I’m a home pro – the best ways to get rid of ants including 79p product they ‘hate the smell of’

WITH the weather warming up, so does the activity of ants both inside and outside our houses. 

This Morning’s Consumer Editor, Alice Beer, was on hand with some essential information on how to get rid of ants. 

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Alice said: “[Ants] want food, and if you’re going to leave food out for them, then they’re going to come and take it. 

“They want any food – sugar, grease, protein. Just to be disgusting, if you leave dirty laundry out, they will go for it. Stains in cupboards, little spills, they will go for it. 

“If you want one ant to become 700 ants, then just leave your spill down.” 

She added: “Of course, there are lots and lots of products for getting rid of ants, and deterring them. 

“Ants are brilliant for the environment, they turn over soil and they’re really good for the soil – so we don’t want to get rid of them, we just want them to go elsewhere.” 

Alice did note that if you’re using anything chemically-based to get rid of ants, be careful of pets and children. 

Her “go-to” product was Raid’s Ant Bait Station which has a “little chemical pot and you make two holes in it, and the workers go in one side, collect it, take it back to their nest” and destroy it. 

The powder is for outside use and is a bright colour on purpose so you can see where it’s been put. 

Home Defence’s Ant Control Ultra Granules is “eliminates all black garden ants, it’s a natural soil bacterium”, nowhere near pets. 

She added: “If you’ve got Borax in your laundry – a natural salt cleanser, you can put that down as well.” 

“The thing with ants is, they like food but hate smells like peppermint, they hate citronella and pepper. 

“So there are so many lovely, natural smells that will deter them [ants]. 

“This is a citrus oil and you can spray it along the trail, where they are coming [from], or put plants by your back door.” 

For essential oils, “put them on a tissue and leave it on their trail”. 

Alice continued: “The main thing to clean up with, if you have ants or are prone to ants is vinegar – household, cleaning white vinegar. 

“It’s such a good cleaner, put it on a cloth, wipe over – they hate it. 

“Now this gives me the heebie-jeebies – nematodes,” the expert remarked. 

“If you’re a gardener you’ll know about them – these are basically parasitic worms, they become active when you mix them with water, you put them into your garden, be careful where you do because they will upset your ecosystem. 

“But gardeners know about this because they live off things and churn things out – they will get rid of colonies of ants. 

“You can buy them online, put them in a watering can, and spray them over. 

“But go easy with them – know what you’re doing, because you’ve got to get the right worms and you don’t want to overdo it.” 

Alice finished with: “If you just want to glory in the ants for the clever little creatures that they are, this is an ant farm and it’s really fascinating, you can watch them doing what they do best.”

What causes ants? 

• Any food source especially sugar and weather temperatures increasing. 
• The British Pest Control Association (BPCA) claimed there was a 17 per cent increase in searches on their website for ant control this year, compared to last year. 

What harm do they do?

• Ants can cause concern but they are more of a nuisance than destructive insects. 
• Ants do little direct damage to plants, but can disrupt the soil around plant roots. 
• Black ants are entirely harmless but red ants, wood ants and flying ants sometimes bite. 
• Ants play an important role in the environment. Ants turn and aerate soil, allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots. Ants eat a wide variety of organic material and provide food for many different organisms.