Ants can be tiny little menaces. They are annoying and depending on the type of ant, dangerous.
Ants cause millions of homeowners across the world stress.
People always ask: How can I keep them away? You Kill Ants in the Lawn with chemicals, eliminating their home, blocking entrances, eliminating food sources.
Hate ants? We show you how the best ways of Getting Rid of Ants and Keeping Them Away including
Chemicals (natural and manmade) cleaning their tracks
Blocking entrance,
Securing food in the kitchen
Planting the bait
Killing nest.
How can I prevent them from getting into my house or entry points?
Well, there are three main areas that need to be discussed when thinking about ridding your home of ants.
Number one, the process that gets them out.
Number two, the ways and tactics you, as the homeowner, use to keep them out.
Lastly, why these tactics and tricks work. So, let’s get started.
Kill Ants In Lawn: Natural Method
There are numerous ways to combat the hostile takeover of your lawn by ants.
1. Diatomaceous earth (DE) is not only inexpensive and effective; it’s non-toxic to your family, kids, and pets. And yet it destroys ants, as well as several other bugs. It comes in a power that you sprinkle to kill ants in the lawn. It is the best ant killer (natural method).
Your ant problem is probably caused by worker ants following ant trails to bring food back to the ant colony in the ants’ nest.
Diatomaceous earth will prevent the ants from following the chemical ant trails by drying up the ants’ exoskeleton and will quickly kill them.
Steps:
Wear long sleeve clothes and eye protection, dust mask.
Apply the DE according to the label around the outside of your house and in your lawn where the ants are.
2. Borax and sugar.
Borax is a chemical that is toxic and deadly to ants. When they ingest it kills them. Now, how do you get the ants to the Borax? Sugar! All you have to do is create a few little contraptions to put the mixture of Borax and sugar into/on. Or you can use a spray bottle, which is the best method for Borax and sugar.
Then, place them around the house, preferably in areas that you wouldn’t mind some ants to be clustered in. Next, the ants will do the rest. They will be attracted to the sugar, eat it, and then the Borax will kill them. This is a pretty decent strategy. It is cost-effective, simple to set up, and requires little work on your end.
Ease of use: 6/10
Effectiveness: 7/10
3. Hire pro
hiring a pest control company to come and take care of the problem for you. A pest control company will use their expertise and heavy-duty chemicals to kill the ants in your house. They will also set up home defenses to keep the ants from coming back. This option is more costly.
The final way to rid your house of ants is to use vinegar. By spraying vinegar around doors, windows, and any other entryways you can help repel ants. Vinegar overwhelms the ants’ sense of smell and they hate it! This option isn’t very expensive or hard and it works pretty well. Now, you can choose any of these options, after all, you are the homeowner. Or, conversely, you can use the list of smell ants hate provided below and come up with your own, unique ant repellent spray.
Ease of use: 4/10
Effectiveness: 7/10
Cost: 10/10 (very expensive compared to other options)
A lot of organic ant killers use strong smells that come from plant oils. Lemongrass, peppermint and spearmint oil are ver strong and work great at preventing the ants from coming to your house. This works great with ant bait traps.
Lemongrass seems to work the best. We like Zevo’s Ant Roach & Fly insect killer (lemongrass spray) but it is often sold out at Home Depot. The organic spray above is a great alternative to Zevo’s spray as they both use similar products to SAFELY kill and repel ants.
Ease of use: 7/10
Effectiveness: 8/10
5. Vinegar
White Vinegar is known as one of the best ant repellents out there. So, how does it work?
Vinegar is used to overwhelm ants’ senses and, in turn, repel them away from the scent of vinegar. This works so well because of how ants are constructed. Ants have antennas which they use for navigation, communication, and transmission of signals.
When vinegar is sprayed it overwhelms the ants’ antenna their communication processing system.
