A fire ant mound has no single opening, so surface sprays miss the colony underground. Reaching the queen is what clears them.
Fire ant mounds popping up all over the yard? Spraying the top of a mound just moves the colony a few feet over, because there is no single opening and the queen sits deep underground. We treat the colony itself, which is the only thing that clears them. They are worst here April through July and again in the fall.
Texas A&M's fire ant program notes that a red imported fire ant mound, four to twenty-four inches tall, has no visible surface opening. Ants enter and leave through tunnels radiating out underground. Kick the mound or spray the top and the colony relocates, because the queen was never reached.
The Gulf Coast climate keeps fire ants active most of the year, with the worst mound-building April through July and again in the fall. After heavy rain they push up fresh mounds and send out winged reproductives. We time and target treatment to the colony so it does not just move ten feet over.
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