Ants are one of our top 4 calls, and around Temecula and Murrieta the early-spring ant prevention happens in late winter, before the first warm week sets off the Argentine ant surge. Our 5 tips: seal the scouts' gaps, dry up the moisture, lock down the food, deal with the aphids and scale, and treat the perimeter before the surge.
While the rest of the country waits for snow to melt, homeowners in Temecula, Murrieta and Menifee are already seeing the first scouts on the kitchen counter. Our mild winters never shut an Argentine ant colony down. By February the soil is warming, the queens are laying faster, and the foragers that probed your window frames all winter are about to become a trail.
Early prevention is the least stressful way to deal with ant season, and most of it is work you can do yourself between now and the first warm week of spring. These 5 tips are the ones we'd give a neighbor, with the reasoning behind each from UC IPM's Argentine ant guidance. The fifth is the one to book with us.
What Argentine ant colonies are doing in January and February
They're slowed down and still working, and the first warm week, often in late February or early March, sets off the surge. UC IPM describes Argentine ant colonies as active year-round in California's mild climate, slowing in cold weather rather than stopping. Through winter the colony sits in shallow nests under pavers, mulch and the slab edge, and the foragers keep working on warm afternoons. As the soil warms in late winter the queens lay more eggs, the colony needs more food and water, and foraging ramps up fast. That's the spring surge. There's a second lift after any heavy late-winter rain, when flooded nests move up into walls and garages. UC IPM notes that Argentine ants come indoors after rain as well as in hot, dry weather, and the Temecula Valley gives them both. The practical point is that prevention done in January and February gets ahead of both. Prevention done in May is treatment. The tips below run in the order one of our technicians would do them.
Tip 1: Seal where the ants get in
Ants get in where two building materials meet, and sealing those joints is the first job. Take a flashlight around the outside of the house on a cool morning and look at the stucco weep screed along the bottom of the wall, the gap behind the hose bib, the conduit into the garage, the cable and AC line penetrations and the sweep under each exterior door. An Argentine ant needs a gap barely wider than itself. On the block and stucco homes typical of Murrieta and Winchester, the worst spots are the foundation-to-stucco joint and the corners of the sliding door tracks. Caulk the small cracks with an exterior silicone caulk, replace torn weatherstripping and pack the larger gaps around pipes with copper mesh before sealing over it. Leave weep screeds and vents alone, since they need to breathe. An hour on this in February closes the paths the scouts have been mapping all winter, and it takes away the hiding places spiders and earwigs use too.
Tip 2: Dry up the moisture that draws them
Water draws Argentine ants more reliably than food, and it's the easiest draw to remove. UC IPM notes the species nests in moist soil and moves toward water in dry weather, so every drip around the house is a signpost. Outside, check the irrigation first: a leaking drip emitter or a sprinkler head soaking the stucco keeps a nest alive against your wall all year. Fix the hose bib that drips, make sure the AC condensate line drains away from the slab, and empty the saucers under patio pots. Check that the downspouts and the grade carry winter rain away from the foundation, which is a common issue on the sloped lots in Lake Elsinore and Canyon Lake. Inside, look under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, around the base of the toilet, under the fridge where the ice maker line runs, and at the washing machine hoses. A damp cabinet floor in February is where a Menifee ant trail starts in April. Dry it out and the scouts have no reason to come inside.
Tip 3: Lock down the food that matters
Sugar, grease and pet food are the three that matter, and pet food is the one most households miss. Argentine ants prefer sweets, so a sticky honey jar, a juice spill under the fridge or a soft drink can in the recycling is a target. Wipe the counters after meals, keep sugar, cereal and flour in sealed containers, and rinse the recycling before it goes out. Grease under the stove and behind the range is the other indoor draw, and it's where a trail goes when nothing sweeter is out. Then the pet food. A bowl of kibble left out overnight can put a trail across a Temecula kitchen by morning, so feed at set times, lift the bowl, and stand the water bowl in a shallow tray of water if the ants have found it. Outside, clean the grill, keep the trash can lids closed, and pick up fallen citrus and figs, which the ants work for sugar in Fallbrook and Wildomar yards.
