Ants! Natural help to be rid of them?

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The last 2 days I have seen those small black ants on my kitchen cabinet! There is nothing for them to get into, except when cooking. I have put fresh mint leaves down in their path! I even put red pepper! They are crawling over the mint, going around the pepper! I am allergic to all chemicals! What do I need to do to get rid of them--summer isn't even here yet!!!! ha! I have no signs outside reading: "Ants the picnic is in here!" Anyone else have this problem? How do we solve it without chemicals? I know I've read of some other ways--but haveing a senior moment (or days) can't remember where. Thanks!!! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), May 10, 2000

Answers

Sonda, can you have those little ant bait things in the house? They keep the chemicals confined, and have always worked pretty well for us.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 10, 2000.

Sonda, sometimes wiping back along their pathways with vinegar helps. I guess it is supposed to obilterate the trail markers put down by the scout ants. I've never seen so many ants here. I think a lot of us are going to be needing ideas for getting rid of ants this year.

To actually kill the ants, bait a sponge that has lots of nice holes in it with sugar or oil, whatever the ants seem to be after. When the sponge fills up with ants, dispose of it. The classic method is to dump the sponge in boiling water. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 10, 2000.


Try leaving cucumber peels lying around. I've heard it works well. I personally use the little black plastic traps.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), May 10, 2000.

The only thing I can absolutely vouch for is that a bay leaf in the sugar bowl will keep them out of the sugar! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), May 10, 2000.

Diatomaceous earth (or "DE") sprinkled around any likely entrances to your home or a pile on THEIR home will not only keep them away but will kill the adventurous ones that think they can make it across. Read up on DE. Keeps bugs out of feed and adds trace minerals to your animals diet. A couple table spoons will clean a large cow of external parasites. Its about $14/50lbs and $400/ton if you have REALLY BIG ANTS. Ive heard of people using cinnamon to curb ants but, since it doesnt grow here and I dont have money laying around to be quite that wasteful, I havnt tried it.

-- William in WI (thetoebes@webtv.net), May 10, 2000.


Thanks everyone! I wiped off the whole counter with vinegar, put a bay leave in the sugar bowl(really antique sugar shaker jar)! --That is what I have on hand! William--I don't need the $4oo.oo worth of DE earth, YET (I laughed so hard , I was slapping my leg)--but when I get to town I'm going to buy a SMALL bag! Wish I could use the chemicals--but my body just won't permit it! I got into some kind of chemical over the week end & I'm still puney! (just sitting next to someone at church with perfume on can make me sick for 2 days) Thanks for all the answers! I do so enjoy all of you on this board! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), May 10, 2000.

I've never tried this, but I've been told that putting down lime around the entrances to your house helps. Ants, apparently, won't cross it. This, of course, won't help with the ones that are already inside....

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), May 10, 2000.

My husband makes a concoction with borax and sugar and water, I think. Death juice, he calls it. :-) I will ask him for the "recipe" and post it here later. It works very well. We had ants real bad in our last house, and we don't care for harsh chemicals and commercial products. Helen

-- Helen (bluechicken@wildbearnet.net), May 10, 2000.

Try Cedar oil. It keeps the buugers out of door entrances and stuff.

-- Doreen davenport (livinginskin@yahoo.com), May 10, 2000.

This is Sonda again---finally realized why I have all the ants this year! My sweet hubby took up several hundred peonies from an area where they were tearing down a house. He transplanted them in the front of our house & the back of our house, until we get our yard fence in & I can transplant them all around the yard where the fence is going to be! Of coarse peonies have to have ants to open up & bloom! No wonder, I have all the ants this year! Dah!--I have all the peonies! Sometimes this old woman gets slower & slower! Thanks for the help! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), May 10, 2000.


Sonda, that's interesting -- I didn't know that peonies had to have ants to open and bloom!! God's creation is so interesting!!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 11, 2000.

Here is my husband's Ant Death Juice:

2 cups water 1 cup sugar 2 teasp borax

Mix and heat until dissolved in pot on the stove. Don't boil. Let cool and put a small amount on a piece of foil, milk cap, lid etc. in the path of the ants. Don't remove the ants. The more ants that get to the juice the better it is. Just sit back and wait. Works like a charm.

-- Helen (bluechicken@wildbearnet.net), May 11, 2000.


Helen, Thank you--the Ant Death Juice recipe will go into my important recipes "to keep" file! I will pass it on to my hubby! Thanks again! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), May 11, 2000.

Helen, that is the recipe I will pass on to my hubby--not the death juice! ha! I have A KEEPER ---don't want to feed him ant death juice! Ater I read what I wrote/ after I posted it didn't sound so good! ha Thanks again! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), May 11, 2000.

I've been having trouble with ants too. Thanks for the ant death juice. I'm going to mix some right now! Denise

-- Denise Hammock (jphammock@earthlink.net), May 12, 2000.


Hey, will that death mix work on fire ants? Daryl in nw florida

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

Daryll, our fire ants in Texas will eat this stuff for lunch! :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), May 12, 2000.

I've used something similar to the death juice for cockroaches: Take maybe a cup of wheat flour (or pea flour), a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of borax & mix well. Sprinkle the powder under the fridge or cabinets, and in the morning there will be dead cockroaches belly-up on the floor. The borax dries them up from the inside. I found that hint from an old Indian cookbook -- and they go some HUGE cockraoches in India! As for ants, I did notice yesterday that my ducks are gobbling up carpenter ants...Hooray!

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), May 16, 2000.

Whoops -- not borax: I meant to say boric acid powder! -- Snoozy

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), May 16, 2000.

I think Borax has Boric Acid in it. Have looked at the ingredients on Borax but can't of what was posted or written. The problem with the ant baits is it takes to long to rid ants and I don't have patience when it comes to ants in my Kitchen or bedroom.Thanks everyone for the hints.

-- Linda (memermemer@aol.com), April 13, 2001.

I have had ants since last summer. I tried everything under the sun to get rid of them. DE, traps, vinegar, etc. Nothing worked. 2 weeks ago I got angry at them and sprayed one with hairspray....it died. I've been spraying hairspray along the back of the bathroom counter and along the back of the kitchen counter. They aren't all completely gone, but there are very few of them! I imagine if I sprayed daily for a while they would all go away.

-- debra in ks (solid-dkn@msn.com), April 13, 2001.

I hadn't been to countryside for a long time!!!!!!! Was suprised to be getting answers in my e-mail almost a year later!!!!!!!!!!!! Came back to see if all that fighting & dirty jokes were still here or if I could return!!!!! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda in Ks. (sgbruce@birch.net), April 13, 2001.

Daryl, sprinkle the fire ant mounds with a good dose of food/agricultural grade diatomaceous earth. I just love seeing all those dead bodies! :^)

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), April 14, 2001.

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