Some argue that having ants in your lawn has some benefits, like soil aeration. But I would rather aerate the lawn myself than have any ants in my lawn. While there are lots of products on the shelves that will get rid of ants, they are usually full of various chemicals and are not natural products. So if you are looking for an organic method to get rid of ants in grass naturally, then I have a list of ingredients you can try.
What Are the Best Natural Remedies to Get Rid of Ants?
There are various organic ingredients that don’t contain any artificial agricultural or household chemicals, which you can use as natural ant killers for your yard. So if you want to keep your yard totally organic, here are some methods to try.
- Diatomaceous earth (DE Food Grade)
- Black Pepper or Cayenne Pepper
- White Vinegar
- Water
- Soapy Water
- Pre-made Organic Ant Repellents
How to Get Rid of Ants in Grass Naturally – 7 Things You Should Try
There are many different ways to kill ants in a yard naturally, but not all of these methods will be good for your lawn. Therefore, here are several ingredients you can try that won’t damage your lawn and are pretty effective.
Diatomaceous Earth (DE)
DE is a natural product from fossilized algae used for many applications, from filter material, pet litter, medicine, and even personal supplements. A great benefit for gardeners is that DE works as an insect killer.
Ants absorb water through their bodies and rely on a waxy layer to retain the water. At a microscopic level, DE is actually a very coarse and sharp material. So when ants come into contact with DE, their outer skeleton or exoskeleton gets cut. As a result, these microscopic cuts cause an ant to lose water and dehydrate.
So, to use DE as a natural ant killer for your yard, lightly sprinkle the DE powder directly onto the area affected by the ants, then wait a couple of days.
Black Pepper or Cayenne Pepper
Ants always stay together and know to follow each other because of a trail pheromone. This is basically an odor they give off to communicate with one another. Black pepper and cayenne pepper disrupt the ant’s ability to sense this pheromone, causing the ants to disperse and move to a different location. The pepper won’t kill ants, but it will definitely make them move on.
So, if you mix some pepper in a spray bottle with water and spray the affected area directly, the ants will relocate and won’t return while the pepper scent remains. But your pets won’t like it much either.
White Vinegar
White vinegar, again like pepper, disrupts the ant’s ability to communicate. Therefore a 50/50 water and vinegar mix in a spray bottle targeted directly at the ants will cause them to become disorientated and move on. But if you’re wondering if vinegar will kill grass, then I can tell you 100% vinegar will brown an established lawn and kill newly seeded lawns. So, make sure you keep to the mix ratio and be careful how much you use.
Water
Water from a garden hose can sometimes be enough to destroy an ant’s nest. If you know where the ant colony is, you can soak the nest with just a garden hose. But ants can survive underwater for a long time, and most will actually float. So again, this won’t kill many ants. But, when the colony is destroyed, the remaining ants will vacate and look for a new home.
Soapy Water
So what about soapy water? Well, soapy water actually works better than just plain old water. This is because the diluted organic soap clogs the tiny pores on the ant’s body called the spiracles, which is how the ant breathes. Also, soapy water reduces the ant’s natural ability to float. So, if you fill an ant nest with soapy water, the ants will sink and ultimately drown. A 4:1 mix of water to organic soap should do the trick.
Pre-made Organic Ant Repellants & Home Made Versions
The last method on my list of how to get rid of ants in grass naturally is to use a purpose-made organic ant repellent from the store. Products such as peppermint and mint spray combine water, plant oils, and plant material. All they do is disrupt the ant’s trail pheromone and block the ant’s spiracles so that they cannot breathe.
So if you soak a bunch of peppermint or mint leaves in water and add a little oil, you end up with the same product. As long as you get the solution into the colony, the ants should disappear in a few days.
Here are a few oils you can use in your homemade organic ant repellent.
- Peppermint oil
- Cinnamon oil
- Tea tree oil
- Vetiver oil
- Cedarwood oil
- Orange oil
Things You Can Do to Prevent Ants from Coming Back
How to get rid of ants in grass naturally methods are all good and well, but how do you stop the ants from returning? Well, you could keep going back to the previous methods, which, in many cases, is what you have to do. But my preferred way to keep ants off my lawn is to spread plants around my yard that ants don’t like.
You can grow several plant types in your yard that will disrupt the ant’s trail pheromone and then use the leaves in your homemade organic ant repellants.
- Mint
- Rosemary
- Lavender
- Catnip
- Peppermint
- Thyme
Leave a Reply