Homemade Fire Ant Killer: Do 11 Popular Home Remedies Kill Ants?
Homemade ant killer being sprayed from a plain white spray bottle onto a deck near some grass.
You’re just walking through your backyard, trying to enjoy a game of catch with your kids. When you realize there are some terrifying red mounds rising up from the grass, dotting the yard. You begin to lose concentration on playing with your children because you are worried that you — or your kids — are about to be attacked by those aggressive little red fire ants and have your entire day ruined.
Fire ants are a big problem in South Carolina and throughout the Southern United States. They have no natural predators/enemies here like they do in South America. So they tend to be rather uncontrollable.
And with potentially dozens of queen ants laying 800 to 1500 eggs per day at the bottom of the ant nest and nests that go several feet deep, it is a challenge to eliminate these pesky South Carolina insects.
If you want to know more about the lives and habits of fire ants, check out our fire ant fact resource here.
Fire ant mound in the grass near a road in winter.
The real question is how to kill fire ants. And will homemade fire ant remedies work?
Many people want to know if one home remedy or another will kill ants or fire ants. So let’s take these questions one at a time to try to find the best outdoor ant killer.
In general, homemade fire ant remedies aren’t strong enough to take care of severe fire ant problems. So if you are dealing with a large infestation of fire ants, it’s best to involve a landscaper or exterminator who can provide professional insecticides and fire ant control.
In this post, we’ll explore the following fire ant home remedies and we’ll talk about tips for getting rid of ants. As well as answer the question of whether there are natural fire ant killers that are effective.
11 Home remedies for fire ants we’ll talk about:
Vinegar
Baking soda
Vinegar plus baking soda
Bleach
Cinnamon
Liquid dish soap
Orange oil
Salt
Borax
Diatomaceous earth
Cayenne pepper
If you’d like to check out more information about fire ants, how they live, what they eat, their life cycles, etc… here’s our resource on fire ant facts. Read up and blow your family and friends away with all your fire ant trivia knowledge.
We’ll have another post soon about how to kill ants in your yard using commercially available chemical ant killer.
Vinegar as a homemade cleaning agent and as ant killer.
Does vinegar kill fire ants?
Vinegar is not a very effective ant killer. It’s possible that a few ants may die if you spray vinegar or a 1:1 mixture of vinegar and water directly on the ants. Overall, though, it doesn’t seem to be effective at poisoning ants in mass numbers.
But don’t give up completely on the idea of using household white vinegar to help control ants.
Vinegar is an ant-repellant. It can throw off ants by messing with their sense of smell and their ability to detect their pheromone trails that lead all their buddies to food sources.
Some people like to mix equal parts of vinegar and water and put it in a spray bottle to spray around entry points of their house. Other people like to soak cotton balls in vinegar and place those where ants seem to be active.
So if you want to keep ants from coming into your home, spraying your diluted vinegar solution could be a helpful option.
And while pouring a gallon of vinegar or diluted vinegar on a fire ant hill might be a satisfying thing to do. It may just make the ants move and might not kill a lot of them. And, it’s important to note, vinegar can kill plants on contact as a natural nonspecific herbicide. So, it could harm your lawn and other plants.
That’s why vinegar alone isn’t generally recommended by the pros. However, combined with baking soda, vinegar may have more of a kick to it as an ant killer.
A box of baking soda and a glass jar full of baking soda on its side spilled onto a wooden floor.
Does baking soda kill fire ants?
Yes, baking soda can kill ants and fire ants if you can get them to ingest it. The key is to mix equal parts baking soda and sugar. The ants will be attracted to and eat the sugar mixture. Then when the acid in their stomachs combines with the baking soda, it makes carbon dioxide and the ants will bloat and eventually die.
Baking soda is not generally toxic to people or pets. So it is a pet-friendly option for fire ant control. But baking soda will not generally kill all — or even most — of the ants in a colony. So if you have a severe fire ant infestation, this is not going to be a magic bullet.
Glass jars of vinegar and baking soda.
What about using baking soda and vinegar to kill ants?
