Comments on: Natural Solutions for Ant Control

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:45:58 +0000

Lots of great ideas in here. I will be trying some of the suggestions mentioned here and see if that helps with my ant problems around the house. Thanks Joy!

By: Whitney

Whitney — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:06:34 +0000

We always used cream of wheat on ant hills. you disturb the mound, pour the cream of wheat on and then give them a little while and fully saturate the mound with water. If you are having ant troubles inside it is always best to check outside the windows of that room for potential problem areas because you have to treat the indoors and the outdoors.

By: Kerry Jones

Kerry Jones — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:24:51 +0000

Boric Acid, DOES NOT repel ants or insects period. As an insecticide, boric acid acts as a stomach poison for ants, cockroaches, silverfish and termites, and as abrasive to the insects exoskeleton. Boric acid may be used either in a bait formulation containing a feed attractant or as a dry powder. The powder may be injected into cracks and crevices, where it forms a fine layer of dust. Insects travel through the boric acid, which adheres to their legs. When the insects groom themselves, they then ingest the poison, which causes death three to ten days later of starvation and dehydration. As long as the material is not allowed to become wet, its continuous presence ensures that hatching insects, which sprays commonly spare, are exposed and die. Many insecticidal formulations can be effective for more than a year.

However, while boric acid has become one of the chemicals of choice for many urban pest control programs, it can be toxic. EPA considers boric acid as a moderately acutely toxic due to acute effects including oral and dermal toxicity, and eye and skin irritation.

By: Dr.K

Dr.K — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:26:35 +0000

You rock. World needs more souls like you.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:44:36 +0000

Here is a tip for the borax ant traps. Make the mixture and then put it in a plastic container with holes cut in the lid (big enough for ants) and then stuff it with cotton balls or probably even a cotton rag would work fine. That way it’s a little more solid for the ants to climb in and then climb back out to take it to their queen. It also helps to keep your kitchen crumb-free. Ha ha, so easy with kids around. My kitchen is never crumb-free unless I just mopped and the kids are asleep!

By: Manda

Manda — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:20:02 +0000

I’ve found that dry active yeast works great for ants. I open a pouch and leave it on the counter and the ants do the work. They get it, eat it, and magically disappear. I would guess it’s the same principle as the grits, and just as humane, but it beats bringing nasty chemicals into my home.

By: Angela

Angela — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:25:33 +0000

We have ant problems off-and-on as well, so I was glad to see some more tips. I’ve never tried borax with peanut butter, so I might try that. Here’s what we’ve had success with:

1. Terro — this really is just borax, sugar, and water, but for some reason terro works better than when I cook up the mixture myself. But I’m still trying because I hate to spend money on something like terro when I should be able to do the same thing cheaply myself. To make a terro-like mixture yourself, you have to combine water, sugar, and some borax (maybe a half-cup water, a half-cup sugar, a tablespoon of boax).

2. Cinnamon — in the entryway where ants come in. This only works for a while.

3. Boiling water with a little borax mixed in on the ant hills.

I find I just have to keep at it, killing and deterring more ants every couple of weeks during the summer. They never go away completely (you can win a battle, but you can’t win the war!)

By: GreenPaige

GreenPaige — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:40:44 +0000

Joy-
You have some great ideas in this article.

Another suggestion for ant control would be anise oil. A few drops of this essential oil around problem areas seems to make ants scatter like……..well, like ants. It also makes your house smell like licorice.

By: Erika

Erika — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:46:09 +0000

Joy, good article. Lots of good ideas. We had a terrible sugar ant problem in our first apartment as newlyweds. It almost drove me crazy so I want to hear your and others testimonies before I fire the pest control company:)

Our crawly friends now are spiders and other bugs – I wonder if the barriers you mentioned work on them too.