King of the Hill

Most everyone in the industry, from Florida to California to Washington, agrees: Ants are the No. 1 pest. They’re also the pests most frequently asked about at industry conventions and training seminars. Even the national media has latched on to the subject of ants, characterizing the problem as a serious annoyance all over the country that has caught Americans, as well as the pest control industry in many areas, by surprise.

In September of 1997, The New York Times wrote about Southern California’s Argentine ant problems, saying the tiny pest “is to Los Angeles what the cockroach is to New York: ubiquitous, annoying, impervious.” The Los Angeles Daily News and Los Angeles Times each ran articles recently describing the “waves of ants, termites and rats” that El Niño has sent upon residents. A similar story showed up detailing the onslaught of ants in San Francisco. And recently, U.S. News and World Report, wrote a news story based on an interview with Stoy Hedges of Terminix, detailing the “pox and pestilence” likely to be induced in the coming months by El Niño’s wrath.

Pest control professionals, meanwhile, are divided in their opinion of how El Niño will affect ant populations. They also don’t agree on which ant species is a problem, nor on how the stubborn pests should be controlled. Surveys show, in fact, that the problematic species in one area may not be an issue in others.

Stoy Hedges, manager of technical services for Terminix International, Memphis, Tenn., says it remains to be seen what role El Niño will play with regard to ant populations. “I think where we’ve had a lot of excess rain,” he said, “the ants become more mobile and many times will seek shelter in structures.” Hedges authored the PCT Field Guide for the Management of Structure-Infesting Ants, first published in 1992. The revised 2nd edition will be available in June. In residential structures, Hedges agrees that ants are the No. 1 pest. In commercial settings, on the other hand, pests such as cockroaches, rodents and mice still rule the day.

Industry consultant Austin Frishman points out that ants are the No. 1 pest simply because they are the most common cause of callbacks in the industry, and they become the costliest pest for the industry to control. Also, the current methods of insect control often allow ants to survive, while previous treatments stopped ants cold along with other perimeter pests. “The lack of the broad spectrum treatment favors crawling insects,” Frishman explained. “The problem is also compounded by the homeowner’s love of plants.”.

Further, Frishman said, ants weren’t such a significant problem when the baseboard mentality was in full swing. Today, he points out, the widespread use of mulch around structures also allows ant nests to survive even power sprays, which often can’t penetrate the layers of mulch to reach the ants. This August, Frishman will discuss the topic of ant control at a series of seminars sponsored by Clorox.

Terminix’s Hedges points out that ants are continually moving from treated areas to untreated areas. And lately, the most problematic ants are those highly adaptable species characterized as “tramp species,” (see April PCT) which includes ghost ants, Argentine ants, Pharaoh ants, odorous house ants and white-footed ants. “Most of these ants do well in disturbed environments where there’s been construction and development of some kind,” Hedges explained. “The ants take advantage of man and his activities and are better able to exploit the environment than the native species that were there before.”

ANTS IN THE SUNSHINE STATE. Even across the large state of Florida, PCOs don’t agree on which ant species are the most troublesome. John Mangold, a technical specialist with Terminix based in Clearwater, Fla., has conducted, in conjunction with John Klotz of the University of California-Riverside, a survey of 31 Terminix branches from Jacksonville to Sarasota. He found a handful of species that commonly crop up in different parts of Florida: Pharaoh ants, ghost ants, carpenter ants, the red imported fire ant, and the crazy ant. The white-footed ant, first seen in Dade County in the late ’80s, is also increasing its territory. The ghost ant, meanwhile, has become more of a problem in the northern part of the state.

The white-footed ant has also proven to be a very difficult ant to control, Mangold said. This ant species is characterized by its heavy trailing, and the ants are more prone than others to nest inside. Perimeter treatment is one method used to discourage trailing into homes, he said, because often the ant colonies are extended over an entire neighborhood. Baits have had mixed success.

Mangold said the ant season in Florida has been busy and started somewhat earlier this year. Typically, the main season is late spring through early summer, when many customers call after seeing foraging ants in their homes. Carpenter ant calls, on the other hand, are precipitated by swarming and occur later in the year.

