What Repels Ants

Mint and mint essential oils can be used as a natural ant repellent. The scent of mint is too aggressive for ants’ sensitive olfactory senses which causes them to avoid the smell altogether. This smell can be deployed by growing fresh mint around your home or using a diluted essential oil mix to spray entryways and the perimeter of your home. This will act as a barrier around your home that ants will avoid. 

Ants react to tee tree oil much like they do with peppermint. The sharp scent is too aggressive for ants, so they avoid it. This can be combined with peppermint oil and other scents to create a natural ant repellent cocktail that will deter ants from entering your home. 

The lemon eucalyptus tree produces an essential oil that also contains natural insect repellents. The oil contains eucalyptus and citronella which have both been used as an ant repellent. 

White vinegar is a solid defense against ants. Using it in a water diluted 50 / 50 spray kills ants on contact and acts as a residual ant deterrent. It acts as an all-purpose cleaner that ants hate the smell of. It also overpowers their pheromone trails, so they are no longer able to be followed by ants in search of food. 

Lemons are another smell that potentially deter ant activity because the smell is similar to citronella which is another ant repellent. Lemon smelling cleaners can be used as a substitute to help minimize the presence of ants.   

Cinnamon powder can be used to dust areas with ant activity which results in ants suffocating when the cinnamon is breathed in. This method can be applied to ant hills or mounds near the opening for optimal impact. Cinnamon essential oils can also be used in a diluted water mix to overpower the pheromone trails left by ants and as a general deterrent. This is due to the compound trans cinnamaldehyde which could be fatal to ants. 

Cayenne pepper contains capsaicin and black pepper contains piperine which are irritants for ants’ sensitive sensory systems. Both are effective ant deterrents and can be sprinkled around the exterior of your home to prevent ants. 

Ants use a pheromone trail to lead them to food so cleaning using a glass cleaner or strong scented liquid detergent will help erase any traces of pheromones. This will ensure that ants are unable to find their way back to the food source.

The smell of brewed coffee grounds is also said to be effective at repelling ants. The grounds can be spread around the outside of your house, and it will create a barrier that ants will avoid. Coffee grounds are rich in nutrients for soil so spreading them is also beneficial for local plant life. The only problem is that getting enough coffee grounds to cover the space needed for an effective home barrier will take a very long time. 

Using chalk or talcum powder is another safe alternative that is effective at deterring ants. The fine powder suffocates the ants when it’s breathed in, and it also covers the pheromone trail left by worker ants. This makes it difficult for ants to traverse through areas that have been marked with chalk or talcum powder. 

Diatomaceous earth acts as an effective ant repellent and killer. The fine powder acts as a desiccant and can be used to dust hard to reach places. The powder is abrasive and wears down an ant’s exoskeletons while drawing out moisture causing ants to dry out and die. 

Neem is a natural insect repellent that is extracted from a neem plant. This oil is a common addition to many store-bought ant and insect repellents. It is even effective in controlling aphid populations which produce the honeydew that many ants feed on. 

Using boiling water to drown an ant colony is a quick way of exterminating ants. That said, an ant colony can be huge and be connected to many satellite colonies. Be sure to drown them ensure that the ant queen dies  so she doesn’t repopulate the colony over time.