Keep Pesky Ants Off Your Thriving Plants With This Magical Two-Ingredient Trick

Ants are extremely persistent insects. Once they establish a foothold in a garden space, they're very difficult to eliminate. Making use of insect-repelling plants can help with an ant problem. However, when you need to find an immediate, natural way to get rid of ants that are damaging your existing plants, taking the time to grow ant-repelling plants isn't practical. One of the simplest ways to repel and kill ants involves two ingredients you probably already have in your pantry — baking soda and powdered sugar. A mixture of these two has the potential to kill the entire colony. 

Creating the mixture is simple — just mix baking soda and powdered sugar together in equal parts. Look for any hills in your garden that you want to eliminate and spread the mixture around them. You can also place some of it in areas of the garden where you are seeing active movement from these pests.

The ants do not like baking soda, as it is poisonous for them to ingest, and they naturally stay away from it. However, when you mix this poisonous product with a source of food that these insects love — powdered sugar — they will end up collecting both types of powder and taking them back to the nest. Ingesting the baking soda with the powdered sugar kills them. Both baking powder and powdered sugar are white with a very fine consistency, making it easy to mix them together.

There are many other ways to kill ants that are ruining your garden plants without having to use harsh pesticides. One of the most effective means is using boiling water with a little bit of dish soap added to it. Boil water in a gallon-sized glass measuring cup with a handle before adding 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap to the water. You also can boil the water in a large pot on the stovetop. Immediately take the hot water to the location of the ant hill and pour it inside. As the mixture reaches the ants, they die on contact. The dish soap makes the process more effective by killing them faster. Keep the hot water away from any portions of your plants, or it could damage them. You may have to pour more boiling water into the hill over the next few days if you notice signs of renewed insect activity.

Another option is to add a tiny type of roundworm called a nematode to the soil around the ant hill. The nematode is a natural predator of ants, and it will not harm your soil or plants. You can purchase nematodes at a hardware store and water them into the soil. Adding nematodes doesn't always destroy ant colonies, but it is a natural option that doesn't do additional harm to other items in the area.

Understandably, not everyone wants to kill ants. After all, these insects can provide some benefits to a yard and garden by aerating the soil and removing some unwanted dead plant debris. However, you may simply not want them crawling on and potentially damaging certain plants you have in your garden. You can deploy a few different options to repel ants and encourage them to move to a new location.

One of the easiest options is to sprinkle powders and solid substances that act as deterrents. Ground cinnamon and cayenne pepper are two substances you may already have in your pantry that can help repel these pests, causing them to try a different place for the nest. You may want to pour some coffee grounds in the area, or you can add citrus peels around the hills — both are substances that ants do not like.

You also can mix up liquid repellents that consist of natural ingredients into a spray to drive the ants to go to another location. These mixtures should not harm the plants, so it's okay if there is some overspray as you're adding the liquids near the hills. An even mix of lemon juice and water is effective, as these pests dislike citrus oils. Mint essential oil is another effective means of driving ants away because of its strong smell.