Some people pour baking soda onto an ant nest (after carefully poking a few holes into the nest with a long stick) and then pour vinegar on that. The combination creates carbon dioxide which is toxic to ants and can kill them.
This is an ant control method that is non-toxic to people, children, and pets. But remember, the vinegar will harm grass and plants that it comes in contact with. And it may not come anywhere near killing all of the fire ants in the colony.
NOTE: If you want to use vinegar and baking soda to kill fire ants, don’t mix baking soda and vinegar together in a closed container because the carbon dioxide will cause a lot of pressure and could make the container explode.
Before using baking soda and vinegar together, be sure to brush up on safety tips. And be sure you have the proper safety equipment and know the right procedures.
A person opening an unmarked bottle of bleach carefully.
Will bleach kill fire ants?
Yes, bleach can kill fire ants if it is applied directly to each one. But it won’t get to the queen or the eggs so it is not a long-term option for fire ant control.
Plus, dealing with bleach can be quite dangerous. You need special protective gear and you can’t mix it with many other chemicals safely. So it’s important to be up on your bleach safety tips before handling it. And remember that bleach can harm grass and plants.
Cinnamon sticks beside ground cinnamon.
Does cinnamon kill fire ants?
Cinnamon may repel fire ants but it is not a reliable method of eradicating fire ants from your yard. Here’s a surprising bit of information. Some studies of ground cinnamon being sprinkled over fire ants ended up actually having greater fire ant activity than those mounds that were left untreated!? What’s that about? We definitely don’t want to attract ants or give them a big boost in our yards.
Two types of dishwashing liquid in clear plastic bottles.
Will liquid dish soap kill fire ants?
Home recipes for dishwashing liquid fire ant killer are popular. And they may harm the fire ants who come in contact with a water-based solution made with dish soap. But it won’t destroy the colony and the effects end when the solution dries.
A whole orange in the back with two orange halves and a dropper bottle of orange oil with orange leaves on a wood surface with a blurred green background.
Will orange oil kill fire ants?
Orange oil ant killer just might work. It should kill fire ants within minutes of contact.
Some people like to do a mixture of liquid dish soap, orange oil, and water with 1.5 ounces of orange oil, 3 ounces of dish soap, and a gallon of water. They believe that is more effective than just the dish soap and water alone.
If you have a minor fire ant problem, this could be worth a shot.
Again, though, it won’t be nearly as effective as ant killer chemicals or professional fire ant treatments.
A glass salt shaker with a metal lid on its side with a mound of salt spilled on a table.
Will salt kill fire ants?
While salt can kill fire ants that experience direct contact with it, it won’t kill the queen ant or eggs in a nest. So this is not a long-term solution for getting rid of fire ants.
And keep in mind that salt will not only draw water out of fire ants to dehydrate them, but it will dehydrate and harm grass and plants.
A white plastic bottle with a blue lid labeled, “Borax,” sitting in a laboratory on a white counter beside a plastic dish with a mound of borax.
Does borax kill ants/fire ants?
Borax, a naturally occurring mineral (sodium tetraborate), can be mixed with something sugary like sugar, jelly, or syrup. If ants eat it, eventually, it does poison them. But it takes a few days to work. If the worker ants bring the mixture back to the nest and the other ants and queen eat it, it’s possible it could take care of a fire ant colony.
Borax ant killer can work quite well. It is the active ingredient in many effective fire ant treatments like:
AmdroⓇ Fire Ant Bait
TerroⓇ Fire Ant Killer
OrthoⓇ Fire Ant Killer Mound Treatment
Keep the borax-laden bait away from children and pets (and other people or animals) to prevent any toxicity issues for them. And be sure to check out the safety information about borax before handling it. The FDA has banned borax as a food additive because it is not safe for human ingestion or inhalation. It can also cause skin and eye irritation.
Be sure to always follow all instructions and precautions, and heed all safety warnings on any kind of chemical including fire ant killers.
A paper bag on its side with diatomaceous earth powder spilled out onto brown paper on a wood floor.
