Natural Remedies for Ant Control

Got ants? Ants are a part of the natural ecosystem of the garden. They help keep down the flea, caterpillar and termite populations. So not all ants are bad and you certainly don’t want to destroy your garden biome. But how to get rid of ants naturally when they’re a problem?

Because certainly, ants can be a real pest in the yard and garden. They aren’t just an eyesore or a pain when they sting, or costly and yucky when they get into food. Ants also prey on garden plants where they like to nest around a plant and take it over. which means that getting rid of ants is often an ongoing battle requiring strategic measures that won’t contaminate our precious edible plants.

We don’t want to poison our soil, our plants and the natural environment around them, so we first always seek to get rid of ants naturally.

Our favorite solution is at the end of this article and doesn’t involve killing the ants. Unless ants are out of control, they’re a part of the ecosystem of the yard and garden. So how to get rid of ants naturally?

These are mostly natural remedies for ant control shared by our community members.

Ant Deterrents

• Cinnamon – needs to be reapplied
• Coffee grounds (used)
• Vinegar
• Wood ash

How to Get Rid of Ants Naturally

Ants are useful predators that feed on termites, caterpillars flea and fly larvae.

But if you’re ants are out over populating your home, yard and garden, it’s time to reduce the ant population. Here are some natural remedies for doing just that.

Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth, known as DE, is made from the fossilized remains of tiny, aquatic organisms called diatoms.^[1]https://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html You can get it at any hardware or home store, as well as on Amazon.

Scatter DE on areas in your garden where there is a high ant concentration. If you find the ants’ nest, pour DE on it. Don’t forget to wear a mask when applying DE. While diatomaceous earth is a natural substance, we don’t want to inhale it.

Diatomaceous earth is a good thing to use when dealing with ants in the garden. It kills ants. If you don’t want to know how—it’s not nice—then skip on to page 2.

Diatomaceous earth kills ants by suffocating them, drying the moisture in their bodies and cutting through their exoskeleton and spiracles.

DIY Ant Repellent Sprays

Another way of dealing with ants in the garden is making your own natural spray.

Soap & Oil Spray

• 1/2 teaspoon of liquid dish soap
• 1 1/2 tbsp. canola oil (likely other oils will work too)
• 1 quart of water
• a clean empty spray bottle

Mix them in a bowl using a whisk, fill the bottle with the mixed solution, and then shake it well.

Spray the areas in your garden where there is a high ant concentration and if you see the ants’ nest, pour the solution into it.

If you have a large garden or yard and a widespread problem, you could quadruple this batch and place in in a backpack sprayer.

Soap & Pepper Spray

Here’s another soap spray solution you can make to get rid of ants in your garden:

• 1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap
• 3 Tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce
• 1 quart of water

Whisk mixture in a bowl, or place directly into the sprayer bottle. You can mix them directly into the bottle, but whisking causes less sudsing than shaking, making it easier to all fit into the typical 33 liter bottles. Put the mixed solution into the spray bottle, spray it in an area where there is a high ant concentration and pour it into their nests. This solution will kill ants.

Most of us have plenty of empty 24 oz spray bottles around that we can recycle for this purpose. But if you don’t have any extras, or, want to get a one or two quart sized bottles, while this Solo 418 2 Litre One Hand Pressure Sprayer is a bit more expensive, it’s also very sturdy and got the best reviews on Amazon, as a sturdy one-handed 2 quart spray bottle.

White Vinegar Spray

Distilled White Vinegar is also a good solution for your ant problems. We start with a ratio of 1 part vinegar to 5 parts water. If that’s not working for you, increase it to 1 and 4 parts. Increase it further if needed, to a 1-to-3 ratio.

RATIO:

• 1 part Distilled vinegar
• 5 parts water

For a Quart Spray bottle, that’s approximately:

• 6 oz Distilled vinegar
• 24 oz water

For a 24 oz Spray Bottle, that’s approximately:

• 5 oz Distilled Vinegar
• 20 oz Water

Pour the distilled vinegar and water mixture in and around the ant holes. Ants will be killed by the acid that the vinegar contains. 

