It's nice to see the coordinated work of a large team. Ants are a prime example of this. Indeed, their complex social organization, intelligence, hard work and power will be the envy of any team. These insects can carry objects that are 5000 times heavier than themselves. Such facts are admirable. But it ends when the working ants settle in a summer cottage or in a house. There is little pleasant from such a neighborhood: insects spoil seeds, ovaries and roots of plants, damage fruits, and are carriers of mold and microbes in the house. Chemicals help get rid of this nightmare quickly, but they are not always safe. Folk remedies are more accessible and no less effective, including baking soda for ants.
Ants are restless workers, but their appearance in a garden, orchard or home can lead to spoiled harvests and unsanitary conditions.
Why get rid of ants
Ants are rightly called forest orderlies, because they help get rid of many pests. But if a gardener or gardener notices the settlement of these insects on his site, he is unlikely to be happy. Although they perfectly loosen the soil, they also cause quite a lot of harm.
Firstly, swarming in the ground, a large family destroys the roots of plants.
Secondly, ants eat seeds. If you decide to sow something in the area where these hard workers live, do not expect abundant germination. Already ripe fruits or berries are a favorite delicacy of ants, which is why strawberries and raspberries often suffer from their invasion.
Thirdly, the ants drive the aphids to the tops of the young shoots, thus “grazing” them, and at this time the green insects suck out all the juices from the plant, and it dies.
Fourthly, black trails of insects in a house or apartment put everyone in a state of shock. In addition to being disgusting and unpleasant, it is also dangerous: ants are carriers of germs, and their bites can cause allergies.
Simple and affordable means, such as baking soda, will help solve the problem with unwanted guests.
Why are ants dangerous in the house?
Having occupied an apartment or house, ants can cause harm to the room itself and the people living in it:
- They carry mold fungi and pathogenic microbes (especially considering that ants enter the apartment from dirty, littered rooms, and other people's bathrooms).
- They carry leftover food throughout the apartment, filling cracks, crevices and other places that are difficult for humans to reach.
- They provoke rotting processes, which may be indicated by the appearance of an unpleasant odor.
- The waste products of these insects are the strongest allergens.
- Insects marching through the kitchen are not a sight for the faint of heart. For most of us, the presence of insects in our home is unpleasant. For those who suffer from myrmecophobia (a type of insectophobia associated with the fear of ants), it completely causes panic.
- Some species bite painfully, provoking an allergic reaction: redness, itching, swelling of the bite site. As a result, an inflamed area forms on the skin, which takes a painfully long time to resolve.
Insects that settle in apartments have jaws that are too small to bite, and from this point of view they are harmless to people. The same cannot be said about those brought in from a dacha or the street. Their bite can even cause anaphylaxis in some cases.
How does soda work?
It is known from chemistry lessons that sodium bicarbonate creates an alkaline environment that neutralizes acid and has disinfecting abilities. This factor also works great in the case of ants, whose bodies are saturated with acid. Once in the pest's body, baking soda reacts with it, as a result of which the outer shell of the insect is destroyed and it dies. This point is important: ants do not consider soda in its pure form as food, so they have to dodge and prepare various mixtures with soda in order to feed them to harmful insects.
Benefits of Soil Powder for Insect Control
Experienced gardeners and gardeners have long used baking soda to kill ants. As soon as their families settle in the garden, it’s time to get down to business, otherwise you can forget about a good harvest. The undeniable advantages of sodium bicarbonate are as follows:
- safety - soda does not cause any harm to both people and pets;
- accessibility - every housewife always has a package of NaHCO₃ at hand, which can be used to remove unwanted insects;
- effectiveness - after several treatments, soda will repel ants from the area for a long time;
- versatility - soda mixtures and baits contain affordable ingredients that are suitable for use both in the house and in the garden.
Sprinkle soda on the anthill, and then pour boiling water on top
Few gardeners will be happy with ant trails on their property. But for successful pest control, you just need to take a closer look at the hardworking insects. You need to assess where the ants have settled, which paths lead them to the house, and then start hunting for pests. An integrated approach is very important here, since fighting only the paths or only the house will lead to nothing: soon the ant metropolis will find other habitats on your site.
Soil safety
Naturally, every gardener, in such a situation, will be concerned about the question: “Will soda be even more harmful to the garden than ants?” Soda is an alkali, and the presence of such a group of substances in the soil is extremely undesirable. In fact, in order to disrupt the acid-base balance of the soil, more than 10 kilograms of soda per hundred square meters must be used. Thus, small amounts of the substance used to exterminate insects will not affect the quality of the soil in any way.
Recipes for preparing solutions
Since ants have a well-known sweet tooth, try to play on this passion of theirs. Various mixtures and solutions using sugar, sweet powder and aromatic seasonings will have the desired effect and quickly remove unwanted guests from the garden. Here are the most popular recipes.
Sweet bait
For this mixture, just mix equal parts of NaHCO3 and powdered sugar or regular sugar. Add 2 tbsp to the composition for viscosity. spoons of water. After thorough mixing, the bait is scattered near the anthill and along the paths. The ants are unlikely to refuse this dessert, and therefore will soon die. And the smarter ones will go looking for another secluded home.
Preparing a sweet bait for ants based on sugar and soda will help cope with the invasion of pests in the garden.
Soda solution
The killing agent can be prepared using soda and hot water. In a 2-liter glass container, mix 3 tablespoons of soda and 1 liter of boiling water, shake and immediately pour into the anthill. Cruel but effective. It is advisable to cover the ant house with earth and cover it with thick material or a piece of black film.
