Fire ants have been a problem in our area for quite some time, and they’re only getting worse. The bite and sting can be especially painful to children, and they also affect pets and livestock.

Fire ants are one of the few ant species that will feed on live roots, so they can also destroy your garden, orchard, etc.

While treating ants mound-by-mound can be effective in eliminating individual colonies, much broader and longer-lasting control can be achieved by adding baits to your arsenal. And the larger an area is treated, the longer the control will last.

If you’re in a rural area you may choose to treat your entire property or perhaps the first acre or more around your house. Some subdivisions have achieved great success by treating the entire neighborhood as a whole.

In neighborhood programs it’s best to organize. Baits are most effective when applied to a broad area within the same two-day period. You might talk to your neighbors and agree to all apply bait on the same weekend.

Also, be sure not to apply the baits within two days of a rain — either before or after application.

Baits work by a variety of biochemical methods that effectively disrupt their ability to reproduce. They do not actually “kill the queen” as many advertise, at least not directly. Instead, the colony as a functional unit dies by attrition.

They simply cannot replace older ants as they die off. Therefore control takes up to six weeks. In the meantime, be sure to treat any mounds you see with short-term contact insecticides.

Contact insecticides kill ants immediately and are quite effective. Carbaryl (Sevin) is the probably the most commonly used contact insecticide, and it’s safe for vegetable gardens. So is Rotenone, d-limolene and the pyrethrins. Spinosad is approved for gardens too, and it’s organic-approved.

But consider all the mounds you don’t see. Many are small and unnoticeable. Ants will forage up to 100 feet in search of food, and they will find your delicious bait. So you’re establishing a buffer zone and it will take the ants some time to get back in.

The bigger area you’ve treated, the longer their return is thwarted.

Ever treat an ant mound, only to see it “move” a few feet over? In many cases, you did kill the mound. The “move” you saw was probably another colony moving into the area. Ant colonies send scouts out all the time, just looking for new real estate.

When you kill the first mound, the scout finds a vacancy in the area and invite the whole gang over. The baits solve this problem, since the scout brings bait back to the nest, even if you don’t see the nest.

Do be sure ants are active before applying bait.

Cut up a hot dog, potato chips or something else greasy and drop it in the yard. If it’s covered in ants in half an hour or so, they are active.

Baits come in a variety of brands, chemicals and modes of action. The LSU Ag Center has a list of those we recommend (on our website, or contact me). Common brands include Over and Out, Extinguish Plus, Amdro, Ascend and Award.

Many others exist, but the “bait” claim on the label is often inaccurate. Do refer to our list if in doubt.

If you want to know more about gardening, landscaping, or anything else horticultural, contact the St. John / St. James Parishes County Agent André Brock at abrock@agcenter.lsu.edu. LSU Ag Center’s website, lsuagcenter.com, has lots of user-friendly information, including this article.