Ants, by themselves, are pretty harmless. Unfortunately, they almost never travel alone, and an infestation of ants at your home can be a huge bother, not to mention having to throw away food. Then there are the poisons that can be harmful to small children or pets you may have, or are just unpleasant to be around.
Here are some natural ways to scare those ants away and prevent them from coming back using just natural, organic products most people keep at home or can easily get at the grocery store.
Place the cucumber or citrus fruit peel near the place where you see ant activity. Citrus fruit and cucumbers are toxic to a certain tiny mushroom ants feed on, and so they avoid them.
Follow the trail of ants and try to identify where they entered. For example, windows, doors and various holes around the house. Place cinnamon sticks or cloves of garlic in it, as close as possible. Cloves of garlic give out a strong smell and so it is recommended to leave cinnamon sticks, which have a nice aroma. If you do choose the garlic, peel it, cut it up and then put it down. You can put cinnamon sticks in your pantry to prevent future ant visits.
Put some vinegar in a spray bottle and spray the places where you last saw the ants as well as their points of entry. Vinegar harms the ant’s sense of smell and destroys the pheromones they leave behind them to help them find their way.
Create a small ‘barrier’ of talcum or chalk powder in the ants’ points of entry. The talc, the material found both in talcum powder and chalk, destroys their sense of smell and makes it extremely hard for them to cross, so a little barrier will help prevent the ants from coming in where you don’t want them.
Sprinkle some black pepper on the trail of ants and see how they quickly disperse. Now you can track them and see where they came in through. Make sure you sprinkle some black pepper there, too.
Another handy tool that disrupts the little intruders’ sense of smell is mint. There are several ways you can use mint to do so. First, you can plant the plant in your garden and around your house, close to doors and windows. Second, you can place some mint leaves on the windows of your home. Like the cinnamon sticks, this too can be placed in the pantry to prevent future break-ins.
If you encounter a really big problem with an ant infestation, you may want to use cornmeal. Cornmeal doesn’t just prevents ants or makes them run away – it kills them. Ants see it as food but in reality they can’t digest it and they eventually die. It won’t kill them as quickly as poison, but it definitely works and is definitely cheap and environmentally friendly to use in your home.
