Basics to Avoid Ants

• Aphids and insects enjoy honeydew, so do not plant plants in your yard that entice honeydew-making insects or that attract ants with their fruit or nectar. These include bamboo, cherry laurel, fig trees and oleander. Make sure whatever method you use that you do not create another problem; for instance, you may get rid of the ants but attract another pest.
  
  You also can defend your yard grass against ants and other pests by using organic lawn fertilizers. Choose from among alfalfa meal, bat guano, fish emulsion, grass clippings and worm castings.
  
  

Pesticides

• If you encounter large numbers of ants and ant mounds in your yard, an effective way to remove them is to use pipe tobacco, which not only harms the health of people, but also ants. Use the tobacco to make a tea by soaking it in water overnight and then discarding the wet tobacco.
  
  When handling the tobacco solution, wear gloves and pour the liquid over the ant hills. The ants should die after the soaking. Pouring boiling water down the hole of an ant hill or mound will have a similar effect and will cause the tunnels in the ant hill to collapse.
  
  You also can make a paste of boric acid and sugar. Drop pieces of the paste near the hills or any location where you see ants. Ants will feed on the sugar and carry it back to the nest, probably killing the whole colony.
  
  Do the same with instant grits; once ants bring the grits to the nest, the queen will eat her royal meal and when it rains, she will drink (the grits expand in her stomach and this kills her). With the queen gone, remaining ants should eventually die.
  
  Diatomaceous earth acts as a strong insecticide, thanks to its glass-like nature. The sharp surfaces cut through the insect cuticle, causing ants to die of dehydration. Apply the earth to the ground surface where you see an influx of ants.
  
  

Repellents

• Perhaps you want to drive the ants away from your yard, but not necessarily kill them. In this instance, wherever you see ants spending a lot of time in your yard, spread items they are known to dislike. These include extra-bitter cucumber and cucumber peels, bone meal, cayenne pepper, chalk, cinnamon, garlic, powdered charcoal and talcum powder. You also can grow plants such as pennyroyal, peppermint and spearmint to deter ants.
  
  If you see other hills or ant trails in your yard, fill them with baby powder, which contains talc, an ant deterrent.