An invasion of ants can make expending time in and around your backyard a less-than-pleasurable experience. These pests can harm your plants, as well by distressing their roots and defending other insect pests, such as aphids, which eat the plants. Rather than spraying the plants with potentially poisonous insecticides, here are some of the best natural insecticides for killing ants. These natural insecticides will not only kill ants, but they also provide the required protection from other plant damaging insects in the future. The majority of these best natural pesticides for destroying ants include ingredients you most likely have in your home previously.
Citrus Oil
Citrus oil, as well as lemon and orange oil, is poisonous to ants and will not harm your backyard plants. Several natural insecticides include orange oil, but you can prepare your own by using three-fourth cup of orange essential oil, one tablespoon of dish soap, one tablespoon of molasses, and one gallon of water. You can spray the concoction on and around backyard plants to dispose of the ants in your backyard and also in your home. If you do not boast orange oil, just boil the peels of four or five oranges in water for 10 minutes until soft. Put the rinds in a food processor, together with the fluid used to boil them, to make slurry that you can discharge around your backyard plants.
Soap
Instead of buying insecticidal soaps to destroy ants in your backyard, you can make your own soap by using the dish soap. Mix one teaspoon of dish soap with a pint of hot water and stir thoroughly. Scatter the soapy water on plants directly and around your backyard to eliminate ants. As ants do not like the peppermint oil, you can as well, use a liquid soap, like Castile soap, holding peppermint oil and combine it with water in the equal ratio to clear the garden of ants. If ants continue, you can raise the quantity of detergent in your concoction. However, excessive detergent may damage your plants as it is phytotoxic in huge amounts.
Borax Bait
You can make the homemade ant bait by using borax, which is poisonous to ants. Mix half teaspoon of borax with equal proportions of honey and a sugar alternate. Spoon the blend into open jars or bottles and set the containers on their sides about your backyard plants. The ants will move slowly into the containers, carrying the poisonous bait back to their queen, and the settlement will die. You can as well, mix three cups of water with four teaspoons of borax and one cup of sugar. Dip a bread piece in the blend and cover it by means of peanut butter. Leave some of the bread pieces out in the backyard that work the same way like the honey bait containers and will kill the ants.
While you can prepare a nonpoisonous solution of equal parts of water and white vinegar, together with a spray of dish soap, to destroy ants on your plants, vinegar can damage plants because it is extremely acidic. As a substitute, you can use such mixture away from the soil and your plants.