Well guys, that lawn that had the disastrous Over-N-Out fipronil app last fall hasn't had a single fire mound so far this season. First application was made on August 4th. Next application was made about 6 weeks later. Two weeks after that, I refunded the customer's money because there were still new mounds appearing every week.
But we've just had a ton of rain the last week or so, and so far, no fire ants anywhere on her property.
Last winter, another customer signed up for fire ant control. We had already returned the unopened bags of Over-N-Out to Lowe's and we had a 50 lb bag of Top Choice on hand. We made the application on December 11th. But two weeks ago, she had two mounds on her property. So we re-applied. Both mounds are gone, but there's a new one in another location.
So Ric, or anyone else for that matter: The concept behind fipronil for fire ants is that as the ants forage, they track the stuff back to their nest. Since they can't detect it, they don't ever pack up and move, like they will with Orthene. At least that's the way I understand it. I'd like to learn more about the life cycle of the fire ant. I've been to a few Texas A&M web sights on it. There is a fly they're trying to establish here in Texas from South America that actually lays it's eggs in the head of the fire ants. It's the only naturaly predator for fire ants in the world, from what I understand. Anyway, they haven't been able to get the flies to survive a winter north of about Waco.
I can tell you that I started using Over-N-Out on my lawn about 3 years ago. I've applied fipronil to my lawn three times now. The first year, I accidentally applied the stuff at twice the recommended rate. It's worked beautifully ever since. Prior to that, I was constantly, I mean every week, sprinkling Ortho on mounds in my lawn. But since I started using fipronil, not a single fire ant colony on my landscape. So I know the stuff works. But I'm just not getting consistent results at all.
Anyone have any clue why the stuff would work better after it's been on the lawn 8 or 9 months than it did when it was first applied???? Is it somehow good for killing small colonies but not large colonies??? Is it possible that fire ant colonies can be essentially "dormant", deep under ground for months at a time before coming to the surface to create a new mound????
Right now, that's the only logical explanation I can come up with. The fire ant colonies can be "dormant", way under ground for months on end. As soon as a good rain comes along, it can cause them to "surface" and build a new mound. Eventually, as the ants track the fipronil back to the mound, there gets to be too much fipronil for the larvae to survive. Once the larvae stop hatching, the colony dies. My guess anyway. So maybe that's why you see new mounds months after the first app? But if we just leave them alone, they'll get bigger and bigger until finally the ants track enough fipronil back to the colony to cause the larvae to get sick and die.
Thanks,
DFW Area Landscaper
