How do you get rid of fire ants in artificial grass?
Fire ants nest in the sand or soil base under and beside artificial turf, usually surfacing at a seam, an edge, or a low spot where soil is easiest to push through. They are removed with a broadcast bait labeled for fire ants, spread around the mound and the surrounding turf, not by digging into the turf or flooding it, both of which damage the backing and infill without reliably killing the colony. A mound that keeps rebuilding in the same spot at an edge or seam can mean there is a gap letting ants in from below, which is a repair. TIMELESS Turf Restoration checks the edge when this keeps happening.
Where they nest and why
Fire ants need soil to tunnel in, and the sand or aggregate base under artificial turf, along with any exposed soil at an unsealed edge, gives them exactly that. A mound under turf often does not look like the classic dirt pile; it can show as a slight bulge or soft spot in the turf itself, or as loose sand pushed up right at an edge or a seam where soil meets turf. Spring and fall, when the ground is warm but not scorching, is when mounds are most active and most likely to be built or reworked.
How to check
Walk the edges and any seam lines, since that is where soil is most accessible to them, and look for a slightly raised or soft area in the turf or loose soil pushed up alongside it. Disturbing a suspected mound to confirm it is a bad idea near fire ants; a soft, slightly domed patch near an edge in a yard that has had ants before is usually enough to go on.
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What fixes it
The standard, low-risk method is a two-step bait approach: a broadcast bait labeled for fire ants spread across the general area first, followed by a direct mound treatment if the colony persists, both used exactly as labeled. Do not dig into the mound, since a disturbed colony can relocate under the turf where it is harder to reach, and do not flood it with water or chemicals, which damage backing and infill and do not reliably kill queens deep in the nest. If mounds keep coming back at the same edge or seam, that recurring gap is worth having checked; loose soil pushed up under a lifted edge is an easy path in, and re-securing the edge closes it.
Keeping them out
Keep edges and seams tight and fully secured, since that is the access point fire ants use most. A seasonal check of the perimeter in spring and fall, when colonies are most active, catches a new mound before it is established. Bait placed preventively along a known problem edge works better than treating after the fact.
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