Ants really do not like it when they encounter loud, obnoxious scents that overwhelm their antennas. It’s kind of like human’s and the smell skunks make. We hate it and don’t want to be anywhere near it, right? Well, that is exactly how ants behave with vinegar and other scents that they dislike. They will do anything and everything to stay as far away as possible. That is why vinegar is such a great option for an ant repellent. It is cheap, widely available, and extremely effective.
All you have to do is go to the store, pick up a bunch, mix them with water and then you can come up with your own, unique, ant repellent spray. This approach is what millions of ant-haters do and it can end up working pretty well.
As mentioned above with the vinegar spray, all you have to do is spray the entryways of your home as well as any areas where you find out that ants might be concentrating and then the smell of the odors will repel them. However, be sure to not drive the ants farther into your home.
We had 8 ant baits spread around our house in early August as the ants have been bad this year. We will be removing them after 4th day…we have not seen ants since the 2nd day.
These Terro liquid ant baits are worth their weight in gold. They do a great job and work every time.
Ease of use: 8/10
Effectiveness: 9/10
7. Set Traps Outside
Apart from being extremely effective, ant traps are safe to other animals, generally speaking.
Many of the ant baits have borax and sugar in them but they are not toxic if consumed in small doses.
Place the traps on the concrete step outside of your doorway. Pour a little of the liquid out so it pools on the ground.
If there are ants nearby they will most likely come to investigate and check out the new “food” source.
Leave it overnight and come back in the morning to check all of the ants that are dead inside the trap.
Whichever traps you choose do not matter, because placing them outside is one of the most tested and effective ways to protect your property from ants.
Rain keeps the ants on the move.
This year we have had heavy rain in the DC area and the ant nests are flooded. As a result, they search for food and shelter more after heavy rains.
After you use it and at night. Some ants come in your house during the day but the majority get in at night. They find a food source and bring back food to their nest. They leave a chemical trail like breadcrumbs so all the other ants can easily find the food. *You break this cycle when you put food away in the 1st place.
Make sure you pick up any crumbs or food scraps in other areas of your house including:
under and around appliances in your kitchen or basement
in couch cushions
in garbage pails
kitchen, living, family room. Anywhere you prep or eat food
Don’t forget…
-kid cake pops hidden in your kids secret hiding place
9. Keep sugar, sweets away.
This seems simple but a lot of people keep ice cream bowls or leftover food scraps on their plates at night. Do you dishes after dinner and you will cut down on the ants and bugs in general in your house.
10. Concealed food.
Always make sure any food you leave open on your kitchen countertop is closed and sealed. Flip-top lids or plastic containers that seal tightly are excellent at keeping ants out of food.
11. Pet food
Pet food can also attract ants and is an area in the kitchen or room where you feed your pets – that we often forget about. Rinse pet dishes as soon as your pet has finished their food. By quickly rinsing your pet bowls you won’t even give the ants a chance to get any food.
12. Check plants
Don’t forget your plants! Plants are often overlooked as a source of food within your house. Depending on the variety of plant, the ants may find it as a nice meal, especially if food in the area is scarce.
If your plants are infested with ants, there is a possibility that ants are nesting in the plant’s soil. You may need to toss it at that point since it will be very hard to get rid of the ants.
Ants will often get food from garbage or areas with food near them. Make sure to check around your deck, garage or shed for food. These are big areas that ants like to gather food from.
13. Close openings.
Close off points of entry into your house. Are ants coming in via a hole from the cable wire? If so, use expanding foam to fill the hole. Are they coming in from a bent light switch cover? Replace it to close the gap.
This technology will keep all pests out of your house…not just ants. It is a great option if you want an immediate solution that will last. We have friends who have tried this and have been very happy with the results. Not only were the ants repelled but other pests were bugging them as well. These are also available at Amazon.
Ease of use: 8/10
Effectiveness: 9/10
17. Boiling water
This is a good option if you don’t want to spray anything in your house. Simply boil 8 ounces or so of water in a medium-sized saucepan and take a small cup of it to the nest and pour the hot water into the nest – if you know where it is in your yard.