Tip 4: Deal with the aphids and scale the ants farm
Aphids, scale and mealybugs feed Argentine ants, so the roses and citrus by your front door can be the reason there's a trail at the back. UC IPM explains that Argentine ants farm these sap-feeding insects for honeydew, the sugary liquid they excrete, and protect them from ladybugs and other predators in return. A citrus tree in Murrieta with a scale problem supports a colony on its own, and the trunk becomes an ant highway from the soil to the canopy and over the roofline into the eaves. In late winter, check the undersides of new growth on roses, citrus, hibiscus and crape myrtle for aphids, and the stems and leaf veins of citrus and ornamentals for scale. Hosing them off, pruning infested shoots or treating them cuts off the colony's main sugar source. Trim branches and shrubs so nothing touches the walls or the roof, which removes the bridge over any perimeter treatment. UC IPM recommends a sticky barrier on tree trunks to keep ants out of the canopy, which protects the fruit as well.
Tip 5: Get the perimeter treatment on before the surge
The perimeter treatment goes on before the spring surge, which means late February or early March in the Temecula Valley. By then the first four tips have removed the moisture, the food and the entry points, and a treatment on a clean perimeter works far better than one applied over a drip line in a June heat wave. UC IPM's recommended approach for Argentine ants is slow-acting baits along the trails, carried back to the queens by the workers, plus a few outdoor spot treatments where the trails enter. Our technicians are state-licensed, and each product label fixes its own re-entry window, so let Jenni know about the dog and the kids when you book and our technician will give you the time for your visit. Ants surge again in the July heat and after the winter rains, which is why a plan with a visit every three months suits them better than a single spring treatment. If they return between visits, the extra trip is free. Jenni books the next opening at (951) 535-4220.
How to tell the scouts have become a trail
A few wandering ants are scouts. A line of ants moving both ways between a crack and a food or water source is a trail, and that's the point at which the colony has locked onto your house. Scouts show up alone, zigzag and leave. Once one finds the dog bowl it lays a pheromone trail home, and within hours the line forms. Other signs that prevention has turned into a problem: ants in more than one room, trails that reappear in the same place after you've wiped them, a surge after a heat wave or a storm, and ants in the bathroom, which means they're after water. At that stage a store-bought contact spray makes things worse by killing a few foragers and scattering the rest. Wipe the trail with soapy water and call us. Customers tell us they chose us for speed, and one Yelp reviewer had a technician at her door the day after she rang about an ant invasion. The prevention work you've already done makes that visit quicker and more effective.
Common questions
Why do I see ants in my home in winter in Southern California?
Because Argentine ants don't stop for our winters. UC IPM describes them as active year-round in California's mild climate. Winter rain is the main driver: it floods their shallow nests, and the colony moves up into walls, garages and under the slab edge. Warm winter afternoons also bring foragers out looking for water and sugar.
What's the best time of year to start ant prevention?
Late winter, January through early March, before the first warm week sets off the spring surge. That timing gets the gaps sealed, the moisture fixed and the perimeter treatment in place while the colony is still slow. Starting in May means you're treating a trail instead of preventing one.
Are store-bought ant sprays worth using in spring?
Not for Argentine ants. A contact spray kills the few workers it touches and leaves the queens untouched, and a repellent spray can scatter the colony into new nests. UC IPM recommends slow-acting baits instead. If you want to do something before our technician arrives, wipe the trail with soapy water and fix the drip.
How far should plants be from the house?
Far enough that nothing touches the walls, the eaves or the roof. Trim shrubs back from the stucco, keep tree branches off the roofline, and pull the mulch away from the stucco to leave a strip of bare soil or gravel against the house. A plant that touches the structure is a bridge over any perimeter treatment.
How often does an ant treatment need renewing?
A visit every three months suits most homes in Riverside and North San Diego County, because that rhythm gets a technician to the house before both the summer heat and the winter rains. Our Quarterly plan does that on a 12-month agreement, and plans start at $45 a month. If the ants come back between visits, the return trip is free.