Fire Ant Alert!
Now is a good time to treat your lawn for fire ants!
Gro-Masters recommends treating your lawn once a year with the product Top Choice. This products is 100% guaranteed to rid your lawn of fire ants. Gro-Masters is specifically trained and certified to apply this product available only to licensed applicators.
A little history…
The fire ants common to the south, known as the RIFA (Red Imported Fire Ant) was accidentally introduced into the United States aboard a South American cargo ship that docked at the port of Mobile, Alabama, in the 1930s, and came to infest the majority of the Southern and Southwestern United States.
In the US the FDA estimates that more than $5 billion is spent annually on medical treatment, damage, and control in RIFA-infested areas. The venom from a fire ant sting swells into a bump, which can cause much pain and irritation, especially when several stings are in the same place. There are those people who are allergic to the venom and as with many allergies, may experience anaphylaxis, which requires emergency treatment.
Furthermore, the ants cause approximately $750 million in damage annually to agricultural assets, including veterinarian bills and livestock loss, as well as crop loss. In just seventy years, according to a study published in 2009, lizards in parts of the United States have evolved to have longer legs and new behaviors that aid them in escaping fire ants.
So if the lizards are getting out of the way, you should to!
Sources, K. Lynn Tootle, Jr. for Gro-Masters, Inc., Sarah Lewis for UGA Landscape Alert, Wikipedia
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