Fire Ants (Houston, West: house, to live in, move)

[Maddie800]

Has anyone used a pest control company to treat fire ants in their yard. I have used some products for the mounds from Home Depot - I believe it works, but we have fire ants walking on our patio and I must have stepped in something in our yard b/c I had 20 on my leg and have about 10 bites. The Home Team guarantees 12 months fire ant free, if not they will retreat, they use Top Choice which I know you can buy, but would rather have them do it and get the guarantee and then I won't have to worry about it for a year.

[paradizecityz]

I haven't had any luck with this situation. Had pest control but that didn't seem to work either. Seems like what I bought from Home Depot worked better.

Basically, what I can tell is that it helped. The yard doesn't have as much ants but it still has some. Especially at the edges of the house that they get in. I've tried a lot of products and they seem to work for a week or two and then the ants are back

[Vector28]

IMO the only thing that works is regular patrols with Amdro. You will never be free from them. At least every other day and after all rain or watering events when the little b*&$)^ds dig out their nests and are easy to spot. It will help if you can enlist your immediate neighbors to join the fight too. Amdro for a slow but sure kill, Ortho Orthene for an immediate contact kill, like for when you discover an active bed just before a yard party.
The upside is, if you were able to completely banish them fleas and ticks would move in. Fire ants are easier to fight.

[tstone]

I pick up this $7 bag of Spectracide @ Lowes and use my cheap hand spreader to spread about 1/3 to 1/2 the bag. (also works against chinch bugs, fleas, ticks, etc.) Even though the bag says it lasts all year, it really lasts about 2 months... So whenever the first mound pops up I use a $3 bag of instant killer on the mound, then go back to the $7 bag. Repeat. Light applications are really all you need. You can also let the rain take care of watering it in. Takes about 10 minutes to do, or you can pay $xxx for someone else to do it.

[HoustonRonnie]

Originally Posted by tstone

I pick up this $7 bag of Spectracide @ Lowes and use my cheap hand spreader to spread about 1/3 to 1/2 the bag. (also works against chinch bugs, fleas, ticks, etc.) Even though the bag says it lasts all year, it really lasts about 2 months... So whenever the first mound pops up I use a $3 bag of instant killer on the mound, then go back to the $7 bag. Repeat. Light applications are really all you need. You can also let the rain take care of watering it in. Takes about 10 minutes to do, or you can pay $xxx for someone else to do it.

Me too, exactly.

Ronnie

[geopainter]

I'm convinced that the amount of fire ants you see depends greatly on both your soil type and how vigilant both you and your neighbors are about treatment.

We used to live in NW Houston with a sandy loam soil and every rainfall would result in large fire ant mounds. Spot treatment knocks the mound out but the ants are still under the surface and will pop up somewhere else. We did not treat the whole yard, but our neighbors did...so every rain would bring them to our lawn!

Moved to West Houston where the soil is more clay-rich. I see fewer fire ants to begin with, and think they're not crazy about the clayey soils that shrink and swell. Also, now i have the pest control do full yard treatment once or twice a year, and that keeps them at bay. NEighbors also treat, so at least locally, the fire ants stay away.

[paradizecityz]

You know what, after thinking about it, I take most of what I say back. Still, you cannot completely control ants but after putting the application on my yard, I remember that for the whole summer, I don't remember seeing 1 mound. So it works great there; however, what I struggle with is the flower bed next to the house. I can't seem to control that whatsoever and that's where they pile up against the house and start to get in.

Anyone have any suggestions on treating the flower beds?