When To Treat Outside
Once the weather warms up to around 65 degrees, ants become active outdoors. From that point, the ants inside are linked to outside. In Cleveland, Ohio, this occurs in Mid-April. As a result, the exterior treatment does most of the work. In most cases, an inside treatment does not need to be performed during warm dry weather. Exterior only treatments fail when: It is too cold outside. It rained shortly after treatment. Or when vegetation touches the house.
Step 1: Granular Bait Application
Our first goal upon arrival is to develop trails outside. We do this by applying Intice 10 Granular bait. We scatter it along sidewalks, driveways, patios, landscape edging, and stones. Ants love it. They pick it up within minutes.
We also apply a two-foot band around the perimeter of the home. We make this the outer ring, then apply the foundation spray as a separate inner band. This draws the ants inside your home out. It pulls them through the spray to access the bait. We use the same technique treating trees for carpenter ants. A similar effect is seen when we spray along the baited paved areas.
We give it a few minutes for the ants to start picking up the bait. Our exterminators take this time to spray the exterior of the home and knock down spider webs.
Step 2: Apply Liquid Residual Spray
By far, the best active ingredient to use on ants is Fipronil. It is devastating to social insects. Cleveland pest control companies rely on fipronil foundation sprays. So much that they skimp on inspecting and tracking down the nests outside.
For complete control, we treat the foundation, along driveways, walkways, and landscape edging. You cannot spray Fipronil inside or in the yard. You can spray around a tree for carpenter ants, but you cannot spray along the driveway for sugar ants. Instead, we use an EPA Reduced Risk product to spray ants away from the foundation and inside. Alpine WSG is very effective and low risk. The benefit is the transfer effect it has. It has a very similar effect to fipronil. Over the counter sprays act fast without this transfer effect.
Most people spray up a few feet and out a few feet from the foundation. While this helps, it only helps for so long. Heat, moisture and UV light break down pesticides sprayed out in the open. After a while, bugs can walk across the foundation spray without dying. That is why it is so important to spray under the bottom lip of the siding. The spray doesn’t break down as fast, and this is where most ants enter the home. We use an angled nozzle to spray under the bottom lip of the siding.
Countering Pesticide Resistance
When you use the same product over and over, pests will gain resistance to that pesticide. Prevent this by rotating pesticides. For example, if your initial treatment fails, we follow up with a different product.
On top of that, we enjoy targeting your pests with products that work in different ways. That way, even resistant populations do not stand a chance.
Our outside ant spray list includes Fuse, Termidor, Premise 2, Sumari, Advion WDG, and Alpine WSG. This gives us three modes of action: Fipronil, Neonicotinoids, and Indoxacarb. In most cases, we apply a fipronil product to the foundation. A pyrethroid goes around windows and overhangs (for spiders). A neonicotinoid along driveways and sidewalks. And indoxacarb as a gel bait to the trails. We also have an indoxacarb spray when we must follow up soon after the initial service. Indoxacarb is interesting. It uses the insects’ digestive enzymes to turn into a toxin. This makes it a low-risk product.
Step 3: Tracking Ants
The fun part comes after we spray. It is time to find the trails! We do this by walking around the granular bait application. By now, ants will have found the granular bait. It should be easy to see the ants transporting it back to the nest. We search the cracks in the pavement especially. If they lead us to the nest, we treat it directly. Soaking nests with spray work well. Otherwise, we mist trails with non-repellent liquid residual spray, or bait it. This uses the workers to carry the product right back to the nest. Only 10% of ants leave the nest. By doing this, we get the product to where it can do the most damage.
Nothing is better than flipping a rock to uncover a nest. A large flat screwdriver is best to help lift the rocks for inspection. When we find these nests, we soak it with any spray that is allowed by the Label.
That pretty much concludes our small ant service. As you can see, we put a lot into controlling your ant population. A single service warranties your home for 60 days. Our quarterly maintenance plan warranties you year-round. We ask that you give the treatment about 5-7 days to achieve control. If somehow the ants survive, we will promptly return to address the problem- free of charge.