The weather is getting warmer and that means the critters are coming out. Every day at my house I am seeing more and more bumblebees and honeybees floating around my flowers. I am also seeing a few wasps. I have a great hack for getting rid of those. And, I am seeing a lot more ants too.

Lorenz Lippert via Unsplash.com
Lorenz Lippert via Unsplash.com
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Now when it comes to pest control for your house you really do need to call on a professional. A local expert knows the right kind of chemicals and the proper way to mix them to take care of any pest problem you might have. But when it comes to the smaller problems with smaller creatures like ants, I like to take matters into my own hands.

Because we have dogs at our house I have to be careful what chemicals or materials I put out in my yard, again another reason to consult a true pest professional. But when it comes to ants I do have a secret weapon that's not usually a problem for any of God's creatures, other than ants.

What makes this even better is that I usually have the two ingredients I'll need already in my pantry. What are those two ingredients? They are baking soda and icing sugar. You might call icing sugar confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar. Here's what you do to make the ants go away.

Just take baking soda and mix it with the baking soda. Most of the time I mix them one to one, you know equal parts baking soda to equal parts sugar. Make sure you mix them up really good.

Next, you'll need to apply the powder to your problem area. Just sprinkle the mixture around the places where you are seeing the ants. The ants will be attracted by the sugar and can't help but ingest some of the baking soda too. That's what causes the problem for the insect. 

Think back to 6th-grade science class and the baking soda and vinegar volcano. When the baking soda hits the acid in the vinegar you get the explosion. Now, for our purposes when the baking soda makes contact with the digestive juices from the ant, well it's not a volcano but the explosion is big enough.

AHBakingSoda via YouTube
AHBakingSoda via YouTube
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One thing to note about the ingredients, make sure you use baking soda and not baking powder. Also, make sure you use icing or powdered sugar for the mixture. The consistency of the icing sugar is very similar to the baking soda and the ants won't be able to tell them apart. If you use regular sugar granules they'll just eat the sugar.

Apply as needed and you should see results in less than three days. If you keep regularly applying the mixture you won't have an ant issue at all. And, if you want to rid the cracks in your sidewalk or patio from unwanted weeds, sprinkle some of the mixtures directly on those weeds. The baking soda will "dry them up" from the roots.

Alexander Mils via Unsplash.com
Alexander Mils via Unsplash.com
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Maybe the best part of all about this particular hack is the cost. You can treat your entire garden for about a dollar. This is great because there seems to be a never-ending supply of ants.

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