Ant plague in house & garden – baking powder, ant poison & Co

Despite all the dissatisfaction with the invasion, environmentally and health-conscious residents avoid resorting to chemicals to get rid of the ants. In the first step, especially within your own four walls, it is advisable to use classic home remedies, which can be quite efficient in an early phase of the infestation.

baking additives

• Mix baking powder with fine sugar.
• Sprinkle immediately on the routes of the ants.

After the animals have eaten it, they die from the ammonia that is produced.

Bierfalle

• Pour stale beer into a small, shallow bowl.
• Slowly stir in a tablespoon of honey.
• Place as close as possible to the ant trail.

Ants are very hungry for anything sweet. They climb into the bowl and drown in the tempting broth.

Kampfer

• When dissolved in strong alcohol, camphor becomes a deadly poison.
• The solution is sprayed directly onto the ants with a flower sprayer.

Depending on the extent of the ant plague, this procedure can be comparatively time-consuming because it requires permanent personal presence.

cinammon

• Scatter the spice along the ant trails.
• The intense scent scares away the insects and disturbs their orientation.

Incidentally, this method also acts as a prophylactic against an ant plague in a completely harmless way in the kitchen and in pantries. However, the cinnamon barrier must be renewed every few days.

Essential herbs and oils

• Thyme, chervil, juniper and fern keep ants away due to their aroma.
• Lay out in vulnerable places in the house and garden until the herbs have dried up.

The penetrating smell covers the scent marks that were set by the insects as ‘signposts’.

tea tree oil

• Dilute the Australian Melaleuca alternifolia extract with a little water.
• Spray on ant passages or rub undiluted on tiles and slabs.

If the penetrating odor does not keep the ants away, the agent will become toxic at the latest when they come into contact with it. If you don’t feel bothered by the stench, you can also use tea tree oil indoors, as long as there are no pets around.

copper

• Bury coins or copper wire in the garden soil or in the greenhouse in the ground.
• Slightly acidify the surrounding soil with a highly diluted saline solution or vinegar.

In an acidic, moist environment, copper turns into a slow-acting, deadly poison for ants. Accordingly, laying out the metal in the house will not bring success.

coffee grounds

• After brewing, the coffee grounds are collected in the filter bag.
• Scatter into the holes of an ant nest with a spoon.

Observant home gardeners have noticed that plants surrounded by a ring of coffee grounds to repel slugs are also spared from ants searching for aphid honeydew.

chalk and lime

• A thick line of chalk along the garden path or on the wall acts as a barrier.
• Garden lime spread at frequented ant sites stops the invasion.

An impressive wealth of positive testimonials confirms the effectiveness of chalk and lime. It should be remembered, however, that the obstacles must be refreshed regularly after a downpour.

Simple water can also make a valuable contribution to getting rid of the ant plague. If it is known where the nest is, it is repeatedly flooded until the annoyed insects run away.

Beneficial against ants in the garden

So far, the use of beneficial insects has proven itself in numerous areas of pest control. This also applies to repelling ants, although this aspect is still largely unknown. There are microscopic roundworms, called nematodes, that put an end to the scurrying plague without the use of chemicals. Among the many thousands of species, the Steinernema feltiae has emerged as a deadly threat to most ants. The nematodes are supplied in clay granules that are dissolved in water. Because they are living creatures, the shelf life is limited to a maximum of one week when refrigerated at 2° to 6° Celsius.

• Apply from a temperature of 12° Celsius in dry, overcast weather.
• Stir the nematode solution repeatedly during use.
• Then keep the soil constantly moist for the next 2 weeks.

Beds and lawns can then easily be fertilized with mineral or organic fertilizers. However, lime should not be administered for a period of 8 weeks. If a hobby gardener strives to keep the area constantly free of ants, he applies the beneficial insects once a month from May to the end of August.

Strengthen the intensity of the fight with ant poison

Taking action against an ant plague in the house and garden with environmentally friendly household remedies honors the user as a responsible fellow human being. Depending on the severity of the infestation, the result can sometimes prove to be devastating, because the insects continue to populate rooms, pantries, terraces, balconies, lawns and beds. Instead of laying down your arms, the last resort available is the use of ant poison.

bait boxes

• The bait cans laid out contain a deadly poison and an attractant.
• The ants crawl in, pick up the poison and carry it to the nest.

