Fire ant baits are granular products that contain some type of food that is attractive to fire ants and very small amounts of slow-acting insecticides or insect growth regulators. Baits have a lot of advantages. They are inexpensive, easy to apply, safe to pets and wildlife, and they work! The only negative about baits is they are slow-acting. Depending on which bait you use, it takes from two to eight weeks to see the benefit of a fire ant bait treatment.
Granular bait application instructions: Most fire ant baits are applied at very low rates, around one to two pounds per acre. That’s less than 1/2 ounce per 1000 square feet. Don’t try to use a lawn fertilizer spreader to apply fire ant bait; it will put out way too much! Use a smaller hand-held spreader that has micro settings designed for applying fire ant baits.
How granualar fire ant baits work: Fire ant baits are designed to work slowly; this is one of the keys to their success. Adult fire ants can't swallow solid food. They have to carry the bait granules back to the mound and feed them to their young. The larvae convert this solid food into liquid, which is then spread from ant to ant throughout the colony. The slow-acting insecticides and growth disruptors used in fire ant baits get spread throughout the colony before they start killing ants. If granular baits contained quick-killing contact insecticides, they would kill the foraging workers before they were able to carry the granule back to the mound.
Because they are so slow-acting, baits are best used as preventive treatments. If you don’t want to have large fire ant mounds in your yard, you have to treat before you have large fire ant mounds in your yard. The goal with baits is to eliminate small colonies that are just getting started before they grow large enough to be noticed. In rural areas, where fire ant numbers are high, this can mean treating as many as three times per year. In more urban areas, one or two bait treatments per year may be enough. Use the holidays, Easter, Independence Day, and Labor Day, to help remind you when it is time to apply fire ant bait. Don’t under estimate the value of that fall treatment. You may not see much benefit before winter, but you will have a lot fewer mounds next spring.
Some baits work faster than others, but the slower-acting baits tend to provide longer control. Baits that contain slow-acting insecticides that kill adult fire ants usually give maximum control within a few weeks. Baits that contain insect growth regulators that interfere with the development of eggs and/or immature ants may take two months or longer to reach their peak level of control. There are a few baits that contain both types of active ingredients.
