Need green recommendation for ant problem

[Hippoharbor]

Hi. We have had an ant problem for awhile that we were dealing with by trying to keep house crumb-free and just squish the ones we see. Well, today, there were dozens of ants. I do not want to use harmful chemicals but do need some sort of spray. What have you used that is non-toxic to humans?

Thanks for any advice.

Michelle

[let73]

Not sure how "green" it is but we used Terro ant killer. They are pre filled liquid ant baits in little plastic containers. It definitely works. When you set them out you will see TONS of ants coming out. Basically, they will bring the bait back to the nest and it kills them off. The ants were gone in a few days and have not returned. I'm looking at the ingredients and it says 5% Borax and 95% "other" ingredients(maybe the liquid).

[khm]

When we had ants a few years ago, I tried all the spices and other natural things. No go. The only thing that worked was Terro. I'd go straight to Terro every time now! It works, and fast.

[Hippoharbor]

I have never heard of this product. Thanks for replies. Any other product recommendations?

[Reyadawnbringer]

We had a SEVERE ant problem and on the recommendation of a few women here we made a concoction of vinegar and dish soap in a spray bottle. It kills em QUICK! We have also been able to kill other bugs with that and haven't used a chemical bug killer in over a year. When we see a trail of ants (like the were congregating near the baseboards of our closet) we sprinkled cinnamon all over the area, left it for a week and vacuumed it back up. That was a year ago and we haven't seen them since.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I tried flour, bay leaves, leaving the lights on all night (messes with their rhythms), vinegar and others to not much avail. The Terro, available at almost every drugstrore, Target, and home improvement store, is amazingly effective. The flour wasn't terrible and it slowed them down. They got crafty and found ways around my flour line but their numbers were reduced. I just sprinkled flour around where they were coming in.

Beth

[khm]

I do think it matters what type of ants. I have no earthly idea what we had. But the vinegar, dish soap, chili pepper powder, bay leaves, baby powder, flour, etc did not touch them. It is worth a shot though, since you probably have all that on hand.....

[bubbaray]

Isn't borax used to kill ants???

[Rainbows&Roses]

Ants won't cross lines of certain things. If you can tell where they are coming in, put a line of dish soap surrounding that whole area and that works for us every time. It also prevents the scouts from getting back out to the nest.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Terro is Borax, just conveniently made for traps. bait.

Beth

[zag95]

I concur with the Terro- we got the little cardboards with the dots for them to feed- as well as the traps where they would crawl in (I think those were better, especially with little kids)- got them at Home Depot.

[doberbrat]

we use 20 Mule team borax in the soap isle.... very safe just sprinkle around the house

kills fleas

[MommyAllison]

We used Terro, bought at Lowes. The second day was disgusting because of the sheer number of ants coming in to the bait, but by day 4, I think they were all gone.

[vonfirmath]

Not sure how "green" it is but we used Terro ant killer. They are pre filled liquid ant baits in little plastic containers. It definitely works. When you set them out you will see TONS of ants coming out. Basically, they will bring the bait back to the nest and it kills them off. The ants were gone in a few days and have not returned. I'm looking at the ingredients and it says 5% Borax and 95% "other" ingredients(maybe the liquid).

This does not seem to work for fire ants. Any suggestions for fire ants?

[mommylamb]

It looks a bit odd, but we put paprika down at the sliding glass door in our kitchen. Every so often we sweep it up and put new paprika down. It keeps the ants away.

[mattiew]

I've put peppermint oil on the thresholds where they were coming in. I know some people mix the peppermint oil with water and use it as a spray.