Popular Myths When It Comes to Controlling Ants in Your Home

Seriously, just sprinkle baby powder on any spaces where ants have appeared – they will be gone in a day or two. Or just vacuum up the ants regularly, the rest will then leave.

If you are in the kitchen at work, perhaps pouring yourself a cup of coffee, and you casually mention that you have ants living with you, your kind coworkers are likely to offer advice, though not all of it may be sound.

Myths about how to control ants in your home have settled into our culture, with the result that it is thought to be a much easier task that it actually is. Here are 3 extraordinarily popular myths about fending off these hardworking insects:

1. A spray of vinegar will send your ants packing

The idea that spraying vinegar on the surfaces of counters and tables in your home will keep ants away is rooted in the fact that ants, and other insects, do not like acidity and will avoid it. Also, vinegar disinfects surfaces, eradicating the unseen trails that ants use to return to their colony.

While spraying vinegar around your home is likely to confuse a few ants about the location of their colony, and may indeed render sprayed areas less appealing to them, it will not affect a nest or colony that lurks somewhere in your house.

2. As garlic is to vampires, cinnamon is to ants

Ants do not like cinnamon and will avoid walking over a carefully created barrier of said spice – according to this research, cinnamon contains chemicals that are toxic to ants.

Perhaps if a few ants have strolled into your home, seeking sustenance, they will turn around when confronted with the cinnamon barrier that you have carefully constructed, though if you have an ant infestation, cinnamon is simply not up to the job.

3. Sidewalk chalk will stop ants in their tracks

Sidewalk chalk has long been used in middle-school classrooms and homes as a deterrent to ants: The idea is a simple one; you draw a line with sidewalk chalk around your home and the local ants will not cross it.

Scientific American lays out experiments that show that ants, and other insects, are indeed repelled by the chemical signal of chalk, and some other benign substances. However, if your home is offering moist wood to ants for nesting, it is illogical to believe that a temporary chalk line around your house will be a sufficient deterrent to keep your home free of ants.

There are other myths regarding ant control, such as that spraying lemon juice around openings on baseboards or wiping peppermint essential oil on windows and doors will protect you from these pesky fellows. The truth is that if your home is not properly maintained; if you have moist wood in your attic, cracks in your foundation or leaks in your roof, you are likely to attract ants.

If your home is properly sealed from the outside world and free of leaks, the occasional ant that strolls into your kitchen is unlikely to want to set up a satellite colony. If you have signs of an ant infestation in your home, we can help. Just give us a call at Harlow Pest Control and we will take care of it.