Summer is here and with it comes the ultimate picnic wreckers: ants. Lately, I’ve been seeing tiny ant hills on every sidewalk cracking up all over my neighborhood, and I’ve found them, to my dismay, in my vegetable garden. The constant warm weather sends the ants into a frenzy. They start foraging and creating new colonies, which is why all those new ant hills have appeared in your yard.
Get rid of the ants they might be on your gardening checklist if they’re making a mess in your yard or if they’re a type of ant that bites or stings. Ants are social insects and, like humans, they are omnivores. Keeping your outdoor areas free of food debris and fallen fruit from trees can go a long way. But sometimes you need a little help to keep ant populations at bay.
Here are five natural ways to get rid of ants and their mounds so you can enjoy your summer without the creepy crawlies or their mounds all over your yard.
5 natural solutions to get rid of ants
Ants can quickly establish a colony in your yard or even garden migrate to your home. Most species of ants are harmless to humans, but some may bite or sting. Not what you want when gardening or trying to enjoy a backyard cookout! Ant hills also don’t look very nice in the middle of your ornamental garden.
Usually, ants are attracted to food that you can often check. Collecting fallen fruit from fruit trees (a Garden Weasel Nut Collector by Ace Hardware makes it easy) to get rid of aphids and their ants honeydewand working your soil regularly will help keep them from building a nest.
Whether you find ant hills in your lawnbetween paved patios, container plantings or garden beds, here are some simple and natural ways to get rid of them without resorting to harsh pesticides.
1. Boiling water
(Image credit: Peter Meade/Getty Images)
Boiling water works best in areas of your yard where you don’t mind killing other plants, such as crevices between mulches that contain weeds in addition to ant hills. Pouring 2-3 gallons of boiling water on an ant hill will kill many ants, but also disrupt the colony structure. Soak the mound thoroughly with the boiling water for best results.
2. Level the Embankment
A simple and non-lethal option is to level the ant hill with a spade or shovel. This will disrupt their colony and cause them to move somewhere else. It may take a few repeat levelings to get the message. If you have ants like fire ants or Asian needle antsthat can harm humans, don’t do that. It is safer to call a pest professional to avoid getting a fatal bite.
3. Boric acid bait
Making a boric acid bait is a good ant control solution if their hill is somewhere near sensitive plants that you don’t want to harm. When I was transplantation tomatoes in my raised bed a few weeks ago, I learned that a colony of ants had taken over and were going berserk because of my invasion. A boric acid bait is perfect for this situation.
To make boric acid ant bait, mix equal parts boric acid, available from Amazon, and sugar water. Pour the mixture into small containers like bottle caps and leave them near the ant colony. The sugar water will attract the ants and the boric acid will kill them.
4. Flood
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A good old garden hose can come in handy for taking care of ant hills on your sidewalk or lawn. Flood the ant hill thoroughly with a steady stream of water. A few minutes of soaking will disrupt the structure of the ant hill and the ants will disperse.
5. Dish soap
Another simple solution that won’t kill your grass is a mixture of dish soap and water. Add a few drops of dish soap to a gallon of water and pour it over the ant hill. The dish soap will break the surface tension of the water allowing it to suffocate the ants, killing the colony.
I wish you an ant-free summer. Happy gardening!
