Homemade Ant Killer, aphids

Here is a yellow bowl with water and a few drops of dish soap. The little specks are aphids! It's catching a lot of other stuff too.

We are continuing to have a lot of trouble with ants. We have two columns of ants climbing the outside walls and going into the attic, and we have ants eating up the lima bean plants. This morning I researched homemade ant killers/repellants and here is what I found from various how-to web sites. 

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of water

2 tablespoons of Borax Laundry Detergent

Place all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil (while stirring), Boil for 3 minutes. Using the plastic lids from milk containers, Place it in the effected room or outside where the ants are. They will find the sticky liquid no matter where it is placed. The ants eat this and then take it back to their nest. Before long there will be no more ants as this mixture will kill them.

* http://www.recipegoldmine.com/house/hous...

ANT KILLER 1:

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 envelope dry yeast

Mix all ingredients together. Place a few drops on pieces of cardboard, then place wherever ants are coming in.

* http://www.recipegoldmine.com/house/hous...

ANT KILLER 2:

1 or 2 cups of grits

Take (1 or 2 Cups) of GRITS, and sprinkle them around the ants mound in the yard. When an ant eats these grits, his body gets all the water soaked up out of his little body and dies.

Ant Killer #3

Mix a half teaspoon each of honey, borox, and aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, etc.), in small bottles. Place bottles on their sides, with lids off, in areas of most ant activity. Ants will carry the bait back to their colonies. Important: use indoors only; must be kept away from pets and children. 

 Repellant:

Mix the following ingredients in a spray bottle:

10 1/2 ounces of water

3 ounces of hot sauce (Tabasco works very well)

2 1/2 ounces liquid peppermint soap (available at health-food stores). Just spritz on where ants enter your home. Dont spray this on plants! The soap and peppermint oil is too concentrated for them.

I tried out number 3 this morning using honey, borax and splenda. I mixed it up in a little pill bottle and set it out next to the lima beans. The ants are going into it and I hope it works! Garry has run out of some commercial ant killer that we have been using to try and kill the ants going into our attic so I will try some of this other stuff in those spots too.