Only if they begin constructing a large nest in the vicinity of your plants. Their underground chambers are quite large and multilayered. Roots can dangle in the dry air within a nest and cause plants to die. If you have a large numbe of ants, you can absolutely expect some plant damage, as these pests are omnivorous and will eat plant seeds, fruit, nectar, buds, etc.

If you see signs of a fairly large above ground excavation, it might be time to apply Amdro (as long as it is not in a vegetable garden) to get rid of the nest.

Use your common sense, and make frequent evaluations of their population. Amdro is a very effective fire ant bait, and should be used when there are too many for comfort or safety.

Check with your Texas A & M people about Fire Ants and what to do with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fire Ants

Fire ants are protein eaters and hate sugar. You can usually chase them away with sugar or molasses diluted in water and poured onto the mound and sprayed about 10 feet around the mound. I'd dry 3 ounces of sugar or molasses in a gallon of water. Drench with half gallon and spray the other half.

Fire ants will absolutely eat sugar and can be baited with a boric acid and sugar bait. I don't advise using something like that outside, since it would attract non-target animals, as well.

Fire ants love sweet things....and will even ferociously defend honey-dew producing insects in order to keep them for themselves.

Fire ants also feast on many of the undesirable garden bugs.
My stategy is to keep them minimally under control by spreading Amdro around the yard's perimeter tossed under bushes. They are scavengers and will find the bait. But, I live with a few nests not in my way and they keep slugs, etc. under control. I do not allow nests to develop in the veggie garden. I have found that repeatedly spreading ground orange/lemon/grapefruit skins or pouring bottled orange juice on their mounds drives them away from the edible food areas.

The use of molasses actually stimulates the micro organisms in the soil, and this activity will drive away fire ants, actually, any type of ant. This won't kill the ants, but will drive them away from your property so you need to treat the entire area. Just add some molasses to a hose end sprayer and spray.

Fire ants will absolutely eat sugar and can be baited with a boric acid and sugar bait. I don't advise using something like that outside, since it would attract non-target animals, as well.

Your fire ants are different from ours. Ours will absolutely NOT go anywhere near anything sweet. They only eat protein here.

Boric acid does kill them if you can get them attracted to something. We have used corn meal to bait them but it doesn't always work. Boric acid can sterilize soil, so as he said, don't use it outside.

A water drench done repeatedly will generally discourage fire ants sufficiently to move their nest elsewhere.

When I lived in Florida, I used powdered cinnamon on the the mounds that were near plants I wanted to work with. This would keep them from crawling out of that mound until a good rain washed it away, then they would come out of there again. I liked this a lot better than using poison. I also noticed that a layer of cardboard covered with a thick mulch of a smelly wood like eucalyptus would keep them out of an area. I never noticed that they harmed any of my plants.

They may not be a problem now, but they will spread, & they bite humans & pets, & they make huge ugly mounds that eventually make your garden/yard look like the moon or a mine field.

I've heard horror stories from people who've lost litters of barn kittens, nests full of baby rabbits, even one woman whose horse nearly died when it stepped into a fireant bed: the horse's leg swelled to nearly twice its normal size, & the horse had a severe allergic reaction.

Fireants are horrible.

Making them move won't work.
They'll just spread out from their new location.

I mix 1 ounce of concentrated orange oil with a dash of dish soap in a gallon of water & pour the entire gallon over a mound.

Within a couple of hours, they are dead.

The only mound(s) I've had to treat over were the ones in a raised flowerbed that drained very very well.

There were evidently catacombs of fireant tunnels under there, & I didn't get the whole thing with one gallon.

Actually, making them move by using molasses does work.

Molasses + orange oil will get rid of them. I have used it several times. I was told that the orange oil dissolves there exoskeleton or softens it, and the molasses feeds bacteria that attack the ants in their weakened condition. Either way it works for me. I might also mention that I don't have a huge fireant problem, but the yard and garden is all organic. I don't know if that helps keep them away or not.

Where can I find "concentrated orange oil" in the Houston/Katy, TX area? Any help is greatly appreciated.
I have about 15 fire ant mounds in my 1/2 acre. I hate the devils from hell. HELP!

Ohhh....fire ants....

Man I hate those things!

They are a real pest here.

Fortunately, I have very few problems in the garden, but the yard has them here and there.

I use Amdro to keep them under control in the play areas of the yard so that the children and the dog won't get stung. Of course, you cannot use that in the veggie garden or compost bin.

I did discover a small colony in my compost bin when I removed the ring last week. I have been disturbing them on a daily basis hoping that they will pack their bags and move on by Saturday when I plan to sift and distribute that compost.

Last year I had to rub cooking oil on the pitchfork and shovel handles so that the little beasties would not climb up to my hands.

If you have the opportunity to get rid of them before they become established, do so.

You will be sorry later if they get control of the situation.

I have never tried any of the other methods mentioned here. Torment and harassment usually works for me.

I use Amdro to keep them under control...

Just as a reminder, this is an organic forum. There are other forums to discuss chemical solutions.

There is a "new" product out that is an organic bait.

Spinosad: An Insecticide to Make Organic Gardeners Smile

Green Light Press Release

A friend was recently in my garden and saw my ever-growing fire ant pile. He poured a big pot of boiling water on it (it seemed a horrible way to die so I let him do it)and the ants are totally gone. For now. I'll definitely try some of your other suggestions next time, though. But the boiling water seems to work. I would probably only get rid of fire ants. The other ones seem pretty benign and possibly beneficial.

Potash I dicovered this many years ago by accident I was spreading potash on soil with large pull behind spreader. The speader had problem so stop at fire ant mound big one. I lost about 2 gallons on ground in pile next to ant mound. Next morning took 5 gallon bucket to cleanup pile and there were dead ants in pile as big as my hat. So I pickup pile and spread it to other mound by hand full closed hand went back that afternoon dead ants at every mound you could see them 50 feet away. My next test be ground pecan hulls there so much potash in them and cheap.

You can get orange oil in any feed store and most gardening centers as well.

Boiling water kills them immediately ;-)

We have used it for years and it takes care of most or all of the nest, depending on how big it is. After a good hot bath, I never see them in the same area.

The local news put a story about using Equal sugar substitute (I think it is in the blue packages?) on ants - it makes some ants explode. So, it's bad for people and for ants.. go figure! I have not tried it yet, but hey, if it's on TV it must be true, right??

Greenlight has come out with another series of organic product to cope with fire ants, chigger, mosquitos and such and it is made with 2% cedar oil impregnated into clay particles to give it residual power. It is a repellant not a killer. Cedarcide yardsafe comes in 10 pound bags and covers 5000 square feet. I began offering this at my garden center here in Central Texas so I could give my customers an organic safe option than is affordable and safe for use in veggies and around the kiddos and areas near water. I am in a lake area and hate to know how many thousands of pounds of toxic pesticides end up in our drinking water. Just makes sense to look for the least toxic approach to a pest problem and that includes FIRE ANTS.
If you use this product and it works or not for your situation talk about it share your info and experiences so we all can work toward a safer world. If we demand safe solutions and support the solutions that work we can make a difference and help guide others toward that direction one person at a time.
Happy Growing David

3 ounces of citrus oil, a squirt of Ivory dish soap and a tablespoon of molasses in a 5 gal bucket full of water, mixed and slowly poured on the mound and a circle about a foot past it will kill them. Orange oil is for sale at Lowe's and most feed stores and garden centers. Home Depot never heard of it.
Whenever I wash the car, whatever soapy water is left in the bucket, I pour on an ant nest. I have been known to walk down to my neighbor's and pour it on their ant nest!
Bradford in Soggy Houston