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Everyone’s looking forward to spring – green grass, fresh new leaves on the trees, warmer weather…..and, unfortunately, ants.  Lots of ants.

Here in the Carolinas we have plenty of pest ants to keep us busy.  There are Argentine ants, which live in huge, interconnected colonies….odorous house ants, which are quick to come inside for a bite to eat….fire ants, which we’re all painfully familiar with….and a host of other species.  Fortunately, there’s an excellent, state-of-the-art product available for ant control – a product that we will begin using in March to protect our customers from house-invading ants.

The product is Termidor®.  Ants and other insects cannot detect this product and avoid it, like they can some other insecticides – so they travel across it, picking up tiny amounts on their bodies, and transfer it to other individuals through grooming and food-sharing.  It acts slowly, so plenty of material can be transferred back to the nest, killing the ant colony.  Repellent insecticides may keep pests away until they break down in the environment, but the long-term benefit of using a product like Termidor® lies in greatly reducing the overall ant population around a home – resulting in long-term protection for our customers.

Sound too good to be true?  Well, there is a small catch.  By law, we can only apply Termidor® one foot up the outside foundation wall and one foot out from the base.  This means that anything more than one foot in height that touches the home can act as an untreated “bridge,” allowing pest ants to gain entry without contacting the product.

Shrubs touching the home can provide easy access for pesky ants…

Your Black Pest Prevention technician may ask your permission to trim back a few branches touching the home or, if several plants are touching the home, he or she may suggest that you consider having them trimmed back professionally.  Better ant control is a great reason to think about trimming hedges and shrubs back so they don’t touch the home, but there are other benefits as well.  Large shrubs hold moisture in near the home, creating an ideal environment for pests, and the roots of large shrubs can damage foundations.  This is but one pest-friendly condition that we keep our customers informed about as part of our comprehensive, quarterly pest prevention services. 

As always it’s our pleasure to serve you and we welcome any questions about the many great services we offer!