Are These Common Louisiana Weeds Invading Your Yard?

With hot weather, plenty of sun, and water everywhere in Southern Louisiana right now, it's a great time for your lawn to flourish. Unfortunately, weeds also love this kind of weather and they will be cropping up everywhere now. 

"Why are weeds so bad?" you may wonder. Some people say that weeds are just plants you don't want. But weeds can harm your lawn. 

Read on to learn about four common weeds you may be seeing in your yard.

Four Major Louisiana Weeds

These four weeds are some of the most common:

 ·      Dollar Weed: Also called pennywort, this weed likes living anywhere there’s standing water. Poor drainage can lead to dollar weed seemingly overnight, and then they germinate and spread to other areas. This weed roots anywhere that the creeping stems touch the soil, so they can get out of control fast.

·       Pony Foot: Also called dichondra, pony foot was once used as a ground cover in place of grass. But this tenacious weed is hard to eradicate once it has taken root in an area, and pony foot sucks water and nitrogen from your soil. Considering that it also loves to grow under trees, it can quickly harm trees and other plants.
 ·       Poa Annua: Also known as annual bluegrass, this weed may be invisible in your existing lawn grass until summer. As poa annua dies in the sun, your lawn suddenly has ugly brown patches all over. It loves damp and shady areas.
 ·       Clover: The four-leaf variety may bring luck, but clover is usually not a good addition to a lawn. Anything that is an undesirable plant is considered a weed, even if it’s not particularly bad for your lawn.

Crabgrass, sedge, and other types of weeds may also be growing now as well. And let’s not forget those dandelions!

Are these weeds taking over your yard?

Weed Prevention Tips

Many of these common weeds love damp and shady spots. Just as you would prepare your property for mosquitoes by removing any standing water, be sure to consider any soggy spots in your lawn to keep the weeds away.

Because this year experienced such an early spring, you can fertilize later than you might have in the past. 

Grass needs to be stronger than the weeds to survive against the competition. Don’t mow your lawn too low, as this can give weeds the space they need to root and grow even more. If your lawn is really shady, which many weeds like, consider thinning the canopy to let more light in.

Call Fischer for Lawn Protection

Our lawn care programs are designed to keep your lawn healthy year-round. We not only control weeds, but also prevent insect infestations, and keep the desired plants in good health. We can treat fungus, winter weeds, and more. 

Starting with an inspection is important to ensure that the conditions aren’t fighting against the treatments. 

We can advise you on how to achieve the best conditions to discourage weed growth, in addition to providing the treatments to keep it that way.

Call us at (800) 391-2565 for information on how we can help your lawn stay healthy and beautiful year-round.

You can also learn more about our process by looking at our lawn care program schedule.

Are You Seeing Fire Ant Mounds in Your Yard?

Why Do Fire Ants Make Mounds?

When you think of fire ants, what annual season pops into your mind? You are likely thinking of the spring or the summer, where ants are abundant in the foliage and on the ground. You hardly see fire ants in the winter, right?

Read on to find out why.

Fire Ants and Their Mounds

Unlike mammals, insects cannot regulate their body temperatures. When mammals are cold, they have a way of warming themselves up in order to survive. Insects, such as fire ants, do not have this luxury. When the weather turns cold, their bodily functions slow. They have to hunker down and find a way to stay warm or else they’ll die. They aren’t able to produce much activity during the winter, which is why they can never be seen during the colder seasons.

During the winter, fire ants make mounds in order to snuggle and stay warm over the winter. They remain alive, and only come out when the weather gets warmer.

The first season the mounds are created, the fire ants use them to help regulate their temperature. The mound acts as a home that is several ant-sized stories high, which makes different temperature zones at different levels. Since ants barely use any energy during this time, they don’t need to worry about eating in order to survive. For them, it’s all about staying warm.

As soon as the spring season hits, the ants are ready to search for food. They emerge from their mound and separate from their colony to find calories that will fill them up. Once they are warmed and full of food, they maintain their mounds to shelter the most important members of their colony – such as the queens and the larvae.

The fire ants will then start to use their tunnels in preparation for mating season, and this is when the mounds are used once again. Mounds of dirt pile up as the ants dig tunnels to move dirt out of the way. This is why you will typically see an abundance of fire ant mounds during the warmer seasons, such as spring and summer. They are making room for food storage when the weather starts to cool down again.

How to Get Rid of Fire Ants

If you start to see these fire ant mounds popping up all over your property, you’ll want to get rid of them before they become active during warmer weather. When awake and full of energy, fire ants can destroy gardens and trees – not to mention, they really sting when they bite.

First, you’ll want to know the difference between a regular ant mound and a fire ant mound. Fire ant mounds have a significant size increase over regular ant mounds. If stung by a fire ant, you may be dealing with a severe reaction such as an allergic reaction or searing pain. Ants tend to swarm when threatened, making them very dangerous for children or playful adults.

Not only are fire ants dangerous for humans and gardens, but they are dangerous for electrical equipment as well. Fire ant nests can affect electrical equipment if the mounds are built around them. If too many fire ants attack small animals or livestock, it can cause the animals to go blind.

In order to protect your livestock, pets, garden, children, trees, and yourself, you’ll want to get rid of the emerging fire ant mounds as quickly as possible.

At Fischer, we specialize in exterminating ant mounds across the state of Louisiana 

If you’re interested in taking care of this serious issue as quickly as possible, please visit our website to learn more: https://www.fischerenv.com/about-us/talk-to-us/

If you want to speak to someone right away, you can email us at fischer@fischereny.com or give us a call at (800) 391-2565 to schedule a visit with a professional.

To learn more about the process of fire ant inspection and treatment across your home, read our in-depth residential treatment checklist to get started early: https://www.fischerenv.com/pest-control-programs/residential-treatment-checklist/

Fire ants are no joke. Prevent damage and pain by scheduling a consultation with one of Fischer’s fire ant removal specialists right away!

Sources:

https://www.fischerenv.com/pest-control/fire-ants/

https://articles.extension.org/pages/34527/why-do-fire-ants-build-mounds