Soda-vinegar mixture
A blow below the belt for insects is treatment with a real explosive mixture. To do this, just generously sprinkle the stirred up anthill with soda, then pour vinegar on top, and cover it with turf to be safe. The procedure can be repeated a few weeks later if the expected result was not achieved the first time.
Also read: Soda for bee and wasp stings: home remedies, compresses, lotions
RESULTS
RESPONSIBILITY RESULTS RESULTS µÐ¹. OPTIONAL RESEARCH SOLUTION.
RESULTS, RESULTS, RESEARCHES RESEARCH, RESEARCH ²Ð¾Ñ:
- 10-15 г беÑезовой ÑмолÑ;
- 50 rubles;
- 10 водÑ.
RESULTS RESULTS.
RESULTS RESULTS °ÑÑений. RESULTS RESULTS.
RESULTS, CONDITIONS, CONDITIONS, CONDITIONS ´Ð¸ÑелÑми помогÑÑ Ð²Ð°Ð¼ избавиÑÑÑÑ Ð¾Ñ Ð²ÑµÐ´ RESULTS.
How to remove ants using traditional methods
Seeing a crowd of ants in a jar of sugar or honey is not a pleasant sight. You immediately want to interrupt such a neighborhood, and for this, not only soda is suitable, but also many other folk remedies that are always at hand. It is known that insects cannot tolerate strong odors. Here is a fertile field for using spices, various herbs, coffee, lemon.
Ammonia
As soon as you see a couple of brave scouts in the kitchen, it’s time to get to work, otherwise tomorrow the whole colony will be feasting on you. The smell of ammonia is lethal to ants, so we urgently prepare a solution:
- 100 ml of ammonia;
- 1 liter of boiled water.
This solution should be used to wipe down surfaces in the kitchen or throughout the apartment where ants can reach. During such a “chemical” attack, small children, allergy sufferers, asthmatics and animals should be removed from the house, since the smell is unlikely to be useful to them either. After treatment, the room is ventilated. You can use the method again after a couple of weeks.
If you decide to use ammonia on the site, then you need to generously moisten an old rag with the solution, wrap it around the anthill, and put a film on top to retain the specific smell longer. You can simply pour the solution over the entire anthill, having first stirred it up.
You might be interested: How to properly use baking soda to protect tomatoes from late blight
Lemon juice
This method is suitable for those who cannot stand the smell of vinegar or ammonia, although it is less effective. To do this, dilute 1 part lemon juice with 3 parts water. It’s even easier to dissolve 2 tablespoons of citric acid in a liter of hot water. This fragrant solution is used to water the paths and houses of ants, and wipe all surfaces in an apartment or house.
Birch tar
Birch tar is an excellent antiseptic and an indispensable assistant for gardeners and gardeners. They treat the trunks of trees and bushes to protect them from pests and diseases. It is also destructive for ants, since they cannot stand its smell. You can use birch tar in several ways:
- apply in its pure form to a tree trunk along which swarms of ants “trot”;
- soak the fabric in the solution and cover the anthill or wrap the tree trunk;
- Dig into places where insects accumulate if you need to get rid of pests in the greenhouse.
Birch tar is not used in houses and apartments.
Baking soda and salt
Baking soda will get rid of ants in the garden in tandem with salt. To prepare, just mix these two ingredients in equal quantities and sprinkle them on the anthill. You can add ground black pepper for a spicy sensation. For prevention, you can draw circles around the trees with the mixture to prevent pests from attacking the plants.
Also read about the use of technical soda: Soda ash (technical): application, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages
Reviews
- For a long time I tried to get rid of ants using all kinds of chemicals. Over time, I noticed that the number of insects was not decreasing, so I decided to stop poisoning the soil and plants. Recently, a neighbor in the country advised me to use soda and vinegar. After two treatments the ants disappeared.
- There are so many anthills in my garden that it is simply impossible to calmly plant and care for the plants. To combat pests, I tried many means, including soda. However, unfortunately, so far none of the remedies have helped clear the area of annoying insects.
- I tried to treat the anthill with regular soda out of curiosity. I generously covered the insects' home in the garden, and after two weeks there was not a single ant left in the treated area.
Recommended for you:
How and why to use soda for gooseberries
Judging by the reviews, the effect of using alkali varies from person to person. Thus, some gardeners manage to completely get rid of huge colonies of pests, while others note only a temporary result: for some period of time there are fewer insects, but after 2-3 weeks their number becomes the same.
Indoor control is often complicated by the fact that it is very difficult to fill or pour a sufficient amount of product into the narrow gap under the floor where small pests have settled.
However, baking soda has many advantages over chemicals. Firstly, it has a gentle effect on plants and soil. Secondly, its cost is significantly lower compared to any chemical sold in specialized stores.
Areas of application
Baking soda is used for different crops. Spray cabbage, other vegetables, berries and fruit trees.
A solution of sodium bicarbonate in a summer cottage is used:
- for treating seeds before planting - soda allows you to disinfect planting material no worse than potassium permanganate;
- for spraying plants against diseases and pests - allows you to fight various types of rot, destroys slugs and caterpillars, is effective against spider mites, aphids and ants on the site;
- for soil treatment - helps reduce soil acidity;
- as a fertilizer – it improves the growth of tomatoes and cucumbers.
See also
Rules for planting, growing and caring for Savoy cabbage varieties
Read
Spraying with soda solution is especially effective for killing aphids, caterpillars and slugs that plague cabbage.
Important: you don’t have to worry about the white coating remaining on the leaves after spraying.
Regular treatment of cabbage beds allows you to avoid the spread of pests - they leave the “tasteless” plantings.
