Fire Ants

My fire ant control story.

The first year I lived on my little farm, I was advised to have the local "Ant Man" come out to apply fire ant bait. I looked in the back of his trailer while he was spreading, and he was using Extinguish Plus - which is a combination of an IGR (insect growth reguator) and a poison. There is also Extinguish Pro, which is all IGR with no poison, and I use now.

He sped around my place on his ATV with a spreader on the back of it in about 15 minutes, and charged $600. I took a good look at his spreader. It was a HERD GT-77.

During the next year, I shopped for and bought my own Herd GT-77 spreader. As I recall it was about $400, including the plates to control fire ant baits, and the mounting kit for my Mule. A 25 pound bag of Extinguish is about $200 from www.doyourown.com , and the spreading rate for my acres works out to a grand total of 8 pounds, so I store the remainder in a cool dry place after I put it into a vacuum shrink seal bag - so the one bag is good for 3 spreadings.

The result is that the spreader paid for itself after the first time I used it. Each time since then , fire ant control costs me roughly $70 each time I apply the bait. I spread it 2 times each year. I happily keep in my own pocket the "Ant Man's" $530 profit per application. I am saving $1,060 per year by having my own spreader and buying my own bait.

Lots of the "landscapers" around here use the bait. I like the insecticide because it's a once a year or once every 2 year thing. It also helps with other insects including termite perimeter control. Similar savings for me. The chemical was almost $900 for 105 oz container. That will get me 210 sprayer fillings and cover over 3500 acres. Kept cool and out of sunlight it will keep for years. Money aside. It's well worth it not to have to worry about fire ants or having to replace shear pins in my FM. I hate a fire ant.

Having a professional company come do it is expensive because there is a tremendous overhead cost. Licensing, training, insurance, etc on top of the generally high profit margins to begin with. It is amazing how inexpensive it can be to do a professional expensive equivalent job on your own for your own property. As long as you thoroughly read the labels on the products, understand how to properly and safely use it, and fully understand how to use the sprayer equipment. The ag extensions of various state universities are also a wealth of information to absorb. I've been doing that for several years now. Ants are a thing of the past. At my old townhouse, even my neighbor's ant problems went away because the little bastards come for the bait from way over there too.

That being said, if you just spray and pray, it probably won't work and can be pretty harmful. So it must be done right.