Fire Ant Baits
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Baits take advantage of the foraging habits of the fire ants and are not to be confused with granular forms of insecticides. Baiting works in a very similar fashion. The bait is carried by workers back to the colony and fed to other ants, including the queen. It works much slower than granular insecticides. Baits work differently, too, in that they do not use insecticides to poison the colony, but work slowly by affecting the queen’s reproductive ability. The colony will still have workers running around, but no new ants will be born to replenish the population. Eventually the colony dies off, as the ants die from natural causes or from their own short life span.
Bait methods are inexpensive, easy and safe. Baits are made up by three types of ingredients:
• The food source
• The insect control chemical. There are currently seven control chemicals in use for bait. Of these seven, hydramethylnon and spinosad are considered to be relatively slow-acting. Three affect insect growth. These are fenoxycarb, S-methoprene and pyriproxifen. They actually cause the queen to stop laying eggs. Abamectin is also a growth regulator-like substance and, although a bait compound, works best when used as a mound treatment.
• The substance that forms the particle for the ants to carry. This is usually made from ground corncobs.
Do not try to save time spreading both bait and lawn fertilizer. The fertilizer only makes the bait less attractive to worker ants and therefore less effective. Application should be at the rate of one to two pounds per acre or 15 to 25 bait particles per square foot. Baits can be broadcast in the spring and fall if the growth regulator type bait is used.
Applications in September and October are especially helpful if you want to avoid springtime fire ants, and farmers often find that this fall application helps to keep hay field free of mounds when mowing hay in the spring.
You should also avoid disturbing mounds when broadcasting. This will cause the foragers to flee back to the mound to protect the queen, and they will usually move the colony rather than carry the food back to the nest.
Some common bait products are: Extinguish Professional Fire Ant Bait; GardenTech Over 'n Out! Fire Ant Killer Mound Treatment; Amdro Ant Block Home Perimeter Ant Bait; Green Light Fire Ant Control with Conserve; Ferti-Lome Come and Get It; Amdro Fire Ant Bait or Amdro Pro; Extinguish Plus Fire Ant Bait; and Spectracide Fire Ant Killer Plus Preventer Bait Once & Done.
Bait treatments are an excellent way to treat entire communities. Baiting can be much more cost effective than other methods, can lower the frequency of applications, and is less toxic to the environment.
Communities that have decided to work together in fire ant eradication should check to see of they can obtain bulk pricing on fire ant bait products. The product can then be delivered to a single location and residents and businesses can come to that location and pick up the needed product. Education is the key. Show how to load lawn spreaders and inform residents of the correct application amounts. Communities may even offer lawn spreaders on loan to get the job done.
Sources and Useful Links::
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1161/ANR-1161.pdf
http://www.epinions.com/Amdro_Fire_Ant_Bait
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Urban/ifa.htm
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