Right now many of you across the Miss-Lou are beginning the yearly battle with fire ants.

The United States has been fighting fire ants since around the 1920s when they first arrived on container ships from South America. This pest digs up billions of tons of dirt each year and causes billions of dollars of damage across the lower part of the nation annually.

Most insects are solitary species and can survive alone throughout their life cycle.

Fire ants are social insects and work in groups of up to 500,000. They are omnivores, meaning they eat both plant and animal material.

So when you have an ant problem it is usually not small and very few things are exempt from their wrath.

Q: Why do I have ants and my neighbor doesn’t, what can I use?

A: We currently have baits, liquids (mound drenches), powders/dusts and granules to help treat fire ants. You will always have more control if you treat more space.

Therefore, I strongly recommend you consult with your neighbors.

If your neighbor controls for them and you do not control all the remaining ants in their yard will move in your and vice versa. Therefore, if ants are a problem in your neighborhood, I recommend you and your neighbors tackle this problem together to have an impact.

This will increase effectiveness and be much cheaper in the long run!

Q: Can you put ant poison in flower beds and vegetable gardens?

A: I would never recommend putting any type of ant poison directly on vegetables or in the vegetable garden.

Instead put ant bait around the edges of the vegetable garden. Most ant baits are made with vegetable oils to attract scavenging ants.

Worker ants have the ability to eat materials and bring them back to the colony where it will be regurgitated and fed to other ants including the queen.

This is a reason baits are so effective. Flower beds are OK as long as you follow the directions on the label.

Here are some other things to consider when preparing for fire ant control using baits instead of sprays.

4 Buy and use only as much as is needed! Most ant baits contain vegetable oils that will go rancid over time and reduce the effectiveness.

They have a maximum effectiveness for about 3 months.

4 Be proactive! If you had ants last spring, summer or fall there is a very high probability you will have them again this year.

Apply baits when fire ants are most actively scavenging for food, this is usually in early morning and late afternoon.

4 Don’t over apply baits! Most of the baits need only a few pounds per acre, this is not much.

Instead of spending the money to put out excessive amounts of bait, it would be much better served and provide better results to do a split application several weeks apart.

4 Be consistent! If you want to achieve complete control there are several new and improved products out on the market. But you may still need to consider a spring, mid-summer, and fall application.

Especially if you have young children and pets that spend a lot of time outdoors.

David Carter is the director of the Adams County Extensions Service. He can be reached at 601-445-8201.