Treatment advice for materials that carry fire ants

Learn what treatment activities you can do to minimise the risk of spreading fire ants.

This guidance is a summary of treatment activities that may help you meet your general biosecurity obligation.

To understand all your obligations when moving, storing, dealing or working with materials that can carry fire ants:

Affected materials

Fire ants can establish and spread to new areas by hiding in materials. For example, fire ants can be in:

  • soil, turf and potted plants
  • hay or straw
  • mulch, compost, green waste and sawdust
  • animal manure
  • mining and quarrying materials
  • machinery and equipment stored on the ground, including shipping containers, temporary fences and pallets.

If you’re in or near a fire ant biosecurity zone, you may need to treat materials and storage areas.

Treat materials

If soil, turf or potted plants are in (or sourced from) a fire ant biosecurity zone, apply a treatment product approved by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).

You may be able to use a product containing bifenthrin (as the active ingredient) according to APVMA Permit PER14317.

If you are treating:

  • soil before excavation: use a professional pest manager at least 2 weeks before excavation.
  • turf: irrigate immediately after treatment and then wait 48 hours before harvesting. If the turf isn’t harvested within 42 days, you must re-treat it.
  • potted plants: you can add a granular treatment to the potting media; drench or dip the plant; or soak the top 2cm of potting media.

Treatment advice depends on the material and should always be considered with other storage, processing and movement practices.

To learn what you need to do for your material, read the specific guidance on materials that can carry fire ants.

Treat storage area

You may need to apply treatment to your storage area if your materials:

  • are in (or sourced from) a fire ant biosecurity zone
  • will be on your property for more than 24 hours
  • are stored on the ground.

Note: storing materials on pallets is not considered off-ground storage. If you store materials on pallets, you should follow on-ground storage treatment advice.

Treatment practices include:

  • Applying a 30cm wide perimeter treatment around the storage area using an approved product (i.e. a product containing bifenthrin used in accordance with labels and permits).
  • Keeping the surrounding area free from vegetation and other materials that could allow fire ants to cross into the treated area.
  • Using either a fire ant-resistant barrier underneath the material (i.e. crack-free concrete or 200-micron plastic sheeting) or treating the entire storage area.

If materials are going to be fed to animals, ensure that the treated area is covered with plastic sheeting before the materials are stored on top.

Advice about how to treat the storage area depends on the material and should always be considered with other treatment, storage, processing and movement practices.

To learn what you need to do for your material, read the specific guidance on materials that can carry fire ants.

Treat before moving

Before moving materials and equipment that can carry fire ants from and within a fire ant biosecurity zone, you may need to apply treatment and follow other storage, cleaning and processing practices.

Treating a material doesn’t mean that you are allowed to move it.

Treatment advice will depend on the material being moved and where it’s being moved to and from.

To learn what to do before moving your material, use the material movement advice tool.

Keep fire ant treatment records

We recommend keeping fire ant treatment records for at least 2 years, including:

  • the treatment location
  • what products you used
  • how you applied the treatment (including the application rate)
  • the date of treatment.

If you decide to use a licensed pest manager to carry out treatment, we recommend recording their licence, ABN and keeping a copy of their invoice.

You may need to produce these records if we request them as part of a compliance activity or audit.

Note: this advice helps you to comply with our treatment recordkeeping requirements, you may have additional recordkeeping obligations under other legislation.

Next steps

To learn more about your biosecurity obligations when moving, storing, dealing or working with materials that can carry fire ants: