Admit It, Ants Are Pestering You in Your Home

August 12, 2005 - 7:35am

Ira Mellman, WTOP Radio

WASHINGTON -- Maybe you've seen them plodding up the refrigerator, or out of the dishwasher or around the trash can.

Worst case scenario: They've crawled up the table during your child's birthday party and spoiled somebody's cake.

Maybe you don't like to admit it. In fact, it's probably mortifying to bring it up in conversation.

But ants are making themselves at home -- in your home.

"They're coming in for the air conditioning and then they're seeking out a water source because they're really dehydrated out there, especially if people haven't been watering their lawns and gardens," says WTOP's Garden Editor Mike McGrath.

So how do you get rid of them?

McGrath, who prefers not to use lots of toxic chemicals to do the job, suggests you use Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), a daisy-like flower that is a member of the famed Pyrethum family.

"The crushed up parts of that plant are the best ant repellant known to man," he says.

Scatter the crushed up Tansy where the ants are coming in, but be aware, Tansy can be toxic to pets.

Or you could create a concoction of sugar water mixed with one teaspoon of boric acid. Either put out cups and containers of it or soak cotton balls with it.

But once you've put it out, stop doing what you're naturally inclined to do -- kill the ants you see.

"You need the ants to survive and take this ant poison -- poisonous to them, pretty harmless to us -- back to the nest. And if you leave the ants alone and this get this back to the nest, it will kill the queen.

"Just like in the human world, when the woman running things falls apart, the whole colony falls apart and the men just don't know what to do with themselves."

Read more about getting rid of ants in McGrath's Garden Plot.