Natural Ants Control Home Remedies

One of the most common household or yard pests has got to be the common ant. There are over 12,000 species of ants, believe it or not, and the most common of those is probably the regular pavement ant. These are the little culprits that come into your home as soon as you spill sugar and forget to sweep it up. They like sweets and if they don’t find them outside in your gardens, they will come inside and find what they need. You definitely need to know a good home remedy to kill ants if you see these little guys.

Search online for "ways to get rid of ants, but which ones work and which ones don't? It's not so easy to decide. Save yourself the hassle of sifting through the lore, and give these cheap, natural and science-based ant remedies a try:


Vinegar

Wipe down your countertops, cupboards and any other places where you've spotted ants with a 50-50 mixture of white vinegar and water. Repeat throughout the day to maintain the efficacy.

Why This Works: Two reasons, really: ants hate the smell of vinegar, and it removes the scent trails that they use to get around

Chalk/ Baby Powder

Draw a line of chalk or sprinkle baby powder across the spot where the ants are entering your home.

Why This Works: Talcum powder, an ingredient in both chalk and baby powder, is a natural ant repellent. Just be careful if you decide to use it: some studies have linked talc to cancer.

Borax

Mix together equal parts Borax and either syrup or jelly. Then, place where the ants will find it.

Why This Works: Once consumed, Borax damages both the ants' digestive systems and their outer skeletons, resulting in death.

Herbs/Spices

Spinkle cinnamon, mint, chili pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cloves or garlic – whichever one you happen to have – in the area where you've seen ants and along your home's foundation. Bay leaves can also be placed in cabinets, drawers and containers to further deter those pesky critters.

Why This Works: Many plants – including the ones listed – give off a strong scent to repel ants and other insects in the wild, and it works just as well in your home.

Coffee Grounds

Sprinkle your used coffee grounds in the garden and around the outside of your house.

Why This Works: Ants are repelled by the scent given off by the grounds; and incidentally, so are cats.

Cucumber/Citrus Peels

Leave the peelings in areas of known ant activity.

Why This Works: Cucumber and citrus peels are toxic to the types of fungi that ants feed on, and therefore avoided by the ants.

How to Get Rid of Ant Mounds

The best way to get rid of ants outdoors would be to use pipe tobacco. To get rid of ants in yard, you can soak the tobacco in water overnight and make a tea with it. Discard the wet tobacco, and use gloves when handling the solution. Pour the liquid over the ant hills and soak them. The ants will die. Find any other hills and fill the holes with glue or baby powder. Use baby powder on any trail of ants you see. Those ants will die as well.

Another home remedy to kill ants is to mix boric acid and sugar together into a paste, about one tablespoon of boric acid to a cup of sugar. How to get rid of ant mounds is simply drop pieces of this paste near the hills or anywhere you see ants. They will feed on the poisoned sugar and take it back to their nest to the queen, which will wipe out the whole colony.

The best way to get rid of ants outdoors, however, is to not plant any of the plants that attract honeydew producing insects, like aphids. This is because ants love this honeydew and will stick around if they’re present.