On the east coast of the state, the white-footed ant, along with big-headed ants and carpenter ants, are triggering most ant calls, said Howard Johnson, technical director of Nozzle Nolen in West Palm Beach. “We’ve been having problems with white-footed ants for several years,” Johnson said, adding it has been only recently that the industry has gotten information about this species.

Another growing problem in the area, Johnson said, are fire ants which are more often being found nesting in homes. “Once in the yard,” he added, “they become the predominant ant in the area,” he said. “We have found them underneath carpeting.” He also said the fire ants will bring dirt up to the side of a home in much the same way as termites build mud tubes. Regarding control of these ant species, Johnson says the baits available today are very effective. Most control failures, he added, arise due to misidentification.

THE SOUTHEASTERN REGION. PCOs in the South have to deal with ants for close to eight months of the year, and in many parts of the Southeast, Argentine ants are also an especially troubling pest. Mike McGuiness, a regional technical manager with Steritech, based in Atlanta, handles the company’s Southeast Region, which includes Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina. He also oversees the company’s work in the Pacific Region: Arizona and Southern California. The biggest pest ants he encounters in all of these areas are Argentine ants followed by fire ants.

Solving Argentine ant problems is done primarily with the use of baits, as well as finding the nests when possible. The company avoids using insecticide barriers or power sprays. “In accounts that are severely infested, we’ll always find many nests,” McGuiness said. “In light infestations, sometimes we’ll find nests with difficulty. And there are times when we never do find the nests.”

The company also utilizes the ant baits now on the market. “We try to determine whether they’re on a cycle of preferring sweet or protein bait,” he said, referring to the “smorgasboard” method the company uses — determining what the ants prefer and using it in larger quantities in the areas they are found nesting and trailing. “A lot of the baiting process is also accomplished by simply putting out a variety of different baits and following up in a couple of days to see what baits they’ve chosen,” he explained. When Argentine ant nests are believed to be located on a neighboring property, McGuiness said, Steritech technicians speak to neighbors about having their home treated for ants as well. “If they’re not interested, then we have to use baits along the fence lines to keep them away from our building.”

McGuiness notes the ants prefer the south and southwest sides of buildings where temperatures are warmer in the afternoon and sunlight is more plentiful. He also refers to the direct, inverse relationship that seems to exist between fire ants and Argentine ants: “If you have a heavy Argentine ant population, you won’t find any fire ants nearby,” he said. “The two simply cannot coexist.”

ANTS IN THE MIDWEST. In the Midwestern section of the country, in states such as Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri, the major ants species appears to be pavement ants, says Kim Kelley-Tunis of McCloud Pest Control, who is based in Indianapolis.

Kelley-Tunis observes that the number of ant calls seems to be increasing, and technicians are asking about control techniques more frequently. “Within our company, the technicians have been very interested in trying to find out as much about ants as possible.”

In the winter season, Kelley-Tunis said, most of the ant calls are due to pavement ants coming up under the slab, especially in commercial accounts. In the summer the company receives calls on a wide range of ants pests: Pharaoh ants, pavement ants, odorous house ants, ghost ants and even, on one occasion, fire ants. To treat them, McCloud uses mostly a baiting strategy, employing bait stations and granules. When dealing with pavement ants, the company avoids using residual insecticides in order to prevent colonies from fragmenting.

BIG ANT PROBLEMS IN THE WEST. In the northwestern section of the U.S., the carpenter ant remains the No. 1 ant pest, and the No. 1 pest overall, says Kevin Peterson of Cascade Pest Control, Bellevue, Wash. The odorous house ant, he added, has also been on the increase in the last few years.

PCOs in Texas, meanwhile, are painfully aware of the fire ant problems that persist. The state has recently added four extension service professionals to help manage the problem. Gil Laserna, regional technical specialist with Terminix in Dallas, Texas, says in his area, behind fire ants, the most problematic ant species are Pharaoh ants and carpenter ants. The most challenging species to control is the fire ant, he says. “Their ability to survive under the most critical conditions with no natural enemies certainly allows the species to flourish.” He noted that in the Dallas area, fire ant nests seem to exist in close association with well manicured lawns which are frequently watered and in which baits quickly lose their effectiveness.