How to Get Rid of Ants in the House

This solution also works great for getting rid of ants inside the home and in the kitchen. An added bonus is that distilled vinegar is a natural cleanser, so keeping a spray bottle of this solution on hand for wiping down kitchen counters should also keep the ants away.^[2]https://sortaoffthegrid.com/blog-archive/get-rid-of-nuisance-ants-with-vinegar/

Boiling water

Peter D. at FreshOrganicGardening.com^[3]https://freshorganicgardening.com/natural-ways-to-deal-with-ants-in-the-garden/

If you don’t have time or ingredients for making natural sprays to get rid of the ants in the garden, you can use boiling water. Before pouring the hot water into the ants’ nest you should open it up first, you can use a shovel or spade. Opening the nest or anthill will expose the ants. Pour the hot water into the nest to kill the ants, do the process again until all the ants are eliminated.

For a fast-heating electric kettle, we’ve had this Chef’s Choice Smart Kettle for awhile and it works just fine. However, this Breville Variable Temperature Smart Kettle gets better reviews.

Natural Ant Repellent

If you’re like us and don’t like the idea of using cruel means just to get rid of ants in your garden, you might try some of these more subdued but equally effective remedies.

Boric Acid Powder for Ant Killer

RECIPE:

• Mix water with borax and powdered sugar
• Soak cotton balls in borax solution
• Place in an upside down, lidded yogurt container
• Poke holes in lid big enough for the ants to get in*

Coffee Grounds

This seems to be an urban myth as we’ve not found where it is proven, so we’re leaving this one off.^[4]https://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-get-rid-ants-coffee-grounds But please let us know if you’ve had success with coffee grounds.

You can find more on coffee grounds for plants and some pests here.

Plants that Repel Ants

• Mint
• Common Yarrow^[5]https://www.uvm.edu/pss/ppp/achillea.htm
• Tansy^[6]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansy
• Garlic

But… be careful with tansy for how it spreads and can be harmful to grazing animals.

How to Get Rid of Ants Naturally

Herbs and Spices That Repel Ants

• Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Chili Peppers
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Garlic
• Mint
• Turmeric

Crush up the herbs and spices you’re using and sprinkle them around the areas you want to protect. Crops like chili peppers, garlic and mint are easy to grow and have many uses.

So if you can grow them your natural remedies will be a cheap and effective way for how to get rid of ants naturally. Or, alternately, you can procure ready-made sprays, powders and gels that repel ants naturally.

Best Ant Killers

• Corn Meal
• Grits
• Borax
• Diatomaceous earth
• Maltomeal
• Boiling water – poured on mound
• Grape jelly mixed with borax, smeared on yogurt lids*

*The ants will take the borax laced grape jelly back to the queen. The colony will die off rather quickly. We had sugar ants in our house

Cayenne in Bulk

If you don’t have these on hand yet, you can buy cayenne pepper in bulk sizes to save. Just handle with care and be sure to stand upwind of it when you sprinkle around your plants. Wash your hands after use as well and no rubbing your face on your sleeves, just in case some powder landed there.

Contributions from the Community

Southern Favorite – Grits for Ants

Or you could try this super simple solution, submitted by GardensAll community member, John Foster.

This is what we do to get rid of ants. It works and is totally safe around kids, animals and hopefully adults too. Buy some instant grits at the grocery store and pour a packet of dry grits on the top of the mound. In a day or two there will be NO more ants. 

This is what happens. The worker ants take the instant grits into the mound and every ant there eats his fill. When the grits swell with moisture the ant explodes. Problem solved. 
~John Foster, 100% disabled American veteran

We’d love to know what ant remedy works best for you.

Bee-Safe Ant Remedies from a Beekeeper

• boiling water
• grits
• cinnamon

As a beekeeper I have to be very careful with anything that kills bugs, natural or not. If it kills bugs it kills bees. I use a couple of your methods, boiling water and grits.

Ants love honey and will overrun a hive if allowed. We use a line of cinnamon on the hives anywhere ants could get in. We also sprinkle it under the hives. They make a cinnamon gel that’s a lot more expensive but doesn’t need to be reapplied as often.
~Shannon Schofield, homesteader, beekeeper Shannon’s Sweet Tooth Farm, author, b.1977

See Shannon’s article on Pollinator Flowers for Bees here and Lessons from the Garden here.

Wishing you great gardens and happy harvests!