How to Get Rid of Ants Naturally

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How to Naturally Get Rid of Ants

Since I live in Florida, I basically have to deal with ants throughout the year. Those little boogers pretty much never go away. Since I don’t want to spray pesticides around my family all year, I decided to find out how to get rid of ants naturally.

Fortunately, I discovered a variety of solutions that have helped keep these pesky bugs out of our house. If you’re trying to find out how to naturally get rid of ants, read on to learn more about these 8 effective techniques.

1. Vinegar Spray

When ants find a source of food, they leave a pheromone trail so other ants in the colony can find their way to the food. One great way to naturally get rid of ants is to destroy that trail.

Not only can vinegar clean a surprising number of things around your house, but it can also breakup the pheromone trail.

Making your own vinegar spray is an excellent option because it masks the scent trail, ants hate the smell of it, and it can eradicate ants on sight.

How to Make an Ant Away Vinegar Spray

Combine the white vinegar and lemon juice in the glass spray bottle and gently shake to combine. Spray around windows, doors, and wherever you see ants entering your home. You can also use this vinegar spray directly on any ants you see.

2. Essential Oil Spray

Just like ants hate the smell of vinegar, there are a number of essential oil scents that they can’t stand and that break up the pheromone trail. Even better, these essential oils can make your home smell good!

How to Make an Ant-Be-Gone Essential Oil Spray

Combine all of the ingredients in the glass spray bottle and shake gently to mix. Spray as needed anywhere you see ants. Repeat as needed.

3. Cinnamon

Cinnamon is another scent that ants can’t stand. You can take advantage of this by sprinkling cinnamon powder around the areas of your home where ants are coming in to keep them away.

If ants are coming in around your window sills, place some cinnamon sticks there to deter them. You can even strengthen the fragrance by adding a few drops of cinnamon essential oil to the cinnamon sticks.

If you have houseplants to help purify the air in your home but you’ve discovered ants in them, you can stick a cinnamon stick in the soil or sprinkle cinnamon powder around the plant container.

4. Borax

Borax is a naturally occurring mineral that can be used as a pesticide. You can use borax to make your own DIY ant bait. It’s important to keep in mind that since borax is a natural pesticide, you want to keep these homemade ant baits out of reach of pets and children.

The key with borax is that you want the ants to take it back to their colony and share it with the other ants and queen. Since different types of ants prefer different types of bait, you might find it helpful to create a combination of liquid and powder traps.

Liquid Borax Ant Bait

1/2 cup of sugar
1.5 tablespoons of powdered borax
1.5 cups of warm water

Mix the ingredients together until blended. Place in a small lid, small container, or soak into a cotton ball and set out where you see ants.

Borax Ant Bait Paste

1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of powdered borax
1/4 cup of syrup
water

Blend the sugar and borax together until there are no lumps. Add enough water to the mixture to make a thick paste. For these measurements, I’ve found about 1/4 cup of water works best.

Add the syrup to make a sticky and thick paste. Scoop the paste onto plates or in lids and leave where you see ants.

Powder Borax Ant Bait

Combine equal parts of powdered Borax and powdered sugar and mix until there are no more lumps. Scoop several tablespoons onto a jar lid and place where you see ants.

5. Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth

If you have pets or children and you’re not comfortable using borax to naturally get rid of ants, you can use food-grade diatomaceous earth. This white powder is actually the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton.

It’s perfectly safe for humans — just don’t breathe too much of it, especially if you have asthma. It’s also very important to make sure you get food-grade diatomaceous earth and not the diatomaceous earth used in pools.

When ants get diatomaceous earth on them, it disrupts their internal fluids and organs and kills them.

How to Use Diatomaceous Earth

Lightly sprinkle a thin layer of diatomaceous earth anywhere you see ants and on ant trails. Repeat as needed.

If you’re using diatomaceous earth outside, make sure you don’t apply it on flower petals or anywhere else bees might land, because it’s harmful to them as well.

6. Baking Soda

Another natural way to get rid of ants without borax is by using baking soda. There are two ways to use baking soda to get rid of ants naturally.

First, if you know where the ant colony is outside, you can cover the ant mound with baking soda and spray it with white vinegar.

Second, you can mix equal parts of baking soda and powdered sugar together until there are no more clumps. Place the mixture in small lids wherever you see ants.

The ants will take the fatal mixture back to the colony and share it with other ants and the queen.

7. Cornmeal

Cornmeal is another natural product that’s safe for humans but toxic to ants. However, ants need to consume the cornmeal for it to do the trick.

To make the cornmeal more appealing to ants, mix it together with an equal measurement of powdered sugar. Scoop the mixture into small lids and place where you see ants.

8. Castile Soap

If you’ve discovered ants coming into your home and need a way to clean up the pheromone trail and force them away, you can make your clean and repel ant spray using Castile soap.

Clean and Repel Ant Spray

Pour 1/4 cup of peppermint Castile soap into the glass spray bottle and top it off with water. Shake gently to combine.

Spray anywhere you see ants coming inside, and use an organic unbleached cotton unpaper towel to wipe it up. Repeat as needed.

If you’re wondering why I only recommend using organic cotton unpaper towels for cleaning, check out this post to learn more about the difference between microfiber and cotton.

If you have pesky little ants finding their way inside your home, you don’t have to turn to dangerous pesticides that could harm your family and the environment to make them go away. Instead, choose one of these natural ways to get rid of ants.

More Eco-Friendly Living Tips

Now that you see how easy it is naturally get rid of ants, are you interested in even more great tips on how to live a more natural life? Then be sure to check out some of our other popular posts:

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Darlin D. Aviles

Monday 14th of September 2020

There are different ways to get rid of ants, as you’ve read in the article. Fogger is one of them and when it comes to its performance I can definitely say that thing helps get rid of these insects perfectly, I’ve used it myself. Who cares if the effect is temporary, at least you will be able to spend a few hours outdoors without being bitten.

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