agriculture System

The pollinators, earthworms and livestock that keep our agricultural system healthy and flowing can fall victim to fire ant infestations. For example, fire ants can raid and devastate honey beehives by feeding on stored honey, pollen, larvae and pupae.

5. Fire Ants Are Resilient

Fire ants don’t go down without a fight and know how to survive in adverse situations. For instance, fire ant colonies can overcome floods by linking together and forming a raft that repels water and can stay afloat for months in some instances.

Get Complete Control of Fire Ants with Extinguish® and Extinguish® Plus

Fire ants are among the most resilient creatures on earth. That’s why operators need the effective products to help eliminate fire ant infestation for good. Extinguish® Professional Fire Ant Bait and Extinguish® Plus Fire Ant Bait can do just that.

Extinguish® Professional Fire Ant Bait stops fire ants in their tracks by going straight for the queen. Featuring the insect growth regulator (S)-methoprene, Extinguish® interferes with a queen’s reproductive abilities. This prevents a new generation of fire ants from replacing worker ants that die naturally, causing the queen to starve to death.

Extinguish® Plus combines the IGR (S)-methoprene with an adulticide. The IGR sterilizes the queen to stunt reproduction, while the adulticide targets problem worker ants.

Bring Extinguish® and Extinguish® Plus to your operation by finding your sales representative.