Strontium Dawg Posted March 23, 2015 Hey all, Wondering if any of you have any herbal/oil based ant control suggestions. I don't like to poison them, but I also don't need constant trails of them through my house and kitchen either. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
franky Posted March 23, 2015 I use sugar/borax 3:1 mixture, it dries them out im not sure if it would be for you, but a cheap and effective way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Strontium Dawg Posted March 23, 2015 Yeah, I've used borax, I'm trying to avoid wholesale destruction of their colonies, aiming for dissuading them from forming trails along my kitchen bench if possible without killing them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrpants Posted March 23, 2015 I've used cloves as a barrier, I'm told clove oil is effective also. Wasn't very scientific about it - I just put down a barrier of them and watched the ants run up and then bugger right off as soon as they were a few mm away from a clove. Doesn't seem to hurt them from what I observed, just gives them some kind of heeby jeebies. The repelling distance is shit thought - only a few mm, but they were old cloves. Maybe a wash down of surfaces with a clove oil solution might be more effective? That's been my plan for the next ant incursion that can't be solved by just washing away the pheremone trails and relocating attractants. For the record - my battles are with those tiny black ants you get in Sydney that farm scale all over your plants. I don't know if I'd take on a bull ant colony with a bag of old cloves. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Strontium Dawg Posted March 23, 2015 Nice, I use clove oil to repel mildew as well. Yep, little black ants...them and their scaly pals played havoc with my morning glory seed pods this year. I'll give it a try, if the smell repels ants as much as it repels me it'll be good! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IndianDreaming Posted March 23, 2015 I've used talc before, it seems their little feet leave a scent trail, and talc can break the trail - this was for meat ants in Vic though. As an aside, I once sat for quite a few hours with a friend and harassed each ant on the way back to the nest that had food in it's gob - after god only knows how many hours of entertainment we had a little pile of ant food 1 inch in diameter and about half an inch high, and the circle of ants around it was about 3 foot thick! Any ant that tried to get close got shooed away and eventurally, they seemed to just circle about 3 inches away from the pile and we only had to shoo one every 10 seconds or so - ah, those were the days... 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
