Fall is a great time to plan to get rid of fire ants in your yard. Because of the onset of winter coming fire ants will be busy foraging for food for the season. This is a great time to get utilize some bait treatments to kill the ant colony through their stomachs. If you have tried to get rid of fire ants before you may have noticed how hard they are to get rid of. Many treatments will try to kill a mound of ants quickly. These are temporary fixes and generally result in fire ant problems again in a short time span.

Often people will contrive that fire ants will die off in the winter. Especially a cold winter like we had last year in Sevierville and Knoxville areas. This just is not true. Fire ants will go deeper and deeper into their mound to survive during winter months.

So What’s the Plan to Get Rid of Fire Ants?

This fall plan for the long term. You can use the fire ant baits through the fall so that enough of the bait gets taken into the mound and shared among all the ants of that colony.

Whichever bait you choose to use follow the instructions carefully so as to adequately treat the target mound. You also need to follow instructions so that you do not cause harm to any pets or unintended wildlife. Most baits you will sprinkle around the target mound in a circle, 1.5-2 feet away. Some baits will call for some repeat applications, some will not. Within a few weeks or a few months (depending on the application and size of mound/s) the bait should kill off the colony of fire ants.

Remember, this is not a quick fix to a fire ant problem, but it is your best plan to get rid of fire ants and take care of that colony.

Before You Kill Those Fire Ants

If you can avoid killing fire ants, they do not pose any threat to the kids or family pets etc. then refrain from killing the colony. Fire ants, according to University of Tennessee’s Extension department do some good in preying upon cockroach eggs, and a host of other insect pets. So keep that in mind before you go off baiting every fire ant colony within a ten mile radius.