We assess your property before treatment to decide the most effective approach. Learn where we treat, the products we use and our treatment methods.
Where we treat
We apply treatment to suitable outdoor areas of your property.
Before treatment, we’ll assess your property to identify areas that need to be avoided or treated differently.
For example, we’ll discuss what happens if you keep livestock, poultry, grow crops or have a home garden with fruit and vegetables.
We do not apply treatment:
- inside or over houses
- directly into water or over water tanks.
What products we use
Using a granular product is the primary way we treat your property for fire ants.
We use Distance Ant Bait and Engage Ant Bait.
These products are made from small pieces of corn grit soaked in soybean oil and contain an insect growth regulator (IGR) as the active ingredient.
The active ingredient stops fire ant queens from producing healthy worker ants. Without new workers, the colony dies out over a few months.
In some situations, we may use direct nest injection (DNI) to rapidly eliminate individual fire ant nests. DNI uses a liquid insecticide containing fipronil that is applied directly into the nest.
How much is used
We apply Distance Ant Bait and Engage Ant Bait up to the rate of 2kg per hectare.
We use the same application rate for ground-based and aerial treatment.
For example, we use about 100g of treatment product spread thinly over a 500m2 block. On a 10-acre property, we use about 8kg of treatment product.
How we choose and apply treatment
Before deciding how your property will be treated, we assess:
- the size and layout of the property
- how the land is used
- site access and terrain
- the location of buildings, water tanks and waterbodies
- crops, livestock, poultry and other animals.
Based on these factors, we may use handheld equipment, utility vehicles, drones or helicopters.
We may use more than one product or application method to treat your property. This broadscale approach helps us reach hidden nests.
Ground-based treatment
We use handheld spreaders, backpack blowers and equipment mounted on utility terrain vehicles.
Ground-based treatment is commonly used:
- on residential and smaller rural properties
- in areas accessible by foot or vehicle
- where aerial treatment is not suitable.
Aerial treatment
We use drones and helicopters to distribute treatment efficiently across large areas. Aerial treatment helps us reach areas that are difficult to access on foot or by vehicle.
A property may receive both aerial and ground-based treatment.
How we plan aerial treatment
We comply with aviation, biosecurity and environmental legislation.
Before we treat aerially, we test how the equipment will distribute the product and check that wind conditions will not affect planned treatment. This helps us meet permit and aviation requirements.
Technology used
Our aircraft use GPS to help apply treatment accurately and safely.
Drone cameras help pilots navigate and avoid obstacles. We do not use them to photograph or record your property.
Direct nest injection (DNI)
Direct nest injection (DNI) is used when an individual fire ant nest needs immediate treatment.
Unlike broadscale treatment that uses granular products, DNI uses a liquid insecticide injected directly into the nest and its tunnels.
The liquid insecticide used for DNI contains 100 g/L fipronil as the active constituent (or active ingredient).
DNI can only be done by licensed pest controllers and trained authorised staff.
We’ll let you know what you need to do if we use DNI on your property.