Good quality bait cans contain fipronil, an active ingredient that professional pest controllers also use. Celaflor works with this stomach poison, while other manufacturers, such as Compo, rely on spinosad. The consumer will probably have no choice but to try out the preparation that is suitable for him by trial and error.

Venom Gel

• The gel is applied directly to the ant trails.
• The workers do not eat the poison but feed it to the brood and the queen in the nest.

Ant bait gel is excellent for use in private homes, offices or garden sheds. Outdoors, there is a risk of it being quickly watered down by rain. Specialist shops offer special gel guns, which are a bit expensive at just under 50 euros.

scattering and pouring agent

• Dissolve the dust-free granules in water shortly before use according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Pour directly onto the nest or onto the runways, as it is an ingestion and contact poison.

Modern preparations work in two ways. The sugar it contains tempts the ants to eat the poison. If the pests are hit directly by the casting agent, they also die. Due to the bitter substances it contains, pets do not touch such ant remedies.

Spray

• As a spray, the ant poison acts directly and immediately.
• Apply several sprays to the nest or walkways.

The majority of these preparations are universal insecticides that are effective against all types of crawling vermin. However, this only stopped the plague of ants for a short time, without the long-term effects of the stomach poisons that workers feed to their offspring and queens.

Creative combination: the liver sausage bait

The effectiveness of single use control agents is still a matter of controversy. Usually either the insufficient attraction or the insufficient defense effect is criticized. Clever users (not professionals, mind you) have developed an ingenious synthesis that lures as efficiently as it scares.

• Dissolve one coffee scoop of fipronil granules in 3 teaspoons of boiling water.
• Mix with fine liver sausage until a creamy paste is formed.
• A mixing ratio of 2 parts liver sausage to 3 parts solution has proven successful.

The creamy mass is now filled into empty bait cans and placed in front of the entrances. At the same time, cotton swabs dipped in the paste serve as additional lures by laying them along the ants’ routes. The fresher the liver sausage bait, the more intense the stimulus exerted on the ants to eat from it. It is therefore advisable to replace the traps daily at the beginning of the measure. In particular, the most common ant species found in houses and gardens, Lasius Niger and Lasius Brunneus, fall victim to this control method over time.

It is important to note that all ant poisons also pose a health risk to the user, his family and pets. The manufacturer’s instructions for safe use should therefore be taken very seriously and followed exactly.
Before purchasing a preparation, it is advisable to consult the database of the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety to see whether the active ingredient is still permitted. The legal requirements in this area change frequently.

Preventively stop an ant plague

A lot can be done to prevent complex and time-consuming measures to combat ants in the house and garden.

• Never leave food out in the open.
• Outsource the trash can with kitchen leftovers or empty it daily.
• Wipe worktops in the kitchen with hot water after preparing meals.
• Do not leave pet food unprotected in the bowl for long.
• Seal joints, cracks and end strips with silicone or plaster.

If nests that form in the house are rarely discovered, the opposite is the case in the garden. If a hobby gardener observes how the hard-working little creatures slowly but surely build a mound, he can intervene in time without harming them. The ant nest can be easily relocated. For this purpose, a sufficiently large flower pot is filled with wood shavings and placed over the elevation. The ants cannot resist such a cozy home and settle there within a few days. When the procession is over, the gardener slides a spade under the pot and carries it to a suitable new location.

Conclusion
Ants have had an undeniable right to exist for more than 140 million years. Your beneficial behavior makes an essential contribution to maintaining the ecological balance. Basically, they only cause noticeable damage when they enter the kitchen and pantry to get at the food. In addition, hobby gardeners are not on good terms with the insects because they defend and care for aphids. In order to prevent an ant plague in the house and garden, there is a long list of biological and chemical pesticides available today. If you deny the ants access to the house in advance and make it uncomfortable for them to stay in the garden, you will not even have to deal with a crawling plague.