13 natural remedies for the ant invasion

Little tiny ants have been spotted in your new home, and many people are suffering the same fate across the country. As much as I love spring/summer, I don't like bugs — especially bugs that can infest a house.

Some of these measures are deterrents. That is, they deter the ants from coming in your house. This seems to work well for those with a mild problem. Others found that they needed to use a method that kills the whole colony of ants. I've compiled the comments and suggestions by category, allowing you to compare the different methods a little more easily.

Spray around the openings with pure lemon juice.  Something about the acid messes up their sense of tracking

Use ground cinnamon around where there are coming it. It works really well.

Spray cinnamon essential oil all around the doors, windowsills, floors, etc. keeps them from coming in. Or put the sugar water and borax OUTSIDE!

Alot of people have success with peppermint essential oil around windows and doors (any entries). Plus the house then smells awesome.

Use borax, sugar, water and a touch of peanut butter then spread it on little pieces of thin cardboard or stiff cardstock and placed them near where it seems they are coming into the house. They’ll eat it and take it back to their colony (just like the Terro liquid you can buy). The paste will dry up in a couple days, so you’ll have to make more.

Make sure all of your food is sealed up. The honey jar is usually the biggest ant magnet, so it gets a thorough washing and then is placed on a small water-filled saucer in the cupboard. Use a spray bottle filled with water and a squirt of liquid dish soap (Seventh Generation) to kill any visible ants. Look around outside to try to find their hill; pouring a kettle of boiling water on it solves the problem.

Yes … diatomaceous earth (DE) works well … use food-grade not swimming pool DE. It should be sprinkled around the perimeter of your home and you can also safely sprinkle it inside where you see them. Do not wet the DE or it will not work. DE isn’t an instant kill but should resolve the problem within a week or so.

Oh! And they will not cross a line drawn in chalk. Draw a line around the window where they were coming in and it will keep them at bay.

Ants carry an acidic substance with them always for protection. Make a mix of baking soda and powdered sugar in a plastic lid set in strategic places.

Try using coffee grounds.  Put it in the cracks where you see them and they never return.

I saw somewhere to use corn meal. Well, it worked out since some moths got into my cornmeal, and I felt bad wasting it. That’s when I saw the idea and tried it. I sprinkled a little bit just off the back porch. Every day I would check and every day the same trail of ants was still there. Then I forgot about it. My daughter found another ant nest further out in the yard, and it made me remember to check the last trail. It was gone, completely gone. So, I sprinkled it on the new nest, and less than a week later, it is gone.

Try Cream of wheat! They eat it & it expands & they explode! Kind of makes you wonder what it does to our insides when we eat it too

Vinegar! Since we switched to using a vinegar/water solution for mopping the floors and cleaning the counters, our ant problem has vanished.

Or try using a mixture of vinegar, washing up liquid (ecover) and peppermint oil last year. Track them back to their nest and syringe it into the cracks.

Tea Leaf: Kill your ants by mixing Equal packets with apple juice. It is a neurotoxin to the ants. Scary that people put these in their coffee.