Natural Ways to Keep Ants Out of the Kitchen

Natural Ways to Keep Ants Out of the Kitchen: Ants love to invade kitchens, where they can easily find their next meal. Unfortunately, a few ants can quickly become several dozen. Try these easy tricks to evict them for good.

Make your own all-natural homemade ant bait. You really can’t stop the ants for good until you get rid of the source: the colony. Mix 1 part borax with 3 parts powdered sugar. Fill small containers, such as bottle caps, with the mixture, and set them out near ant trails. The powdered sugar will attract the ants, and they’ll take the powder back to the nest.

Keep your space clean. Ants are looking for an easy meal. Cut off their food source, and they’ll have to go somewhere else.

Repel ants with vinegar. Keep ants off your countertops with a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water. Just spray and wipe clean. Ants dislike the smell of vinegar, so they’ll stay away.

Use peppermint oil to send ants packing. Ants also dislike peppermint oil. Put several drops of peppermint oil on cotton balls, and place them wherever you find ants in your home. Be sure to keep them out of reach of small children and pets.

Keep ants out with citrus peels. Place fresh citrus slices or dried peels near entrance points. Ants don’t like the smell of citrus and won’t enter your home.

Use diatomaceous earth for an easy way to get rid of carpenter ants. Carpenter ants don’t carry food back to their nests, so their treatment is a little more difficult. They nest in wood and build tunnels through it, so you may find them living in your foundation, deck, or woodpiles near your home. To get rid of the carpenter ants, sprinkle some food-grade diatomaceous earth directly into their nest, making sure to get the powder into all the cracks and crevices.

Spray the nest. If you’re lucky enough to actually find the nest, give it a good, soaking spray. Any natural cleansing spray will do because you’re basically drowning the nest’s inhabitants. How do you find the nest? Follow the ant path.

Seal up cracks and crevices in your home to keep ants from getting inside. Use caulk to seal openings around doors and windows. This can also save you money on energy bills.

Be vigilant. The best way to get rid of ants in your home is to keep at it. They’re pretty resourceful little buggers (pun intended), but if you keep after them, you’ll eventually win.

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