And one part of the country which has been literally besieged with ants is Southern California, which has had its share of problems in fending off the troubling Argentine ant (see related story, page 24). Mike Chapman of Western Exterminator, Irvine, says the situation has become more troubling in the past four years. “It’s not uncommon to see a quarter-inch to half-inch wide trail of Argentine ants going up and down trees,” Chapman said. One likely reason for the ants’ persistence, Chapman observes, is that many homes have fruit trees on the property. And Argentine ants are highly associated with the aphids and scale insects that infest fruit trees.

Controlling the Argentine ant has also proven to be a challenge, and with baits, Chapman points out, many workers get killed but the toxicant rarely reaches the queens. “We do put down some residual applications,” said Chapman, “the idea being to kill the ants trying to get into the home, or repel them from the home.” And, he admits, while the ideal control strategy is to find the Argentine ant nest, that’s not always feasible, with nests often located as far as 60 yards away. Western’s technicians often attempt to locate the Argentine ant nests, but Chapman adds, “it’s not uncommon to see them trailing from a neighbor’s yard. Treating the yard and mulch areas with residual products, he said, often helps prevent trailing. Interestingly, the Argentine ant wasn’t always such a large pest. “The odorous house ant was a major pest for us 10 years ago,” Chapman said. “I hardly ever see them now.”

CONCLUSION. Across the country, there is no question about it: Ants are a pest to be reckoned with, and at the same time, present one of the industry’s best opportunities to shine. While the problems differ greatly from coast to coast, one truth remains constant: the professionals who learn to anticipate the ant problems they are likely to encounter, master ant control techniques, and market their services effectively, will be miles ahead in the race against ants..

PRINCIPAL PEST ANT SPECIES

Northeast/Mid Atlantic:(CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ,NY, PA, RI, VA, VT, WV), Carpenter (C. pennsylvanicus¹), Pavement, Large Yellow.
Southeast:(AL, GA, NC, SC), Red Imported Fire, Argentine, Pharaoh, Carpenter (C. pennsylvanicus¹)Florida:Red Imported Fire, Argentine², Ghost^3,4, Carpenter (C. floridanus¹), Crazy, Big Headed, White-Footed⁴, P. bourbonica⁴, Pharaoh.
South Central:, (AR, LA, MS, TN), Odorous House, Acrobat, Red Imported Fire⁵, Pharaoh, Crazy⁶, Pharaoh⁶
Midwest:(IL, IN, KY, MI, OH), Carpenter (C. pennsylvanicus¹), Pavement, Large Yellow.
Lower Midwest:(KS, MO, OK), Carpenter (C. pennsylvanicus¹), Pavement.
North Central:(IA, MN, MT, NE, ND, SD, WI, WY), Carpenter (C. pennsylvanicus¹,C. herculeanus¹), Pavement.
Texas:Red Imported Fire, Little Black, Argentine⁷, Carpenter (C. pennsylvanicus¹, C. ferrugineus¹),Texas Leaf Cutter⁸, Pharaoh, Acrobat⁷, Crazy.
Southwest:(AZ, CO, NM, NV, UT), Carpenter, Pavement, Crazy⁹
Pacific Northwest:(ID, OR, WA), Carpenter (C. modoc¹,C. vicinus¹), Pavement, Cornfield, Odorous House, Pine Tree.
California:Carpenter (C. modoc¹), Argentine, Pharaoh, Odorous House¹⁰, Velvety Tree, Southern (California) Fire (s. xyloni).
Hawaii:Carpenter (C. variegatus¹), Argentine, Big-Headed, Pharaoh.

Primary species; ²North & central FL; ³Central & south FL; ⁴South FL; ⁵MS, LA, central to south AR, & southern TN; ⁶MS and LA; ⁷Southeast & central TX; ⁸South central to east TX; ⁹AZ; ¹⁰Northern Calif.