SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/37461
FieldScience | Stacey Himes >> Left: HEAVILY TRAFFICKED AREAS like where children wait for school buses should be a top priority for fire ant control. For more info on fire ant control in schools, visit www.fire- ants101.com. >> Inset: “WORKED” SOIL, aggressive behavior and hundreds of reddish ants is a sure sign. Fighting FIRE ANTS in sports turf Editor’s note: This article was written by Stacey Himes of Clayton | Himes PR, Ambler, PA. F IRE ANTS may be coming to a field near you. Traditionally thought of as a southern pest, fire ants are slowly moving up both coasts, reaching as far as Oregon and Maryland. If you start to find mounds of “worked soil” on your turf, add fire ants to the list of what keeps you up at night. Fire ant stings can cause severe allergic re- actions, some even life threatening, in about 1% of the population. Fire ants are aggres- sive and at times deceptive; what looks like a small mound can extend as much as ten feet underground. Each mound can contain up to 100,000 ants that will boil up to the sur- face when disturbed. For Craig Dennie, pest control supervisor at the Dallas Independent School District, fire ants on athletic fields are a constant chal- lenge. However, through careful monitoring and inspection, he and his 5-person team have managed to significantly reduce fire ant populations, while also reducing pesticide costs (overall by 45%). 20 SportsTurf | August 2011 Dennie’s proactive fire ant strategy is part of his department’s overall commitment to integrated pest management (IPM) princi- ples. It’s been a mindset change for the dis- trict, which was used to the days when technicians “would spray on a whim.” Now, techniques like trapping, exclusions and set- ting thresholds are ensuring pesticide appli- cations are made only when necessary. Here, Dennie shares how he controls fire ants on athletic fields and beyond: Identify. In manicured sports turf, fire ants can be easier to spot than in regular turf. Fire ant mounds look like worked soil, and can be a few inches to a few feet across. Un- like native ant species there is no opening at the top; fire ants enter and exit through un- derground tunnels. Fire ants prefer to build nests around goal posts, near bleachers, along dugouts, in side- walk cracks, and near HVAC equipment. Even if a playing field is clean, check those areas as well. The ants themselves are about a quarter to a half-inch long, red to reddish brown, and not uniform in size. Another key trait is their aggressive nature. Unlike native ants, fire ants will run quickly up vertical objects like poles, rakes and legs. Inspect. For Dennie, who has 253 cam- puses to cover, daily inspections aren’t possi- ble. He or his technicians try to inspect each field at least every 2-3 weeks during playing seasons. They walk a sufficient amount of the field themselves but also encourage staff and teachers to report any new ant activity. Fire ants are more active in the summer, when temperatures are between 72 and 96 degrees. In very hot temperatures, they tend to stay underground near water sources. After rains, they emerge to forage for food—and that’s when you’ll find mounds being built. “If it’s been hot and dry for a while and then we see at least a quarter inch of rain, we will have mounds pop up, almost overnight,” says Dennie. “And down here, we’re not talk- ing just one mound, we might see fifty.” Establish thresholds. Thresholds are the cornerstone of IPM, but they can be difficult to implement, especially when dealing with fire ants. Pressure from teachers and parents can be a factor, too. “With fire ants there is a health threat so thresholds may be lower than with other pests like beetles,” says Dennie. “The impor- tant thing is to establish guidelines in ad- vance with your team, and then try to adhere to these guidelines from day to day.” >> CRAIG DENNIE, pest control supervisor and IPM coordinator for the Dallas Independent School District, and technician Kevin Rogers treat a fire ant mound at the district’s Environmental Center. www.sportsturfonline.com By