Ant Control With Cornmeal
Ants are bothersome pests whether indoors or outside your home. If you have an ant problem and do not want to use commercial pesticides, there are some organic ingredients that can ward off or kill ants, and most of them may be in your kitchen cabinet. Cornmeal is one natural ant control solution that is safe for use around children and pets, but can be devastating to a hungry ant colony. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Pour dry cornmeal into a clean, empty salt shaker.
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Sprinkle cornmeal from the shaker along areas where you see, or saw, ants. If possible, follow ants to their anthill, shaking a fine line of cornmeal along their procession and even pouring some directly on the anthill.
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Watch ants take granules of cornmeal back to their hill. When the ants ingest the cornmeal, they are unable to digest it, causing them to die.
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Assess the areas around your home to ensure that ants are gone before sweeping up remaining cornmeal. Ants should be gone in one to two days.
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Tips & Warnings
Salt shakers have larger holes than pepper shakers and will allow easy distribution of cornmeal.
Create a more potent cornmeal solution with 1 Tbsp. of borax detergent. The cornmeal will attract ants as a food source, but the borax will poison them. Borax is safe for use around children and pets.
Although cornmeal may kill an ant colony, the hill remains. There is always the possibility of another colony moving in, so be prepared to sprinkle cornmeal again if ants come back.
Avoid ants in your home by putting food away when not in use and cleaning up spills as they happen, especially sugary spills, such as soda or juice.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
