Prevent the Spread of Little Fire Ants

Know the transport pathways

Hawaiʻi Ant Lab identifies infested plants, cuttings, soil, mulch, and other transported items as pathways for LFA. A small fragment containing a queen and workers can establish elsewhere. Checking the item matters even when the journey is short.

Before accepting or sharing plants

For a household, community nursery, or planting day, use a simple incoming-material record. This is our proposed recordkeeping practice; it is not a certificate that a batch is pest-free.

• Record the supplier or donor, origin, arrival date, and a batch or plant identifier.
• Ask when and how the plants and their growing area were last surveyed.
• Keep incoming batches distinguishable until their checks are complete.
• Inspect and survey outgoing plants as well as incoming plants.
• If suspect ants appear, stop distributing the batch while the identification and next steps are resolved.

Keep work and storage areas inspectable

BIISC’s nursery guidance calls for orderly storage and checking new plant material. Make pots, trays, and stock easy to inspect, and avoid creating untraceable mixed piles. Cleaning and organization support inspection; they do not demonstrate that a colony has been eliminated.

A designated holding area helps separate records and batches. Without a validated containment method, it should not be described as an ant-proof quarantine area. Do not assume that waiting a few weeks makes an infested item safe to move.

When a delivery may be involved

Preserve the delivery date, supplier details, photographs, and any sample result. Let the supplier know the concern factually: identify what was observed and what is still uncertain. Avoid publicly naming a source as responsible before the evidence supports that conclusion.

Use the community reporting form to log a suspected movement event. Include where the item came from and where it is now, if known. Do not relocate suspect material merely to clear the original site.

Build prevention into community work

Before a workday, agree who will check materials, keep the log, and communicate a suspected finding. Ask landholders about access, sensitive places, and what location information may be shared. This planning supports stewardship without claiming that a new procedure is an inherited Hawaiian practice.