Does diatomaceous earth kill ants/fire ants?
Diatomaceous earth is a fine white powder made from the shells of tiny sea creatures. The idea is that the little particles are very sharp and cut through the exoskeletons of insects like fire ants.
Yes, diatomaceous earth kills fire ants that walk across it — eventually. But it will likely only kill a tiny portion of the entire ant colony.
To be effective, a natural fire ant product must kill the queen. And this is, sadly, just not going to do the job.
Also, you don’t want to breathe in this powder. It’s not something you want in your lungs. Or in your eyes. Or on your skin. Here’s a safety sheet about it.
3 whole red chili peppers beside a small brown bowl of ground chili pepper on a rustic wooden table.
Will cayenne pepper kill fire ants?
Cayenne pepper definitely repels some of us from eating spicy foods. But does this home remedy for fire ants actually kill ants? While it may irritate them or repel them temporarily, it is not likely that you’ll be able to eliminate the whole colony through any kind of cayenne pepper recipe.
But try cooking with Cayenne and invite your Uncle Pete over. Isn’t he the one who loves spicy food? That’s probably a better use of those searing hot peppers.
Non-toxic tips for getting rid of ants
Whatever method you want to use to kill or repel ants or fire ants, it’s crucial to do some basic things around your home, as well. This will help you get rid of fire ants naturally.
These tips all revolve around this goal:
Get rid of the things that are attracting ants into or around your home.
Keep your home clean. Don’t leave spilled food or sugary drinks around. Clean them up quickly.
Remove any food sources in your yard that is attracting fire ants.
Seal up any gaps. Make sure to seal holes in your home’s foundation and seal any cracks or gaps around windows and doors if ants are getting into your home.
Clean up yard debris that looks welcoming to fire ants.
Invest in good food storage ideas. Keep food in airtight containers.
Stop any leaks. Fix leaking water pipes or gutters that may contribute to rotting wood or other decay.
Is there a natural fire ant killer that is effective?
People get pretty desperate to find anything that will act as fire ant poison. And while some of these natural remedies may not work alone to manage a fire ant problem, they might work as part of an integrated fire ant management plan.
Boiling water
Yes, if you boil a big pot of water and pour it into a fire ant mound, it will kill many ants on contact. And it will probably feel quite satisfying. If you don’t burn yourself or anyone else, that is.
Will it reach the queen ant(s)? Well, since fire ant tunnels can go 25 feet away from the mound, it’s not likely. And the queens tend to be very deep in the nest.
Organic insecticides
Monterey Garden Insect Spray (spinosad)
Spinosad-based fire ant baits are organic and can be pretty effective. This product is produced by soil-born microbes (Saccharopolyspora spinosa) that produce metabolites that are toxic to some insects. The metabolites can be made into insecticides.
Read the label carefully since not all products with spinosad are completely organic.
Orange Guard Fire Ant Control (D-limonene)
While this chemical is usually used to control caterpillars, it can be used as a mound drench for fire ants. D-limonene comes from citrus peels. It can damage grass in undiluted form. And to achieve control, the cost per fire ant mound may be rather high.
For information about ant killer that is safe for pets, click here.
A macro image of a stinging fire ant looking for food with a blurry yard in the background.
Ant-repelling disciplines
Some good ways to make your fire ant killing efforts as productive as possible would be to follow the following methods in addition to using fire ant killer.
Apply treatments in the early morning or late evening
Apply natural repellants like cinnamon, citrus peels, vinegar, or coffee grounds.
Keep your property and home neat and tidy.
Promptly treat any fire ant mounds you find.
For severe infestations of fire ants, please call in professional pest control services to help you manage fire ants effectively and keep you and your family safe.
To learn more about commercially available fire ant killer options, check out our resource here.
Ready for help with fire ants in Columbia, SC?
At Boots On Enterprises, we can handle your fire ant problems and your landscaping and yard needs, as well.
Contact us today for a FREE estimate. Next-day and same-week service is available.
Phone: 803-521-4978
Email: bootsonenterprises@gmail.com
