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 3 of 4)
Most of these things work just fine on the ants, but the uncles just keep coming back...lol...
ReplyCleanser works. Use ajax or comet powder. They run. Very effective when sprinkled on ant hills. If you have a serious ant problem sprinkle it all around the base of your home outdoors.
ReplyMost of these things work just fine on the ants, but I find that the uncles just keep on coming right back...lol...
ReplyI use black pepper and it works great. 2 years ago I had so many ants, I was about to lose my mind, last year, black pepper, no ants. Get a bottle for a buck at the dollar store, chalk line works too.
ReplyThe YELLOW can of Lysol spray, contains a chemical that destroys ant scent trails. If you spray it along the lines where you see ants, and follow it back to the nest, they're very confused and will find other directions to travel. Spray around door jambs, windows and stairs, you'll be amazed at how fast it works.
ReplyMy neighbor just put out a mixture of peanut butter and jelly. She does this to kill black ants and I was amazed that hundreds of ants were dead within a short time. She usually puts the mixture on some leaves and lays them around, but this time she put it on a white paper plate so I could see the ants. Amazing! We live north of Houston, TX.
ReplyCoffee grounds get rid of fire ants! I don't know if it would work on black ants, but worth a try.
ReplyTalcum powder works...Al
ReplyOne of the most effective and natural repellents for ants is something called diatomaceous earth (food grade). It comes in powder form that you sprinkle on infested areas, indoor or outdoor, and is harmless to humans, cats, and dogs. Basically it dehydrates the ants when ingested; also known to kill or deter other crawling insects, including roaches and silverfish. If not available at your local nursery, you will have to purchase online.
ReplyInstant grit works well on ants. Once the ant ingests the instant grit, the grit swells up and thus damaging its body and killing it. Instant grit, the other ant killer. Its kind to the environment and its even good at my breakfast table.
ReplyThe dish soap/water mix also works fantastic for flies! I had to do something that would kill the Ammityville Horror amount of flies we were getting in our laundry room, and I found this online, and it really did work. It was safe to use around my kids, and it killed them really fast. I can't wait to try this with the ants that have now found their way into our home.
ReplyI had a colony of ants in my back yard only I couldn't pin point the mound because of the grass. I used brightly colored cereal to track them as they moved through the grass. Fruity Pebbles work great, crush up one of the colors you can easily see then fallow the enemy to their base, bwahaha. Happy Hunting.
ReplyHere are two things that I have used for years. One was sort of touched on with grits. I wouldn't use thid in my house but here in Texas we get fireants. OUCH! Anyway grits put on the mounds seems to work to get rid of them once they take some down to the Queen. Without a Queen poof gone. I used this in my yard and in pastures where I had horses grazing. For sugar ants and roaches and the like in my house I used the fruit of the Bois D'Arc tree, known to me as horse apples. My house is on peer and beam so I just throw them up under the house and walk away. No ants no roaches. Seems to work very well. ALthough I don't have a tree there is one down the street and it drops its fruit onto the sreet so I just stop and pick them up when I see one.
ReplyI have tried ground cinnamon and it did work for me. It's messy because you have to sprinkle it around the area where the ants are and in the cracks they come out of but I changed it every three days to keep it fresh. The ants did not return to that area.
ReplyUse dry cement ( mortar mix ) and mix it with an equal part of cream of wheat. They eat the mix and the cement gets hard and they cant pass it. Works great for mice too.
ReplyI once read a recipe for a natural ant killer. I have tried this and it seems to work. It is safe around kids and even if they eat it they will merely burp.
Reply1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of yeast
1/2 cup of molasses
Mix to a paste and spread on small pieces of cardboard or pasteboard. Place the papers near the source of the ants.
Why this kills them I do not know but I have a couple of theories.
They eat the yeast and die of terminal gas.
They take the yeast back to the nest and it ferments and spoils the rest of the food supply.
Ants will not cross a chalk line. Make a thick chalk like all around and they will not cross it. I also heard that Avon's Skin So Soft works but I have tried chalk and it works. Try it outside...draw a circle around and ant and see if it crosses over. It won't as long as the line is dense enough.
ReplyFunny, I had my first garden in arizona and I had ants baddddddddd. I sprinkled corn meal all over the garden. A couple days went by and no more ants. You have to realize, there are A LOT of ants in a colony, so if you see them "coming back" it is probably not the same ants that ate the cornmeal to begin with!
Replygive the ants what they want. try peanut butter and corn syrup. let them feast on it for about ten day or so. they get so fat that they can't function. then the whole nest is self destroyed. or a quick safe way is to use borax around the baseboards. that will encourage the ants to feed at your neighbor's house.
ReplyOK, I know i saw someone here mention the straw idea which is a good way to get to them and keep your pets and kids safe (make sure the straw is tapes somewhere like under the cabinet ledge or inside a drawer) along the ants path. We used peanut butter, white sugar and borax, making sure the mix was inside with a gap left at the ends ( a Q-tip often helps clear out the filling end). I, too, lived in FL and the pests there are in control, not the humans! The grits do work for SOME strains of ants but can take time. I used it usually for fire ants. Black ants and sugar ants never did a thing for them. Several other of these ideas are things that might work given sufficient time. As to the baby powder, why not just use straight cornstarch since that is the irritant? Did you crush up the mint leaves? That is an important part of their use. Another idea is a solution of sea salt and water in a spray bottle. We lived near the beach and used to bring in our bottles for spraying them. If you need to get the salt and mix it on your own, mix it to insoluble level, then add just enough more water to make it remain liquid.
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