The dreaded raised mounds of soil in lawns, landscapes and other areas have many people in a panic.
A raised mound of soil is a sure indicator of fire ants. Infestations of fire ants have had Cooperative Extension’s phone lines busy for the past two weeks.
These insects have been very busy in both the southern and eastern part of the county since the heavy rainfall a couple of weeks ago.
Native to South America, fire ants were first introduced in the early 1900s in Birmingham, Ala., and eventually spread to North Carolina in the ’50s, probably through nursery stock.
The ants were isolated to a few areas in Salisbury and some parts of southern Rowan County until this year. Now the pest is more widespread throughout the county and extremely active this fall. Fire ants are easily spread throughout the county on soils from nurseries, construction equipment, recreational vehicles and hay.
Fire ants are very protective, delivering a powerful sting. Their sting creates a powerful itch with a raised pustule that often becomes infected and may leave a permanent scar. They are particularly dangerous because they congregate in great numbers, quickly stinging the victim in unison. Small children, farm animals and those with allergies to insect stings are at great risk.
Fire ants look like a typical ant in your lawn; they are not large, but they can be multicolored. These are social insects, building a colony of thousands, like yellow jackets and termites. The queen mates in flight, starting a new colony, laying up to 300 eggs a day and reigning over the colony for up to seven years.
Fire ants prefer open, sunny areas such as lawns or pastures for their nesting sites, but when disturbed, they often migrate to shrub beds, trees or fence rows. The mounds are very distinct, 10-12 inches wide and 5-6 inches tall. The nesting mounds are flat with no entrance holes.
Positive identification of a fire ant colony is rather easy. Take a stick and jam in the center of the mound. Fire ants will quickly boil out and cover the stick in a matter of seconds. Other ant species become confused and will run away ó not fire ants.
Now is the time to control fire ants. Fire ants are active in the fall when temperatures are at or near 70 degrees. The best way to control fire ants is with baits. Amdro and Spectracide Fire Ant Killer are both very effective, but they are not immediate.
Workers carry the toxic bait sprinkled around the mound to the queen, eventually killing her and the colony. If fire ant mounds pose an immediate hazard to people, especially children, drench with a lawn insecticide such as Sevin or Merit. Be sure to keep kids and pets away from the treated areas.
Entomologists from N.C. State University recommend that residential developments where many homes have mounds should organize a community effort similar to mosquito control.
Using boiling water, gasoline, grits and other home remedies are ineffective and often dangerous. Fire ants are well organized and adaptive with a series of tunnels and move quickly to safe havens when threatened. Go to www.ces.ncsu. edu for more complete information about fire ants and their control.
Darrell Blackwelder is an agent in horticulture with the Rowan County Cooperative Extension, 2727 A Old Concord Road; call 704-216-8970. Web sites: http://www.rowanmastergardener.com, http://rowan. ces.ncsu.edu