Treating Fire Ant Beds

Perma-Guard™ Household, Commercial or Fire Ant D-20 labels have information for
treating Fire Ant hills or beds. The formulas are identical. All are called D-20. They can be used as a dry powder or mixed with water and a small amount of mild soap, then injected into the nest.
DRY POWDER- Taking care not to be bitten; stir the surface of the nest. The ants will
boil out by the hundreds. Liberally sprinkle the surface and any visible ants with the
powder. Every ant on top of the mound will be dead within 15 minutes. If ants resurface, treat again. This treatment will probably not kill the queen.

MIXED WITH WATER- Mix 4 tablespoons of insecticide and one tablespoon of mild
detergent like dish soap into a gallon of water. With the mixture, wet a circle around the nest or hill spiraling into the center. Pour the remainder into the hole and allow it to soak into the nest. The detergent helps the liquid penetrate better than just the product and water alone. Repeat if necessary.

PRESSURE PROBE- Using the same mixture, with a 4 foot pressure probe, inject the
liquid into the nest. The purpose is to inject product into every chamber of the nest. By doing this quickly the workers will not have time to move the queen to a protected area. Once the queen is killed the nest will die.

A long root feeder probe can be attached to a garden hose. A siphon attached to the hose or probe can transfer the mixture from a bucket or container into the ground.

Pressure washers can be purchased or rented. The pressure from these is so great that even hard packed ground can be penetrated. The penetrations should be in a 12 to 18 inch diameter circle around the nest opening. The probe should angle inwards so as to reach the center of the nest 3 or 4 feet under the surface. With this method the whole underground nest area is saturated with the product which is deadly to Fire Ants as well as other types of ants.

It is nice to know that an ant problem can be controlled without the use of persistent
chemicals.