In areas like Pageland, Monroe, Lancaster, and Kershaw, fire ants are rampant. Fire ants can be damaging to your lawn and plants, and dangerous for your family. They can come up out of nowhere, building nests all over your yard. And you may not even know they are there until they bite. Protect your home and family this year by treating for fire ants. Click here to contact us for a free estimate for your property.
Why you should treat for fire ants
Before we discuss how to get rid of fire ants, let’s discuss why you should treat for them. If you have been bitten by the fire ants on your property already, you are probably ready to get rid of them. However, if you have not gotten bitten yet, you may be wondering, “why should I treat the fire ants?” Well, the answer is simple. Fire ants pose a threat to two very important things: your family and your property.
Harmful effects of fire ants
Fire ants have many harmful effects.
1. Painful stings
First, fire ants can cause painful stings for you and your family members. These stings can become swollen, red, and can even get infected. Fire ants tend to cause many, bites at once, leading to a blistering rash that can last for weeks. In addition, you or your family member may be allergic to fire ants. This season, make sure to protect yourself and your family from fire ant bites.
2. Unattractive in your lawn
Next, fire ants can greatly take away from your beautiful lawn and landscape. Their mounds can get very large, distracting from your plants, flowers, and grass. After working so hard to achieve a beautiful property, unsightly fire ant mounds is the last thing you want. This is yet another reason to control fire ants on your property.
3. Destructive to plants
In addition to bites and mounds, fire ants can also destroy your plants. Fire ants are omnivorous, meaning they eat both plants and animals (typically insects). Although they can only digest liquids, they will pick up fragments of plants and convert them to liquid in their mound. Therefore, fire ants may attack your plants and vegetable garden. After the time and money invested in your property, don’t let fire ants destroy it. Read more about fire ants’ impact on vegetable gardens here.
4. Can invade electrical equipment
Believe it or not, fire ants can be destructive to electrical equipment, too. They can cause electrical failures by chewing on insulation and building nests in utility boxes.
Identifying Fire Ants on Your Property
Now that we’ve discussed the harmful effects of fire ants, let’s discuss how to identify them on your property.
What do fire ants look like?
First, let’s talk about what fire ants look like. Fire ants typically have a reddish-brown or reddish-black appearance. Additionally, they have a stinger, which may not be visible since they are so small.
What do fire ant bites look like?
Next, we will discuss fire ant bites or stings. Fire ants typically cause a lesion that looks like a hive. Additionally, they are red and often itch.
What do fire ant mounds look like?
In addition to identifying fire ants and their bites, it is very important that you know what the mounds look like. Fire ant mounds (also known as beds or nests) can look dome-shaped or flat. They will look like disturbed or aerated soil, and they will not have a singular entry hole, like some ant mounds. Additionally, fire ant mounds can come in many shapes and sizes. Learn more about fire ant mounds here.
How to get rid of fire ants
There are several different types of fire ant treatment, and they all serve different purposes. Therefore, you must choose the fire ant treatment that is best for your property and your situation. Let’s discuss three different types of fire ant control: granular baits, mound treatments, and broadcast insecticides.
Granular Baits
First we will discuss granular baits. Granular baits are our most frequently used form of fire ant control, and it is what we recommend to our clients most often. In addition, this method is most environmentally friendly.
The most effective way to treat for fire ants is to try to kill the queen so that the fire ants cannot reproduce. Granular baits work by causing fire ants to carry the poison back to the mound, killing the queen. Therefore, the fire ants cannot spread on your property.
The only downfall to this method is that it can take more time. However, it will be worth it because your fire ants will be better controlled.
Mound Treatments
In addition to granular baits, you can also choose to spot-treat mounds. This method involves treating mounds directly, and it can be much quicker than using granular baits. However, since this method requires fire ant mounds to be visible, you may miss treating fire ant mounds that are smaller and less visible. Therefore, you are less likely to kill the queen and take care of all of your fire ants.
Broadcast Insecticides
Lastly, broadcast insecticides are an effective method of fire ant control, but they are the most aggressive form of treatment. This treatment is long-lasting, and it will kill any fire ants that come into contact with your property. However, this method is much more costly (3-4x the cost), and it can eliminate insects that are beneficial to your soil.
What does fire ant control cost?
Now that you’ve learned about fire ant control, you may be wondering what fire ant control costs. Rivers Lawn and Landscape offers per-acre pricing. We will measure the acreage of your property and base our pricing on the area of your lawn. Our pricing is as follows:
1 acre = $85
1.5 acres = $125
2 acres = $160
With this flexible pricing schedule, you can assure your lawn will be covered, and you will be charged according to your property size.
Application Schedule
Rivers Lawn and Landscape adheres to a 2-application schedule for fire ant control. We will treat your lawn once in the spring, and then once again in the summer. Therefore, you will have both prevention and treatment of fire ants.
Our Guarantee
Luckily for you, Rivers Lawn and Landscape guarantees that your lawn will be fire-ant free after two applications. As a licensed pest control applicator, we will safely and efficiently rid your property of fire ants.
Next Steps
Whether you currently have fire ants on your property or are looking to prevent them, Rivers Lawn and Landscape can get the job done. In addition, our guarantee will leave your property fire-ant free, and you can make sure your family is safe, healthy and happy. Contact us for a free estimate on fire ant control today.