Verchères, a rural municipality on the South Shore along the St. Lawrence River between Contrecoeur and Varennes, has a built fabric of residences, barns and farm buildings. Our team intervened on a farm property where paver ants had massively colonized the concrete slab separating the main barn from the machinery warehouse. The owner had noticed dense lines of workers crossing the concrete inner courtyard and entering under the sliding door of the barn, where they attracted the attention of the hens by wandering in the litter. In agricultural areas, pavement ants can parasitize storage structures and contaminate animal feeding areas, which justifies a quick and methodical intervention.
Fireplace Inspection and Mapping
The technician carried out a complete inspection of the concrete surfaces and the immediate surroundings of the buildings. Paver ants are particularly fond of slabs laid directly on the ground on a bed of gravel, which are very common in agricultural developments. Five separate fires were mapped: two under the yard slab, one in the joints of the boundary wall between the yard and the adjacent field, a fourth under the barn sill, and a fifth in cracks in the concrete base of the machinery warehouse. The presence of scattered grain and forage residues in the yard had clearly stimulated colony growth by providing an abundant food source. This field evaluation made it possible to establish an order of priority in the treatment.
Treatment in the agricultural context
The protocol chosen for this extermination of pavement ants in Verchères took into account the presence of livestock and nearby crops. The selected products are on the list of pesticides registered for use in agricultural areas in Quebec. A granular bait based on spinosad, a naturally occurring substance with low toxicity to mammals and birds, was applied in the transit corridors. A residual spray based on diluted bifenthrin treated the periphery of the foundations, exclusively in areas inaccessible to animals. The joints of the slabs were treated by injection of an insecticidal contact gel. Our team in Verchères is familiar with the specific constraints of the agricultural environment and adapts its products accordingly. Check out our realization on paver ants in a storage building for a comparable case.
Prevention and post-treatment recommendations
Following the treatment, the owner received recommendations adapted to the agricultural environment: regularly clean grain residues in the concrete yard, fill cracks in the slabs with a freeze-resistant repair mortar, install rigid door seals under the sliding doors and maintain a thirty-centimetre cleanliness strip around the perimeter of the buildings. An annual pest control plan has been proposed to cover spring preventative treatments and fall inspections. A control inspection, carried out one month after the intervention, validated the elimination of all active colonies. Also discover our work on anthills treated in rural contexts for an overview of our expertise in agricultural areas. Nova Extermination, your trusted partner for pest management on the South Shore and in rural areas.