The summer months can often mean an influx of unwelcome guests. No, we're not talking about visiting relatives...we're talking about ants. And if you're not into chemical sprays (which rarely seem to work anyway), it might be time to try a homemade approach. Here are 8 ways to get rid of ants using common items available right in your cupboards.
In my old apartment, I lived below a frat guy who never had time to clean his place. I didn't really discover this until I had to ask him for a flashlight one day. When he opened his door, an empty bag of potato chips rolled across the floor like a tumbleweed. He was living in a wild west of his own bachelorhood.
The big problem came when he moved out. The ants that had been feeding in his apartment, now without a food source, started to crawl in through the odd crack in the ceiling, the tops of the windows...really anywhere they could. So, I had an ant problem. Chemical sprays seemed to work for a little while, but were a temporary fix. It would kill the immediate invasion of ants, but not the second and third fronts. I also didn't like the idea of my house carrying the scent of eu de Raid (or the idea of my pets or guests breathing in the fumes).
I kept a list of the different natural methods I used to
get rid of ants, all culled from internet message boards and advice-giving friends. Here's what worked...and what didn't:
- Mint leaves. Did you know that an ant can carry up to 50 times its own weight? Oh yeah, they can totally carry crushed mint leaves too. The thinking here is that the ants object to the mint's scent compounds...but maybe mine wanted to make mojitos in their little ant colony? I don't know.
- Cayenne pepper. The capsaicin in cayenne pepper is an irritant to ants, making them stay away. So, I sprinkled cayenne pepper around a particularly active spot near the floorboards. This worked for a day, but then Roscoe (my cat) tried to "clean up" the pepper. I had to stop this little experiment.
- Baby powder. The cornstarch in baby powder (I generally don't buy the kind that contain talc) is another irritant to ants. Like the cayenne pepper, I sprinkled it around a particularly active area and waited. The ants did appear to go away, but at least two guests had thought I had spilled flour and tried to helpfully sweep it up.
- Cornmeal. This is going to sound a bit gruesome: Cornmeal makes ants explode. They take the grains home, eat them and then presumably drink some water. The grains expand inside the ant, and then boom, tiny fireworks. Did I see this happen? No. There was remarkably less cornmeal by the end of the first day, but the ants kept returning to bring home more cornmeal. I had effectively made an ant feeding trough. Forget this idea.
- Cinnamon. The ants walked around any area that had been dusted with cinnamon, but didn't avoid the area entirely. (My house did smell lovely, though.) Many people swear by this one, so I'm wondering if they're using a really strong, fresh batch of ground cinnamon. But for me, no dice.
- Bay leaves. Like the issue I ran into with cinnamon, the ants walked around any area that had a crushed bay leaf near it, but ultimately did not avoid the area entirely. Again, I'm wondering if fresh bay leaves would be more effective (since they do smell stronger, and ants allegedly hate their scent) than dried.
-
Vodka. A 3-to-1 ratio of vodka to water, poured into a spray bottle, was recommended to me by a friend. I sprayed this all over the kitchen. While it did kill the ants, the kitchen also smelled of vodka, giving guests the wrong impression.
- Dish liquid and water mix. This is, hands-down, the most effective way to get rid of ants. I used about two tablespoons' worth diluted in a pint of water. Transfer the solution into a spray bottle. Spritz near windows, doors and cracks, but don't wipe it away. This apparently destroys the scent trail that alerts more ants to come on down. Then, spray any roaming ants with this solution to, well, kill them (and okay, then wipe the ants away). It works surprisingly fast.
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Reader comments (Page 2 of 4)
Find the invasion source, pour staight alcohol into the hole. you will never see them again.
ReplyIf the ants are in an enclosed area like in drawers or kitchen cupboards etc., try sprinking some whole cloves (like the ones you stick in your ham before baking) around. They don't like the smell and the next day the ants will be gone.
ReplyIvory dish soap (liquid) and water mixed in a squirt bottle. It kills everything! I haven't seen an ant since. I found this idea in the comments from a similar article, from a farmer in Texas that had a fire ant problem. He poured it down the hole and he said the next day, it looked like an ant graveyard. It works for flies too. BTW, if you spray it directly on the creature, it's instant death.
ReplyHow about an anteater? They love ants and they're also very interesteng to have around when guests come over.
ReplyWhen I lived in North Carolina, I put grits on top of an ant piles. The ants were gone shorty after.
ReplyI use to have ants under my brick walk. I started useing white vinegar to kill the grass and weeds growing between the bricks and l discovered that l had no more ants under or around the bricks.
ReplyAlso I have asked some friends that went south to try it on red ants but none remembered, I am very curious how it would work on them.
The cornmeal treatment is an old wives tale. If whole corn kernels are soaked, the corn kernels swell to make hominy. Once the corn is ground ths swelling will not happen. Only ground corn is fed to animals. Whole corn fed to geese will cause them to swell and die. Being raised on a farm I've seen it happen.
ReplyToxic stuff kills the present batch of ants. Unfortunately, future batches can sqeeze in thru amazingly tiny cracks. The good news is that tiny cracks can be sealed. Wood caulk, silicon sealant, masonry sealer, or paint. Few people do this, as it's time consuming to follow their trails to the crack. Soon after sealing the crack, the ants will find a new crack, but it will be farther away. If you keep sealing cracks, eventually the ants will have too far to safely travel in the open. A wet sponge with surfactants (found in many cleaners) can wipe out lots of ants quickly, making open travel simply too dangerous for them to do. Space inside walls claimed by ants means termites are not allowed there.
Replyany antibacterial kitchen cleaner kills them on contact....
What ever you find that will kill the little bugers you better do it before some do gooder group wants to protect them!
ReplyDraw a chalk line, ants will not cross it. Don't knock it till you try it, it really works.
ReplyInstead of cornmeal you can also use baking powder... It definitely works!
ReplyI use Tabasco sauce.....A few drops and they are gone and never return....
Replydiatamacious earth (5 lb. bag) as used in swimming pool filters; spread anywhere ants may walk. the fine particles plug up their breathing and ensures death. this solution is used commercially and is economically reasonable.
ReplyBorax. Works on ants and roaches.
ReplyI sometimes just leave a note for the ants asking them to please leave and that works too.
Peel some avocados. Put the peels around the area where the ants are. In less than a week they are all gone.
ReplyStrange that Cinnamon did not work for you.... you must have some sort of monster ants or something...we use this every year in our home in Colorado because we have kids and 2 dogs, and it works hands down 100%. We have a few areas in our home where we get ants every year. We simply sprinkled cinnamon on them and they disappeared and never returned. I took it even further this year when I was doing some landscaping outside in my front yard. We had an area where the ants were trying to take over in several areas, so I went in and got the cinnamon. I sprinkled it in all the areas and they are gone and have not come back. Totally effective and non-toxic to your family and pets. Gotta love it- any westerners reading this should give it a try.
Reply1/2 boric acid powder or borax and 1/2 Sweet & Low - mix together really well. You will NEVER have ants again. The boric acid explodes their stomachs - they get it on their bodies and bring it back to the Queen. WORKS all the time.
Reply1/2 Boric Acid and 1/2 Sweet & Low - mix together well and put out in little recycled lids on the floor. It works as they carry it back to the Queen and all their stomachs explode. You can alternately use Borax, Splenda, Equal - aspartame contains a neuro toxin . IT REALLY WORKS.
Replymy mother used to cut off the ends of cucumbers and leave them in the corners of the kitchen; that seemed to work naturally.
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