Get Rid Of Ants Without Harming Your Plants Using A Clever Kitchen Scrap

While they have a bad reputation because of their behavior at picnics, ants are important to any healthy garden. They eat pests like termites and caterpillars, which can destroy acres of crops. They also excavate tunnels deep into the soil, which allow air and water to pass through. But perhaps most importantly, the ants in your garden play the vital role of converting organic waste into nutrients. There can be too much of a good thing, however. Since ants consume the honeydew left behind by aphids, they will actually collaborate to protect these leaf-eating pests from predators. In addition, when ants tunnel, they sometimes damage root systems and seedlings.

So, if you find your garden overtaken by an ant colony, you'll need to take action to protect your crops. Instead of cutting back that ant population using insecticides, which can potentially harm animals and people, try opening your spice drawer and pulling out some cinnamon.

This inexpensive solution will only take a few minutes to prepare. First, you'll need an empty spray bottle, which can be bought new or cleaned and repurposed. Then, grab a tablespoon for measurements. Lastly, pick up a coffee filter and a funnel. In addition to warding off ants, this mixture can help with rodent infestations and even get rid of harmful fungi like gray mold. If you're an animal lover, this is just one popular non-toxic hack people are using to repel ants.

To turn cinnamon into an ant-repelling spray, simply stir 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon per 1 cup of warm water. Then, place a coffee filter over a funnel and pour the mixture into your spray bottle. Keep the bottle on hand and apply the solution to ant paths in your garden when you find them. Also spray the plants' leaves and around the roots. You can also soak the rag in the mixture and tie it to your garden stakes. 

You can also use cinnamon either in its powdered form or in stick form to repel ants. You can tie strings to your cinnamon sticks and hang them from your plants, but powdered cinnamon is much more likely to be effective. When you find a line of ants marching through your garden, sprinkle some cinnamon in their path. Keep in mind that the cinnamon will quickly wash away in the rain, so you will have to add more to your garden once everything is dry. 

Aside from getting rid of ants, there are several other useful ways you should be using cinnamon in your garden. For instance, you can use it to help keep fungus out and protect your pruned plants from disease. 

It's not necessary to understand why cinnamon repels ants in order to use it effectively, but it's certainly interesting to learn about. When a single ant ventures out and finds a source of food, it can return to its colony and lead thousands of its friends into your garden. But ants do not have a language in the way we understand it. Instead of communicating with words, ants communicate with one another with pheromones, which mark the paths to food. Cinnamon contains the compound cinnamaldehyde, which makes it harder for ants to communicate with each other by muddling these pheromone paths. 

Although this chemical will repel ants, it will not harm them. It also will not harm your plants. However, it isn't a permanent fix. Ants and other pests will eventually return to your garden if food is there, so you'll have to reapply the spray or powder regularly. But this solution will hopefully slow their attack on your fruits and vegetables.