We've all had the experience of putting unwashed fruit or dishes out overnight, only to wake up to a trail of ants swarming the scene. It's difficult to picture how many ants got inside your kitchen with locked doors and windows. After you've exterminated the ant infestation, you'll need to discover a technique to keep ants away before they return.
If your location has an "ant season," you should learn how to help repel them, so they don't bother you. If you have pets, children, or allergies, you're undoubtedly cautious about employing potentially toxic chemical sprays and traps to repel ants. Fortunately, you can use pure essential oils to repel ants in your home, in picnics, and anywhere else.
Top 10 Essential Oils For Ant Problem
Since many essential oils are antimicrobial, antibacterial, and antifungal, they are excellent natural disinfectants. When an ant enters your home, it leaves a scent trail for other ants to follow. The 10 essential oils listed below are known for masking these fragrance trails and deterring ants.
1. Peppermint Essential Oil for Ants
Peppermint essential oil may be the answer if you seek a softer everyday solution to your ant problem. While most people appreciate the scent of peppermint, it is highly unpleasant to insects and is recognised for repelling ants.
Peppermint essential oil is repulsive to ants, and it can rapidly stop them from entering your house. Ants rely on chemical signals to locate food and their nest. Therefore disrupting the chemical trail with negative signals or repellents like peppermint can deter the ants from returning.
2. Orange Essential Oil for Killing Ants
Both inside and outside the house, orange essential oil is good at killing ants. D-Limonene, the essential oil's principal constituent, is a citrus peel extract. This extract kills the ants by dissolving the wax covering the insect's respiratory system.
Fire ants establishing colonies in your yard can be killed using this essential oil. Orange essential oil solution can also efficiently remove indoor ants. It has the advantage of being non-toxic to people and having a nice fragrance.
3. Tea Tree Essential Oil for Ant Repellent
Tea tree essential oil is effective at repelling ants. Ants are very hypersensitive toward strong fragrances, such as tea tree essential oil. It includes significant components that make it a very potent essential oil that can keep ants away from areas used.
It's a highly effective natural ant repellant that's easily available. For ants, the aroma of tea tree essential oil is incredibly powerful and overpowering. They flee and hide as a result of this and tea tree essential oil is one of the most effective ant repellents.
4. Eucalyptus Essential Oil for Killing Ants
The powerful aroma of eucalyptus essential oil, like other essential oils, is well-known and recognized. It works by counteracting the smell trails left behind by explorer ants, followed by the others.
The absence of toxicity is a major advantage of employing natural solutions like this essential oil for ant control. The use of eucalyptus essential oil as an ant repellent has shown to be beneficial. In its purest form, it is a great ant repellent and can be used by all homeowners.
5. Lavender Essential Oil for Ants
Lavender is a strong aroma with several applications as an essential oil. It is a highly powerful and environmentally friendly insecticide. Ants come into your house looking for food. Certain scents attract them, while others repel them.
Lavender essential oil gives your house a smell that repels these pests. For ant control, lavender is a more ecologically friendly alternative to more hazardous chemicals. Its perfume repels ants without having the overwhelming stink of strong-scented repellents.
6. Cinnamon Essential oil for Ants
Even though the delicious fragrance of cinnamon essential il may conjure up images of Christmas and sweets in your head, ants aren't convinced. This essential oil's high cinnamaldehyde concentration aids in successfully combating and preventing ant infestation.
Cinnamon is frequently recommended as a DIY ant control solution and is said to work as a natural repellant since ants dislike the fragrance. Inhaling cinnamon essential oil can also cause an ant to choke and die, and This is one of the few essential oils that can even kill ants.
7. Clove Essential oil for Ants
Clove essential oil is hot, peppery, and powerful. Because its powerful perfume conceals the smell of the food trail, it is an efficient natural ant repellant. It is also likely that clove bud essential oil kills ants when it comes into touch with them.
Clove bud essential oil is quite powerful and feels warm on the skin when applied. Thus it isn't hard to believe that it could kill ants. Clove essential oil contains a fast acting contact insecticide that is effective on various household pests.
8. Cedarwood Essential Oil for Ants
The insect repellent properties of cedarwood are well-known. To attain their lofty heights, cedar trees must devise bug-repelling techniques. Cedarwood essential oil has the same qualities as a potential ant repellant.
Cedarwood essential oil's powerful perfume confuses ants, preventing them from entering your house. It is effective against a variety of ant species, including fire ants! When it comes to insect management, a few drops of cedarwood oil may work wonders.
9. Citronella Essential Oil for Ants
Citronella essential oil is derived from the lemongrass plant, traditionally used in soaps, candles, and other perfume-based products. If you're wearing a perfume that hides your scent, mosquitoes won't be able to find you, and ants will die if they come into touch with citronella essential oil.
Citronella essential oil has a pleasant perfume and, due to its potency, may be used for various purposes. It is all repelled by ants, wasps, bees, roaches, gnats, ticks, fleas, moths, flies, and other home pests. This chemical-free alternative is both environmentally friendly and effective.
10. Lemon Essential Oil for Ants
Lemon essential oil may be used for more than just being a garnishing ingredient; it can also assist you in fighting ants in your house. The perfume of lemon oil conceals the scent trails they use to go to and from food and deters them from settling down.
Sprinkle some lemon essential oil in and around the ant problem area, or have a couple of slices of lemon peel in your pantry. Lemon essential oil's bright, lemony, and somewhat flowery scent is refreshing and stimulating, making it an excellent addition to your kitchen, apart from repelling ants.
Homemade Ant Repellent Essential Oil Recipes
Essential oils are super oils that have applications almost everywhere! Even when faced with an ant infestation, essential oils can come to your rescue. Read on to find out how to create your own essential oil liquid cleaners and sprays to eliminate pesky ants.
1. Essential Oil Cleaner to Get Rid of Ants
In ant-prone locations, we recommend using an essential oil cleaning liquid (kitchen, bathroom, etc.) It's considerably less probable that bugs will cross your counters if they smell like Peppermint, Lemongrass, or Cedarwood. Combine essential oils with antibacterial, insect-repellent white vinegar to make an all-purpose ant deterrent spray that cleans your counters while keeping pests at bay.
Ingredients:
- Peppermint Essential Oil - 10 Drops
- White Vinegar - ¼ Cup
- Lemongrass Essential Oil - 10 Drops
- Distilled Water - 1 ¾ Cup
- Cedarwood Essential Oil - 10 Drops
Directions:
- Mix all of the ingredients.
- Store in an air-tight bottle.
- Spray on counters and let the cleanser evaporate on its own.
2. DIY Ant Spray with Essential Oils
When you're enjoying the great outdoors, ants might be a nuisance. We suggest utilising an essential oil spray to keep ants at bay instead of wiping down the neighbourhood picnic table with your homemade counter cleanser.
Ingredients:
- Lemon Essential Oil - 10 Drops
- Cedarwood Essential Oil - 10 Drops
- Citronella Essential Oil - 10 Drops
- Clove Essential Oil - 10 Drops
Directions:
This potent mix can keep ants and mosquitos, and flies at bay! Before spraying, mix 25-30 drops of 190-proof alcohol with 60 ml distilled water in a spray bottle and spray generously about your picnic blanket or anything that might attract insects.
Conclusion
Now that you know how simple it is to get rid of ants organically using only natural essential oils and a few common home objects, you can get started on our recipes. If you're not sure where to get your essential oils, go no further than VedaOils - we offer the finest and most authentic essential oils for all your needs.