When asked about a natural remedy for ants, most people answer baking soda. But how effective is the leavening agent really and what alternatives are there?
ants
Ants are one of the pests that almost everyone has been affected by. A common misconception is that ants produce formic acid, but that's nonsense! Only red ants can sting, but these are less common. Even if it is often assumed that ants are not the result of poor hygiene. The small insects are well adapted to humans and mainly find their food in their vicinity.
baking powder
How is baking soda used against garden ants
If you want to fight the typical black garden ant, all you need is sugar and baking powder. The two substances are mixed together and placed on a plate. Now all you have to do is wait until the insects have picked up the scent and eat the dessert with the deadly powder.
Baking soda as a home remedy
This method also serves to destroy an entire ant nest, as the animals excrete the crop contents into their environment. This is how you can fight underground ant nests by ensuring that only a few of the animals eat the baking soda mixture.
mode of action
Combating the effects of baking soda on the ant plague
Baking soda works primarily because of the baking soda it contains. Pure baking soda can therefore be seen as an alternative. If the powder is mixed with sugar, ants will be attracted and eat the powder. baking soda, the leavening agent, swells up in the ant's body and lowers the pH. The ant is injured from the inside, its circulation plummets and it perishes. Animal lovers are therefore against the use of baking soda when fighting ants.
environmental impact
What is the impact of baking soda on the environment?
Baking powder is a natural remedy that does not pose any threat to the environment. Baking soda dissipates on its own without poisoning the soil. However, the agent is harmful to the insects and also to predators that feed on the ant carcasses. Here, too, baking soda can be transferred and cause damage to the animal.
More home remedies
Eight more tips against ants
If the ant is just a simple garden ant, there are numerous natural control methods that result in a nicer death than the one caused by baking soda.
The following eight tips have proven their worth:
- Duct tape on an ant trail
- apply chalk
- vinegar
- Yeast & Honey
- tea tree oil
- vacuum cleaner
- Relocation of the anthill
- water glass
Vinegar as a home remedy
Duct tape to fight ants
An ant trail cannot be overlooked and is the optimal transport route for the small insects. There they transport their prey and food and use scents (pheromones) to orient themselves. If a strip of adhesive tape is stuck in the ant trail, this will confuse the little animals. You lose your orientation, the ant trail breaks up and the insects spread out in the area.
It has a similar effect if you fragrance spray on the ant trail. Since the animals use the pheromones of their predecessors for orientation, the orientation is interrupted and the road is over.
Chalk while fighting the garden ant
If you only want to keep the ant away from a certain place, e.g. the terrace, it is sufficient to outline the area with a thick line of chalk. Ants are irritated by the smell of the chalk and will not cross the line. However, this method is not particularly long-lasting, as the chalk fades within a few days and then has to be touched up.
Vinegar as a natural repellent
Vinegar is good against dirt, smells intense and drives away ant plagues reliably and gently. Either commercial vinegar or vinegar essence is used, which can even be used pure. However, it is better to dilute the vinegar essence with water and apply it with the help of a spray bottle. The strong smell of the vinegar causes the animals to lose their orientation and the ant trail disappears.
In your own four walls, however, the use of vinegar is only moderately popular. The strong inherent odor of the substance also puts a strain on the human nose. In addition, the smell dissipates relatively quickly, so that several applications are necessary until the ant plague is completely gone.
ants on leaves
Drive away ants with yeast and honey
Yeast has a similar effect on the ant as baking soda. A yeast cube is crumbled and mixed with honey. This mush is now applied to the ant trail. the honey attracts the insects, they eat it together with the yeast. As this swells up in the ant's body, it dies of internal injuries. Since more and more yeast is made without sodium bicarbonate, this home remedy is not always effective. Apart from that, this is also a very violent way of dying for the small insect states.
Tea tree oil used against ant plagues
The strong-smelling tea tree oil is an effective remedy against an ant trail, but the smell itself is too strong for many people. Disturbed by the pungent odor, animals will stay away from areas treated with tea tree oil.
Tea tree oil for pest control
Fight the insects with the vacuum cleaner
Hysterical people sucking spiders off the ceiling with a vacuum cleaner is an often joked image. In fact, the vacuum cleaner can be helpful in the fight against the ant plague. However, it is important that the vacuum cleaner bag is emptied immediately after vacuuming. If this does not happen, the insects will free themselves from the bag again at the location of the vacuum cleaner and the problem is not eliminated but shifted.
relocate
Relocate the anthill
An anthill is annoying, but the small insects are still beneficial. Instead of destroying the heap with chemicals, it is possible to relocate it and let the little animals live.
All you need for this is:
- a flower pot
- wood shavings or straw
The flower pot is thickly filled with straw or wood shavings and then placed upside down on the anthill. It takes a few days for the entire ant colony to move inside the flower pot. Now the anthill can be moved to another location.
anthill
Tip: It is usually pointless to remove the ants only a few meters, since they can find their way back to their old place. It can sometimes be necessary to bring the animals into the forest by car.
ant plague
Fight ants on the garden table with water
At first, water doesn't sound like a helpful means of controlling bugs. However, if an ant plague keeps settling on the garden table, four glasses of water can help. However, this only makes sense if the table is made of plastic or weather-resistant material. If the four table legs are each placed in a glass with water, this represents an insurmountable barrier for the small creepy-crawlies.