I don’t care how obsessively neat you are, the ants will find you. I know because they found me. I’m a champion decanter, and everything in my kitchen is airtight – but stilloccasionally I see a terrible parade of tiny invaders that have somehow appeared, despite my best efforts.
I don’t like insecticides to begin with, and I can’t stand them in the kitchen where I prepare food. I’ve tried many natural pest control remedies, and recently I found a solution that naturally solves my ant problem with something I always have on hand: citrus fruits.
How to eliminate ants with citrus fruits
D-limonene, an acidic oil found in orange, grapefruit and lemon peels, is an effective ant repellent. Since trying it out was low risk and potentially high reward, I gave it a go. To my surprise and delight, the method worked like a charm! I placed the scrubs where the ants used to visit and was shocked at how well it worked.
The trick, of course, is not magic. I’m sure if I had left a pile of sugar on the counter, a few persistent ants would have made their way around the pile of crusts. However, if you are willing to take all the standard ant precautions, such as cleaning up spilled food immediately and closing all containers, then all you need to eliminate ants is the ability to tolerate a pile of crusts on your kitchen counter. I wound mine around chopsticks to make them prettier and less likely to be composted on autopilot.
Why I like this method the most
There are other effective natural remedies like baking powder and sugar mixes or DIY sprays, but I like the scrub method because it uses something that will go into the compost anyway and requires almost no preparation (if you skip the twisting).
It seems counterintuitive — eliminate ants with fruit? — but it works, and I wish I had learned this food-safe method sooner. I will never buy an ant trap again, and I will always have oranges on hand.