The Fragrant Herb Essential Oil That Can Keep Ants Away From Your House

Using essential oils to repel insects can be an environmentally friendly way of preventing pests from accessing your home and garden. Unlike harsh chemicals and insecticides, essential oils are nontoxic. But what herb essential oil is best for repelling ants? The answer is simple: Thyme.

Thyme can actually repel a number of insects, including whiteflies, mosquitoes, and houseflies (this all-natural essential oil can even eliminate mice). Utilizing its strong scent around your house in the form of an essential oil will make your home a lot less inviting to pests. Thyme is another fantastic essential oil to naturally deter ants from invading kitchen cabinets, but it can also work to get rid of an existing infestation. That's because thyme's strong fragrance doesn't just repel insects, but it's aroma is also powerful enough to mask the scent of ant pheromones, which other ants use to get a direct pathway straight into your house. Masking this scent trail can prevent ants from being able to follow others that have already made it inside. 

One of the best ways to use thyme oil to deter ants is to put a small amount in a spray bottle with water, and then spray it around the entrances of your home, including anywhere ants could potentially enter (don't forget about windows, cracks in the wall, and spaces between your baseboards and the floor). You'll need to refresh the spray every few days or so.

You can also try using drops of thyme essential oil on cotton balls that you then place around the borders of your home, including in the areas where you see ants gather or enter. These cotton balls may hold and distribute scent for a little longer than a spray bottle, but remember to replace them when they dry out and no longer smell.

Another method you might have seen done before with citronella to keep mosquitoes away from your home, is to use thyme essential oil in a diffuser. For ants, it's potentially more effective to place the essential oil close to the ground so that it completely blocks their pheromones. However, a diffuser can work at controlling multiple pests at once, ants included, so it's a good way to fill a space with a strong enough aroma to drive all kinds of different house pests away. A diffuser will produce the strongest scent and can run continuously, so expect your home to smell like thyme if you use this method.