Fire Ants

 Fire ants.  Their name alone describes the pain these little pests can deliver when stung by them.

Fire ant mound
Click image for fire ant fact sheet

There are two types of fire ants in Florida;  native fire ants and red imported fire ants (RIFA).  Both kinds deliver nasty stings and build nests in your lawn, but the RIFA is the most problematic of the two.  The RIFA can have multiple queens in multiple mounds.   That’s why it seems as if you’re playing “Whack-a-Mole” in your lawn when treating individual mounds.  Treat a mound one day and two more pop up next to it a few days later.  Familiar?

Baits, broadcast treatments, dusts and mound injections are all effective ways of controlling these dangerous pests.  Knowing what type of fire ant you are having problems with will go a long way in determining what kind of treatment method will be the best solution for you.