Anthills can be annoying eye-sores on otherwise perfect lawns. And if you’ve ever accidentally stepped on one of them, you know how painful those bites can be! Thankfully, there is a safe, effective way to get rid of anthills.
Home remedies and aggressive pest control are NOT good fire ant eradication methods.
Before we tell you how to get rid of fire ants, a word of caution: don’t try to kill every single ant individually or mow/dig up the anthills. Not only are these methods ineffective, but they can also put you in danger. Fire ant stings are no joke, and if you are prone to anaphylactic reactions, you should exercise even more caution.
The internet is filled with fire ant tips and tricks like vinegar concoctions and peppermint essential oil sprays. While these DIY solutions seem harmless enough to try, they are not guaranteed to work. In fact, according to Wizzie Brown with Texas A&M’s Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, “Evaluations of home remedies including aspartame, baking soda, cinnamon, club soda, coffee grounds, grits and Malt-O-Meal, and molasses failed to document control of imported fire ant mounds.”
Enlisting the help of someone who knows how fire ants work IS a good treatment method.
If you have a fire ant problem, the safest and most effective way to get rid of them is to consult someone who knows exactly what they’re doing. While your first instinct may be to “DIY it” or call a pest control company, both of those methods could easily ruin your the grass or soil. Not to mention, the longer you do trial and error, the larger the colonies will grow.
It may feel like a cop-out to ask for help. But if you care about your lawn and you want to get rid of fire ants, it’s best to get help from an expert who knows to how handle one without damaging the other.