May 3, 2010
Natural Ant Control
With a three day weekend at my disposal, I’ve been engaging in a bit of a spring clean. Yesterday was the hardest part, deep cleaning my carpets. They look a lot better now, and because we shifted a bunch of furniture around we’ve tidied everything up a bit as well.
Today I’m going to clean the kitchen, and try and ant-proof it. We do have a problem with ants in this area, and my house is a prime target as it’s old, full of holes, and the roof leaks. Fixing those problems is beyond my capabilities, since it’s rented (we are supposed to be getting the roof fixed at some point, but who knows when!) so we mainly use buckets and live with it.
I’ve done a bit of reading, and ant-proofing would seem to involve:
- Removing food sources. Not only keeping all surface areas and the floor clear of crumbs, spills, etc, but taking into account the bin, not leaving dirty dishes lying around, and not storing food on counter-tops.
- Washing surfaces with white-vinegar to destroy the ant trails they leave behind.
- Putting down things they don’t like, for example salt or coffee grounds.
- Destroying nests.
- Keeping plants they don’t like; garlic, spearmint, and tansy (Wikipedia has an excellent list of Companion Plants)
So that’s the task for today – a good clean-up, and leaving salt overnight. I’ll also plant some garlic today, which I’ll keep on the kitchen windows. Not too sure what to do with the bin – we have a small wire-mesh bin that’s really intended for an office. We don’t need (or have the space) for a traditional kitchen bin, but a kitchen bin does seal food waste. I think I’m going to go ahead and buy a kitchen composter which will keep the food waste out of the bin, and provide plant food as well.
Anybody have any tips for keeping ants under control and out of the house?
That sounds like a lot of good things to try to keep ants down. I’ll have to give some of those a try, see if it keeps the ants at bay this year. Thanks for the tips.
Yes, I have pretty much the same problem, although they are not too much of a nuisance. I have not heard of putting down salt or garlic. I might try that if things get bad – thanks for the tip!
good ideas. i’ll have to try some of them, as they are invading my bathroom now.
the only real, semi-permanent solution involves a caulk gun and sealing off their holes.
good luck!
@Andrew – agreed! Unfortunately my house has so many holes it really needs a serious investment into repair and sealing, and I’m not sure my landlady is ready to do that yet. So I will have to use ‘crisis control’ methods and hope that one day I will own my very own ant-free place