Natural Ways to Get Rid of Ants in Your Home

By Colleen Vanderlinden, Planet Green

Each and every summer, we do battle with the ants that make their way into our house. They are drawn here by the myriad dropped Cheerios my toddler leaves them, as well as the flour and sugar canisters in the kitchen.

The most common way to deal with an ant problem is to buy one of those small ant traps that contain both a lure and a pesticide that the ants will carry back to the nest, killing the rest of the colony. The problem is that those little traps seem to attract small children (hey, what is this thing?) and they’re not something I want any of my kids touching. So I started looking for some more natural solutions to the problem. I hope these help:

Natural Ant Control

• Baby powder, dusted on both the ants when you see them, and at their entry point into your house.
• Spray white vinegar mixed with water to get rid of the ants’ scent trails – if they can’t smell their scent trails, they’ll stop coming around.
• Even more ant-fighting power: vinegar and water, with about ten drops oftea tree oil mixed in. This is an excellent cleaner, disinfectant, and deodorizer.
• Place bay leaves or cloves at their point of entry. Ants hate the scent of these, and will avoid them.
• You can also try sprinkling cayenne pepper at their point of entry.
• You can make your own Borax ant traps to help get rid of your ant problem for good.

Ants can be a real annoyance (besides just being kind of gross — who wants to see ants crawling around on the kitchen counter?) but these tips should help you get control of the problem without resorting to harmful chemicals.