If you do a lot of gardening in the spring and summer, you’re probably bent on finding ways to kill ants in your yard naturally. An ant swarm is the stuff of nightmares for most gardeners and homeowners. Ant bites can trigger skin irritation among other health hazards to humans. Interestingly, red ants have harmful bites while black ants don’t bite, but black ants can run faster than red ants. These six-legged insects are social pests – sweeping around the garden from one colony to another, leaving unsightly bald patches of soil and troubling tunnel systems that can severely damage your beloved plants.
Good news! There are Natural Solutions that will Kill Ants in Your Yard!
The scariest thing about ants is that no matter how many of them you kill, they just keep coming. They can infest and overrun gardens in what seems to be a blink of an eye. As your trusted pest exterminator and garden expert, we at ANT & GARDEN ORGANIC PEST CONTROL have gathered a list of the 10 best ways to kill ants in your yard naturally. Continue reading this blog to know more about organic ant control or call us at (503)-713-9590, and we’ll be more than happy to share our insights with you!
- White Vinegar
- Lemons
- Silica (Silicon Dioxide)
- Red Cayenne Pepper
- Hand Soap
- Peppermint
- Tea Tree Oil and Extracts
- Coffee Grounds
- Cornstarch
- Professional Ant Control
White Vinegar
Looking for a cheap but safe alternative to kill ants in your yard? In dealing with this kind of backyard nuisance, a trusted and common home remedy – white vinegar – can be a budget-saving solution. Using the white vinegar method includes wiping ants out with a 50:50 vinegar-water solution, instantly killing the crawling insects. Furthermore, the vinegar’s strong scent also repels other unwanted creepy crawlers from your backyard.
Lemons
When life gives you lemons, make a natural lemon bug repellent to kill ants in your yard. This citrus wonder contains citronella – a compound effective in repelling bugs such as mosquitoes, chinch bugs, and ants. In addition, lemon eucalyptus oil is a scientifically proven and tested way to disrupt trails and lines to kill ants in your yard in the long term. As social insects, ants secrete pheromones which is a chemical compound utilized as a trail to their food sources from their colony. Spraying lemon eucalyptus oil is one way to disrupt their chemical trail and confuse their sense of tracking. Other methods to kill ants in your yard include using a saturated cotton ball and placing it in usual ant sites.
Silica (Silicon Dioxide)
The gardener’s choice – silicon dioxide, also known as silica or diatomaceous earth, is a natural compound utilized by gardeners and farmers to control ant swarms and kill ants in your yard. But how does it work? Silica contains crystalline diatoms (fossilized remains of organisms) that cause small abrasions and cuts to the ant’s exoskeleton resulting in them dying and drying out. Silica remains an effective and efficient way to kill ants in your yard as long as it is maintained in dry condition.
Red Cayenne Pepper
The red cayenne pepper is detested by ants due to its irritating and strong smell. Additionally, pepper can create a scent wall that will hinder ant activities in your lawn and kill ants in your yard. In keeping ants at bay, it is best recommended for garden owners to sprinkle pepper bits around the ant sites. Anecdotal evidence shows that utilizing red cayenne pepper can deter ants from returning to the sites due to the six-legged insects’ spatial odor memory. Black pepper can also be an effective ant deterrent and is a valuable ingredient you can use to kill ants in your yard.
Hand Soap
As we mentioned, ants use pheromones for trailing and communication. This clever trait made them a formidable and irritating adversary for garden owners. According to Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”, the best way to disperse an enemy is to cut off their means of communication. Therefore, to combat and kill ants in your yard, the ideal course of action is to eliminate the scent of pheromones using regular hand soap. Without a trail to follow, the ants are dispersed and colonies are easily dismantled.
Peppermint
Infuse 10 – 15 drops of peppermint with 2 cups of water and spray around the infested site to kill ants in your yard. Using peppermint is an effective method in dispersing and eliminating ant swarms in your home and in your garden. Moreover, it is a cost-effective way of ant pest control, costing around five dollars from local groceries. Just be sure to keep the peppermint solution out of reach of your pets as it can be very harmful and intoxicating to them.
Tea Tree Oil and Extracts
Tea tree oil and extracts are an effective way to both repel and kill ants in your yard. You can use a cotton ball saturated with tea tree oil and place it in common ant-infested areas. For maximized efficacy, you can infuse your tea tree oil with peppermint oil.
Coffee Grounds
The wonders of coffee go beyond daily consumption for boosted longevity. The aromatic and earthly scent from your favorite coffee grounds is also an effective way to kill ants in your yard. According to recent studies, these pesky little insects are highly susceptible to caffeine. It is also an environment-friendly solution for coffee ground waste and organic disposal. So the next time you’re planning to throw your coffee ground residues, it is best to just sprinkle them on common ant sites in your backyard.
Cornstarch
Although a messy option, utilizing cornstarch to kill ants in your yard is surprisingly effective. Considered as the gardener’s catalyst – pouring a liberal amount of cornstarch and water to ant groups and colonies will eventually annihilate these troublesome pismires from your yard. Just make sure to dispose of the cornstarch encased ants properly.
Professional Ant Pest Control
Ants are hard-working creatures just like you and me. As much as we love their diligent character, ant infestations continue to be a concern for most gardeners around the world. Investing in a professional ant control service may prove more advantageous to maintain your garden and kill ants in your yard. Here at ANT & GARDEN ORGANIC PEST CONTROL, we provide quarterly treatments and proficient pet-friendly pest service. Our pest control and garden expert, Dr. Ryan Smith, is a certified entomologist and biochemist—that alone ensures we understand our clients’ ant problems thoroughly.
A Bug’s Life
In Beaverton, Portland other parts of Oregon, the excessiveness of various ant species and ant colonies poses a significant problem for most garden owners due to its harmful impact on gardening and the household. Although there are several effective chemical that can kill ants in your yard, many people still prefer DIY and perceptibly safer methods in reducing carbon footprint and avoiding environmental problems. Furthermore, natural solutions to kill ants in your yard involve the use of environment-friendly insecticides that are cost-effective and budget-friendly when dealing with these pesky critters.
Have an ant problem? Use this list of 10 best ways to kill ants in your yard naturally or get in touch with ANT & GARDEN ORGANIC PEST CONTROL today!
