Tishomingo County Master Gardeners

08/13/2026

Help spread the word to all Mississippians about the fall online Master Gardener training. Registration opens August 12th. Contact your county Extension office for details. Must be at least 18 years of age to register.

07/10/2026

We will be having the market no matter what this weather decides to do. We will update later as we watch what happens. As of right now we are still on at Jaybird but if we need to we can move to the community center at Mineral Springs park.

07/01/2026

Tell anyone interested in becoming a MS Master Gardener about our upcoming recruitment day July 22nd.

06/29/2026

05/22/2026

We held our monthly meeting yesterday at Robinhood Restaurant in Iuka. We had a wonderful meeting discussing all of our ongoing projects and future projects. We also recognized members Sam and Fredda McCune that received their 10 year service pins and Caffie Enlow, Diane Segars, and Vicki Bowen that received their 15 year service pins. Congratulations to each of you!! Tishomingo County Extension Office

05/14/2026

Now that we’ve recovered from the plant sale, we thought it was time to get back to digging in the dirt this week! We’ve had two work days this week at two of our community project locations. We were able to get all new plants put in the ground at the Iuka Public Library. Special thanks to the Iuka City Workers for their help on removing all the old shrubbery and for A Cut Above Lawn & Landscaping, LLC for prepping the ground for planting. We were also able to get the flower beds at Jay Bird Park spruced up and new plants planted. We hope you all will enjoy and when you have time go by and take a look and let us know what you think!

05/13/2026

Pouring gas on a mound does kill ants, but it also kills the grass and is a waste of money.

Gasoline is not legal to use in this way because it is not safe or environmentally suitable and is not labeled for this use. It would also be a very costly method of control.

If you want fewer fire ant beds in your yard, the best way to achieve that goal is to maintain a consistent management plan throughout the year.

Some people call it the two-step method. It’s easy, inexpensive and effective.

Here’s how to do it:
Apply a granular bait treatment over the entire property three times a year. Use Easter, July 4th, and Labor Day holidays to help you remember when to apply these broadcast treatments.

Use a dry mound treatment product throughout the year when you notice mounds pop up. Products containing acephate work fastest and are the most effective but have a strong, unpleasant odor. Products containing deltamethrin or cyfluthrin work slower and are slightly less effective, but they don’t smell bad.

(Remember one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to management. Certain treatment products shouldn’t be used near food crops, pets, and livestock. Always read and follow label instructions.)

Great resources on fire ant control can be found here: https://extension.msstate.edu/insects/fire-ants

04/28/2026

DO NOT use fire ant mound treatments containing the active ingredient acephate in the vegetable garden! Acephate is commonly used to treat fire ant mounds in home lawns but must not be used around edible plants. Acephate is a systemic insecticide that is readily absorbed by plant roots and translocated to leaves and fruit of vegetables.

Some fire ant baits can be used in the garden and lawn. These include baits containing the active ingredients methoprene or spinosad. Baits containing spinosad are relatively fast-acting and this makes them a good choice for controlling mounds that occur in the garden itself, but it will still take a two or three weeks to see results.

Don’t wait until you have big mounds, go ahead and apply one of these baits as soon as you see fire ants moving into the garden. But don’t forget to treat the lawn area around the outside of the garden as well. Workers from mounds located just outside the garden will readily forage into the garden area.

Here's a great resource if you want to learn more about safely keeping fire ants out of your vegetable garden: https://extension.msstate.edu/insects/fire-ants/control-fire-ants-and-around-home-vegetable-gardens