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South Burnaby garden centre infested with fire ants

Invasive species known to swarm and sting people and pets

A large gardening centre in South Burnaby is dealing with an infestation of European fire ants, an invasive species known to swarm and sting people and pets.

European fire ants are difficult to eradicate, and they can spread through the transport of soil and plants. The owners of GardenWorks, which has six locations in B.C., have known about European fire ants at their Mandeville shop in south Burnaby since last August.

"We've had a couple of staff report, 'I've been bit by an ant,'" said Scott Pearce, one of three GardenWorks owners that sat down with the NOW to discuss the issue. 

Pearce also said there was a case where a customer was stung after he picked up a plant and ants crawled up his arm.

Pearce suspected the ants, which look fairly normal, could have been fire ants, after a news report on the invasive species aired on TV. GardenWorks then sent samples of the Mandeville ants to Robert Higgins, an entomologist and expert on the species who works out of Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake.

Last August, Higgins confirmed the samples were the invasive European fire ant, and Gardenworks called Higgins in to help create a plan to deal with the infestation, which included inspecting all the plants on the nursery, using bait to kill the insects and removing two greenhouses and some trees so the southern perimeter of the property can be paved over. The Mandeville location is at 4746 Marine Dr., close to the corner with Nelson Avenue. It is the only GardenWorks location with European fire ants.

It's not clear where the ants came from, or if they were already on the property before GardenWorks bought the shop in 2005. Higgins estimated the ants have been established at the Mandeville property for 10 years, based on the size of the infestation. It's also not clear if their numbers are stable, increasing or decreasing. The ants have not spread throughout the Mandeville centre; they seem to prefer the southern perimeter of the property along a fence that divides the store from a neighbouring farm. GardenWorks has not posted signs in the store or warned customers, nor have the owners alerted the neighbour.

"We have not put signs up at the store. As soon as we had the problem, we got really aggressive with the strategies to actually deal with the issue," Pearce said.

Leanne Johnson, another one of the owners, said as soon as Higgins positively identified the ants, they worked with him to deal with the problem.

"We met with him, we had our store manager and there were a bunch of us in there, learning about it and working with him as to what he recommended. Right from the get-go, as soon as we knew we had it, we were aggressive," said Johnson.

"We obviously want our staff and our customers to be completely safe and be completely comfortable shopping at the garden centre, and so what we are doing is making sure that's the case," Pearce added.

The Mandeville location isn't the only place in Burnaby with fire ants. As previously reported in the NOW, the Burnaby and Region Allotment Gardens, a 5.9-hectare swath of farmland in the Riverside neighbourhood, has been dealing with the ants since 2011. "There's nothing we can do about it," said Eleni Harvalias, who has a plot in the community garden. "They seem to be spreading. They are in different pockets now."

Higgins suspects there are more fire ants in Burnaby, he just doesn't know about them yet. Based on his count, there are 24 locations with European fire ants in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island. They are in residences, botanical gardens, community gardens, landscaping operations, equestrian areas and city parks.

"We haven't found a way to really control them," Higgins said. "It's just a question of hearing about them, people getting a hold of me and confirming their location. They are definitely spreading."

Higgins told the NOW there are also large numbers of fire ants at McDonald Beach Park, an off-leash area in Richmond, where dogs have been stung. (People were taking their dogs to the vet, thinking their dogs had an infection, but it turned out to be swelling from fire ants stinging, Higgins explained.)

"I always describe it as if you're having a needle with vinegar squeezed under your skin - it burns like that," Higgins said.

When the NOW interviewed Higgins two years ago, he recommended using Borax-laced bait and suggested submerging plants in water as methods for controlling the ants. However, Higgins is no longer sure those methods are effective, since the ants seem to ball up in water, and they avoid baits with pesticides or compensate for the damage by increasing egg production.

Instead, Higgins is trying a new approach and is experimenting with "nest traps" in hopes of luring the ants into a warm container, which then gets tossed into a deep freeze. 

"We're trying to draw off entire colonies this way because we are just not getting any success with other approaches," he said, adding he's hopeful the provincial government will fund the project.

In the meantime, Higgins recommends gardeners keep an eye out for the ants. 

"When purchasing plants this spring, make sure there are no ants associated with the material. If there are any ants of any type, take it back to the centre it came from," he said. "It's going to continue to be a problem. There's no easy answer. These ants are incredibly resilient. People are probably going to hear a lot more about them as years progress unless we can find something that's effective."

While GardenWorks is admitting to their infestation, Higgins said people should be concerned about any landscaping operation. He knows there are other businesses that have fire ants, but they just aren’t telling anyone about it. Higgins will inform municipalities of fire ants, but he only reports cases when his clients grant him permission, as he has a confidentiality agreement with them.  
“I can just tell you, I know they (GardenWorks) are not the only one,” he said. 

While Higgins couldn't say where the other cases were, he did say they were not in Burnaby.

"You'll probably hear about some other places in the next while, it depends on those operations," he said.

UPDATED: Fast facts on fire ants

  • The European fire ant is about four millimetres long, skinny and red. They are often indistinguishable from a typical ant. Apart from laboratory testing, the best way to identify them is by their aggressive behaviour: if they swarm and sting, they are likely European fire ants.
  • The European fire ant is originally from Europe and Asia and was first brought to Canada in the early 1900s.
  • European fires ants were first confirmed in the Lower Mainland in 2010, in Deep Cove, but entomologist Robert Higgins is sure they've been around much longer. Higgins suspects they've been established in Chilliwack for 20 years, based on the size of the area where they are found. 
  • If you bring a plant home with fire ants, you probably won't notice till three years later, once they are well established. According to Higgins, a worker ant transported on a plant is not a risk, but if a queen and a group of workers are established in the soil of a plant, they can set up a new colony once transported. The European fire ant is a species with multiple queens, typically 20 for every 1,000 worker ants, according to Higgins. The colonies do not take up much space and can be transported in potted plants. The ants love nesting in roots and enjoy the frequent watering. Higgins says smaller pots are less likely a risk for transporting the ants, but he has seen an entire colony bunched up within the roots of a single dandelion.
  • It is not unusual for a queen and a group of workers to be transported, according to Higgins. Usually the ants will swarm when the pot is banged, but if the soil is cool or the ants are unsure of their new environment, they may be unnoticeable.
  • According to Higgins, the most probable route for introducing the ants into the home garden is through the movement of infested plants or soil.
  • The European fire ant has a stinger and injects venom under the skin, which can burn for up to two hours and then becomes itchy for up to a week.
  • The ants are an invasive species, meaning they are not native to Canada, and there are no natural predators or factors to keep their numbers in check. In B.C., the European fire ants can establish nests very close to one another, (up to four nests per square metre), and it's in these conditions where they exhibit aggressive behaviour, swarming and stinging anything they perceive as a threat.
  • Children and pets shouldn't be left unsupervised around fire ants, and the nests can interfere with the recreational use of property.
  • There have been cases of swollen limbs from fire ants, but never of a case of anaphylactic shock.