When to Treat Fire Ants in North Texas

Treat fire ants with broadcast bait in spring and again in fall, when soil temperatures have ants actively foraging. Bait needs a dry window of about 24 hours to work, so watch the forecast. Mid-summer heat and mid-winter cold both reduce foraging and waste the application.

Spring, the important one

As soil warms through March and April, colonies come back to full foraging activity and are rebuilding after winter. Bait applied then reaches a colony that is actively collecting food and has not yet grown to peak size. This is the single highest-value application of the year.

Fall, the follow-up

Another strong foraging period as temperatures moderate. A fall application deals with colonies that moved in over the summer and reduces what overwinters, which makes next spring easier.

Why mid-summer disappoints

In the hottest part of a Texas summer, ants forage mainly at night or not much at all, and surface temperatures degrade bait quickly. Treatment is still possible and it is simply less efficient than the same money spent six weeks earlier.

The dry window

Bait is a food product. Rain within a day of application ruins it, and irrigation does the same. We watch the forecast before scheduling, and if we treat and you get an unexpected storm, tell us and we come back, because a washed-out bait application is not your problem to pay for twice.

See our fire ant control program