The water will be hot but not boiling at this point. Regardless, use common sense and be careful. Don’t rush or trip.
18. Flood them
This is not the best option but can be used if you have nothing else to get rid of the ants. If you have ant hills or a large ant infestation you can use a quart of water to flood them.
20. Neem oil
Neem oil has been used to get rid of ants. It is an oil from the neem tree, which is found in India. In order to get the repellent effect of lemongrass oil or similar oils, neem oil must be full strength or it won’t work as well.
You can find neem oil online.
Ease of use: 3/10
Effectiveness: 4/10
21. Olive oil
The smell from olive oil repels ants.
This is a supplemental method to use with using baits and spray.
22. Boric acid
Boric acid is a poison to ants that has worked for decades. It kills the entire colony after a few weeks. It is more of long term solutions since it takes longer than other ant control methods.
Find boric acid at your Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart or at Amazon .
Ease of use: 6/10
Effectiveness: 7/10
23. Keep a clean parameter around your house
Make sure to keep dirt and leaves and vegetation away from your house. You don’t want bushes or anything directly up against your house which may provide another path for ants to climb on your house and find a way into your domain.
FAQs
What other items can you use to Kill Ants In Your Lawn?
cayenne pepper
ground cinnamon
soapy water
baby powder
cinnamon oil
dish soap
liquid insecticides
Cold water
apple cider vinegar
canola oil
What type of ants are in lawns?
carpenter ants
army ants
funnel ants
term field ants
species of fire ants
Are ants only in the Southern United States?
No, they are in every state.
Top Yard Tools I Use:
Kill Lawn Grubs Now! – This is what the professionals use when you need to get your lawn back….You can apply merit yourself and save 400%. You can check it out on Amazon here. Merit works 10x better than GrubEx or cheap Big Box brands.
Kill Grubs naturally– This is a great organic grub treatment that kills grubs naturally. It is very effective and will not kill your earthworms. I have had much better results with milky spore than with chemicals. You can get it here on Amazon.
Grass seed that grows!Kentucky Bluegrass seed mix designed for full sun and light shade, with a fine-bladed texture and medium drought resistance here on Amazon.
Kill crabgrass now! Yard Mastery Granular Pre Emergent Herbicide 0-0-7 .38% Prodiamine. This is the professional-grade crabgrass control from the Lawn Care Nut (his other company is called Yard Mastery). Available here on Amazon.
Fertilizer & soil improver. This really works. Turf Builder Thick’R Lawn Sun & Shade – -3 in 1 Lawn Fertilizer, Seed, & Soil Improver -Thicker, Greener Lawn, -up to 4,000 Sq Ft Available here on Amazon.
Change your own oil and save $80 – Clean – does not spill – Easy to dispose of oil – Well made – Pays for itself on 1st oil change! Check Price on Amazon here
If you are looking for the best American-built hand tools it makes sense to check out this Round Point Shovel. It is made by Bully Tools, one of the best hand & garden tool manufacturer in the Steubenville, Ohio.
Everyone knows Channellock Pliers are the best pliers you can get. They are rugged and durable and can be passed down to your children once they are old enough for tools. I still have a pair from my dad that is over 40 years old and still works great to this day. They have been in business for over 100 years.
Wrapping Up
By using a combination of items you already have around your house along with newer technology you can easily and permanently get rid of ants and other bugs.
As you can see there are a lot of ways to get rid of ants as well as keep them away. These options are open to most, if not all, homeowners. Everyone hates ants. They are annoying and a nuisance that you, a homeowner, shouldn’t have to deal with. That’s why I hope you found this article helpful and that you put the tips, tricks, and advice to good use and get rid of those ants!
What you should know about crash-proof retirement?
1. It is a means to protect your retirement fund from market crashes.
2. An exclusive Crash Proof Retirement® System provides you an option...
Your retirement is fast approaching, and you’re ready to make a move.
Where do you intend to settle? How do you want to live during your retirement years? How much savings do you...
