Ants can be a very annoying and potentially dangerous pest to have around your home. They contaminate food, build mounds that are unsightly and often cause serious structural damage to buildings and landscaping, and they can also inflict painful stings on people with sensitivities or allergies to insect venom.
There are a variety of effective ant insecticides available for your home or business to help control and manage your ant problem. These include sprays, granular products, baits, and liquid drenches.
Baits are the most targeted of ant control methods and are far less invasive than spray or dust insecticides. They can be a good choice for areas where it is not possible to drill holes to inject insecticides or where it is too costly or impractical to use a sprayer.
A bait consists of a substance that ants find attractive and feed on until it becomes poisonous to them or they die. Different baits work differently and last longer than others. Fast-acting baits, such as indoxacarb, hydramethylnon or spinosad work quickly and may require reapplications more often than slow-acting products.
They can be broadcast or used as individual mound treatments. Conventional recommended treatments involve a “two step” process of applying baits and then drenching the mound. However, the drenching can decrease the numbers of native ants that help slow fire ant spread. If you need to use baits in a treatment beste maurgift area with a lot of ants, you can also try a “one step” approach by using only individual mound treatments to keep non-targeted ants out of the treated area.
Liquid Drenches are a quick and convenient way to treat fire ant mounds that you see while mowing the lawn or working in a flower bed. They also provide a relatively safe alternative to granular treatments, which can be harsh on the skin and pets.
When applying liquid drenches, be sure to follow directions carefully and read the product label closely. The directions should specify how much liquid to mix and apply, the time to wait for the drenches to work, and how long they will remain effective after treatment.
These treatments are easy to use and will kill ants in the surrounding lawn. They do not need to be applied near children or pets. They also work well on mounds that are buried in the ground and can be sprinkled over them to prevent ants from building up in the yard.
The drenches are usually mixed in water, but some products come in powder form that can be sprinkled over the mound and other parts of the landscape. These drenches can be an inexpensive way to treat a fire ant mound and they can be especially helpful for treating areas where it is difficult or unsanitary to apply liquid insecticides, such as in and around flower beds.
Unlike sprays, drenches can be applied in places that are contaminated by honeydew-producing insects or other sources of food for ants, such as in areas where garbage cans are located. They also can be sprayed in locations where the soil is contaminated by organic matter or other material that may attract ants, such as around trees and landscaping plants.