Invasion of the ants! Help me!

By badbadivy

Y'all, as the summer gets hotter and drier, the ants have come to my house in droves. I cannot figure out, for the life of me, where they're getting in. It has to be somewhere close to my back door/dishwasher, because that's the area I see the most of them.

I've been keeping the area meticulously clean, but as far as finding out where they're coming from and finding a safe thing to kill them with, I'm at a loss. The area that is affected worse than anything is my food prep area/dishwashing area, so many commercial sprays I can't use because it's not safe for food prep areas. I have been washing everything down with Borax, but that doesn't seem to help.

Any ideas?

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June 11, 2007

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jasimar

June 18, 2007

big or little ants? we have teeny tiny picnic ants. for us, it's clean clean clean with vinegar water solution. black pepper deters them. they love grease, sugar and water. i don't know what else. ant traps under the cabs.

omnipotentpov

June 17, 2007

boric acid is a good safe way to get rid of your ant problem. Mix it with tuna water (the left over water from when drain your can of tuna) with a teaspoon of boric acid, put it in a bowl in the general area they are in. This will attract them for a day or two making the situation worse for a short time, BUT then they will bring the acid back to their queen and then everyone dies!! yippee no more ants and no nasty spray. Beware if you have a cat to put the acid in an area when your pet can't get to it. Another choice instead of tuna water is peanut butter...but I prefer the water mixture.

jill-of-all-trades

June 12, 2007

Here in Germany we plant something called Weihrauch (Iboza riparia), a compact bushy plant, with white-edged mid-green leaves, which throws out long creepers - great for draping over the balcony. Picture at http://tinyurl.com/2yxvrl.

Plant some of those outside near where you think the ants are coming in, sprinkle a few leaves around the affected area in the kitchen, should do the trick.

Apparently also very good at keeping the mozzies and moths away.

No idea if you can get it Nashville though!

DIY Maven

June 11, 2007

Hey Ivy, some ants are attracted to water. Because they're coming in around your diswashing area, you might have a leak. And believe me, a little leak is all they need. You might want to remove the toe-kick of the dishwasher while it's running and take a peek below to see if you can spot a drip. Also, when we have a periodic ant situation, we also spray around the outside perimeter of the house along the foundation. For the inside of the house, I've heard cinnamon will keep them at bay. That last one might be an old wives tale, however. ;)