We all love spending time in our kitchen. We simply love the cooking, the baking, the smells… even the cleaning doesn’t sound that bad when you come to think of it. What nobody likes though is… ants. Their place is outside or stealing Tom and Jerry’s picnic food :).
There are many options when it comes to getting rid of the little „monsters” in the kitchen (practically, everyone „knows” what’s the best way), but when it comes to real life, only some really work. Others are simply a waste of time and adhesive tape if you use it (surrounding the object with it, facing the placed sticky side up).
If you like „heavy-duty” solutions, you can sprinkle boric acid along the cracks where you have seen the little „beasts”. For the hard-to-reach corners, deep voids, blow small amounts of the powder using a blaster. If you have children or pets, avoid using this method since boric acid is toxic if ingested.
Even though it sounds to be like a ghost movie, some say you can draw a line with chalk around home entry points and… just wait. The ants will be repelled by the calcium carbonate in the chalk. You can also powder chalk around garden plants to keep away ants and slugs.
The „white” barrier may be made by flour, also. You can sprinkle it along the backs of pantry shelves and everywhere you see ants entering your house. Some say, the ants won’t cross the line 🙂
Another trick to keep the ants away from your kitchen is to use lemon. You squirt some lemon juice on door thresholds and window sills. Go for the holes and cracks also. The final step is to place some small slices of lemon peel around the main doorway. Ants will get your “sour” message… 🙂
Ants love sugar and hate… cayenne pepper. Simply sprinkle some of the latter wherever you see ants, along the backs of your countertops, on your baseboards and so on. Ants will search for the sugar somewhere else.
You can improvise a salt barrier if there’s no cayenne pepper around your house. Sprinkle it across the door frame or directly on the ants’ paths. Some say it will keep them away.
Ants like flour, sugar and paprika. You can keep them „safe” by slipping a bay leaf inside the storage containers. No bay leaf flavor will pass if you tape the leaf to the inside of the container lid. Use this trick in your cabinets as well.
An efficient organic repellent for the ants is talcum powder. You can scatter it all around your kitchen. This goes for the tartar, borax, powdered sulfur, oil of cloves also. Mix, for instance, one cup warm water with ½ cup sugar and 3 tablespoons borax. Soak it up with cotton balls and place them where you’ve spotted ants.
Make a mix of equal parts water and white vinegar into a spray bottle. Spray this on anthills, all around the area where you see ants. They hate the smell of vinegar and they will soon leave.
It might won’t to wonders, but keeping your kitchen clean is a great step when it comes to „killing” the ants. No spills, crumbs should be left around and all the sweet food should be sealed in tight containers or zip-top bags. Seal your jars in zip-top bags also.
For those of you under the assault of carpenter ants, all the tricks mentioned above won’t work. Finding their nest is the solution with this type of ants. Kill all those in sight and use Diatomaceous Earth (DE) which is a natural and organic solution. It must be injected directly into the nest, though. After every rain, it must be applied again.
There are plenty of natural remedies to get rid of the ants. You can go for peanut butter traps (a spoonful of it, a tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of borax. Tap the end of a straw until it is full of this mix, cut the straw and place the ½ inch pieces all over your kitchen). You can try the peppermint essential oil- place cotton balls with it in all the places where you’ve seen ants.
If none of the above works, you can try using vaseline. Rub a little near the entryway of your kitchen!
