DIY Ant Repellents for Your Home

Ants are a common invader in nearly every home. These tiny insects can easily find entry points to your living space and enjoy the plentiful supply of food that they can often find within. If you want to avoid chemicals and poisons, there are some natural ant repellent DIY projects that you can try.

How Natural Ant Repellents Work

Image via Flickr by treegrow

Natural ant repellents typically discourage ant infestations. These products are undesirable to ants, so they will typically avoid them when possible. An ant repellent is not the same thing as an ant killer. These products won’t eliminate an existing nest or harm the queen. A natural ant deterrent will discourage ants from coming into your home and is best in cases where there isn’t an existing infestation. If you have a serious infestation, you should consider a professional ant control solution.

Natural Ant Repellents to Try

The following ant repellents will make your home far less desirable to ants. These are best used before you see signs of an infestation or at the very first notice of an emerging ant trail.

• Cinnamon: Powdered cinnamon or cinnamon essential oil, which has a strong odor that’s a deterrent to ants as well as other bugs, discourages entry.
• White vinegar: Combine one part vinegar with one part water and spray in areas where you want to discourage ants.
• Lemon: Rubbing lemon juice around entry points where ants come into the home will usually dissuade them from entering that way as they don’t like the smell.
• Oranges: The citrusy aroma of oranges is distasteful to ants. Strategically placed orange peels can make your home undesirable to them.
• Peppermint: Peppermint is another smell that ants and other insects don’t enjoy. Use peppermint essential oil along ant trails, plant peppermint in the garden, or sprinkle dried peppermint in the home.
• Dish soap: Dish soap combined with water can erase an ant’s trail. This will keep foragers from leaving a path for other ants to follow.
• Garlic: The strong aroma of garlic sends ants running like vampires. Fresh garlic is a natural deterrent you can use anywhere ants enter your home.
• Coffee grounds: Ants will actively move away from the smell of coffee grounds. Placing the grounds around a nest will often cause the ants to relocate. However, you must remain watchful, as they may head further into your home rather than toward an exit.
• Pepper: The sharp aroma of pepper is something ants like to avoid. Sprinkle it on ant trails.
• Salt: Salt is another substance ants will move away from when they can.
• Cornmeal: Ants don’t like traveling through cornmeal and will avoid the substance when possible.
• Tansy: This plant is a natural ant deterrent that you can plant in your garden. Keep some near the door to dissuade ants from entering.
• Chalk: A remedy commonly handed down from grandparents, drawing a line of chalk can keep ants away. Many ants perceive the line as dangerous and refuse to cross it.

Natural Ant Killers

There are some natural products that will not only discourage ants, they will also kill them. These are not as effective as commercial ant baits and poisons. However, they may help you get a small infestation under control or kill foraging ants exploring your area so the colony doesn’t choose to establish itself in your home.

• Borax: Make a paste with one part borax, two parts sugar, and a bit of water. Leave the paste along ant trails where the pests will take this natural bait back to the nest. Borax is fatal to any ants that ingest it.
• Diatomaceous earth: Diatomaceous earth is harmless to humans, but the dust has sharp microscopic edges that damage an ant’s exoskeleton if it comes into contact with it. This causes the ant to dry out and eventually die.
• Castile soap: Castile soap works in a similar manner to diatomaceous earth. It causes an ant’s body to dry out, which is fatal to the ant.
• Baking Soda: Mix baking soda with powdered sugar to attract ants looking for a feast. The baking soda disrupts the acidity levels in the ant’s body, ultimately causing it to die.
• Cream of Wheat: Cream of wheat expands once digested, which can kill the ants who choose to munch on it.
• Artificial sweetener: The sweetness of aspartame will draw ants, but the product itself is often deadly to them, so leaving this sugar substitute out can kill off a small ant problem.
• Boiling water: Effective against an outdoor anthill, boiling water can kill a small colony. This will not work for colonies nesting in your home, however. Species such as carpenter ants that burrow into your wood require a different approach.

Handling Ant Infestations

If you have a serious ant infestation in your home, it’s best to consult a professional about the problem. A pest control expert can accurately identify the ants you’re dealing with and help you track the problem back to the nest. This may be an outdoor mound of fire ants or a nest of carpenter ants in your walls. Understanding the species that you’re dealing with is crucial to solving the problem properly. Carpenter ants in particular are very destructive to the home and must be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Natural ant remedies are best reserved for small issues. When you have a major infestation in the home, call a professional to assess and treat the situation so you can eliminate the nest, rather than simply moving it around your property. Once the initial infestation is gone, you can begin using natural remedies again to keep ants and other insects from returning.

Remember to take other precautionary methods as well, such as:

• Pruning shrubbery away from the home.
• Keeping damp wood and wood piles away from the house.
• Sealing any openings to your house.
• Promptly cleaning up food.
• Keeping food in airtight containers.

Ants are a common problem, but the right preventive measures can make it less common.