Over'n Out!® Advanced Mound Eliminator
In This Review:
When fire ants move into your area — or you move into theirs — warm, moderate weather brings added stress. Once you learn how to identify fire ants and fire ant mounds, you realize that good fire ant controls are essential. That's when understanding differences between the best fire ant killers pays off, including products that provide long-lasting protection against new fire ants and mounds.
Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator is a fast-acting mound treatment intended to eliminate mounds by killing fire ants and their queens. And killing the queen is the only way to kill a fire ant colony. But this mound treatment goes a step beyond. It keeps protecting against new fire ants and fire ant mounds for up to six months, so you get spring-fall protection from a single application.
Performance: Works fast, lasts all season
Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator is marketed as a mound treatment, so the bag only carries specific instructions for fire ant mounds. While many mound killers can only be used to treat mounds in lawns, this product can be used on lawns, ornamental plantings, flower gardens and areas around your home's foundation.
This product contains two active ingredients that kill fire ants by contact: zeta-cypermethrin and bifenthrin. Like other fire ant killers that kill by contact, this product only kills fire ants that touch the product. That can happen directly when ants are foraging for food, or when treated ants spread the ant killer through the mound.
This granular mound eliminator starts killing immediately, as soon as the fire ants make contact. The fast-acting formula kills fire ant mounds in 15 minutes and kills the queen within 24 hours of application. That speedy killing action prevents mounds from relocating. Then it keeps killing, controlling and protecting against new fire ants for up to six months — a feature we appreciate.
Application: Easy to use, but needs watered-in
With a tear-off top and resealable bag, Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator is easy to open and use. The dry, grayish granules look a lot like finely screened garden soil, and there's no unpleasant odor or worrisome dust like we found with some fire ant killers.
The product label has an excellent diagram illustrating the application rate and the area to treat around a fire ant mound. If your soil is dry, irrigate the area before your application. Then apply 1/2 cup of the granules to an area 4 feet in diameter surrounding each mound. Use this product only on lawns and ornamental areas, not in vegetable gardens or around other edible crops.
Immediately after application, you need to water the treated area with 1 to 2 gallons of water over each mound. This releases the active ingredients and moves the insecticide solution down into the ant tunnels, which helps ensure it contacts as many ants as possible. But this is also the tricky part of fire ant mound treatments. The water needs to break through the highest part of the mound, but not cause enough damage that fire ants relocate. A large watering can with a sprinkler head works well for watering-in fire ant mounds.
As with other fire ant killers, you'll get the best results when you treat apply Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator during fire ants' most active times: early morning or evening hours when it's cool. This product's label recommends treating fire ants when temperatures are between 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The more active fire ants are at the treatment time, the more likely they are to contact fire ant killers and spread the insecticide throughout the colony.
Pets and Children: Reenter after treated area is watered-in and dries
The label for Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator didn't include information about keeping children and pets safe during application. We had to go to the company's website to find out more about protecting pets and kids. According to the website, you should clear the area of people and pets when you apply these granules. But once you water-in the product and the treated area dries, people and pets can reenter and enjoy the space.
Competition: Over'n Out!® Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator vs. Spectracide® Fire Ant Shield™ Mound Destroyer™ Granules
Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator and Spectracide Fire Ant Shield Mound Destroyer Granules are both fast-acting products that kill fire ants by contact. Only the ants that contact the active ingredients in these products die. Foraging ants that get the product on their bodies distribute it to other ants in the colony, including the queen. These ready-to-use granular formulas both call for the same application rate, and they're easy to measure and apply. You'll need to water-in treated areas immediately after application to ensure these contact mound killers work.
The Over'n Out product kills fire ant mounds in 15 minutes and kills the queen within 24 hours. The Spectracide product works fast, too. It starts killing within minutes and also promises to kill the colony and queen within 24 hours. Both products come with guarantees, but we like the added control Over'n Out includes: It kills and controls fire ants for up to six months, something the Spectracide product doesn't offer.
At $10.54 for a 4-pound bag, Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator is more than double the price per pound of Spectracide Fire Ant Shield Mound Destroyer Granules, which costs $3.77 for a 3.5-pound bag. Despite the low price on the Spectracide product, we value the peace of mind in Over'n Out's six-month protection promise.
Conclusions:
Over'n Out! Advanced Fire Ant Killer Mound Eliminator is a convenient, fast-acting, easy-to-use mound treatment that targets the entire fire ant colony and prevents new fire ant mounds. Even though the initial cost is higher than other mound treatments, we appreciate the residual protection enough to make the extra investment.
The opinions represented in this article are the author's. However, the author has been paid by the owner of this website, Central Garden & Pet Company.
