IF you are fed up with ants crawling all over your home, don’t worry – you’ve come to the right place.
Although many of us have been enjoying the warmer weather, the increase in temperature also means that ants will be more active.
Ants can cause a lot of problems in properties, making their way into cupboards, food and even fridges and freezers.
But removing ants professionally can cost up to £230 per treatment (yes, you heard that correctly).
So if you’re on a budget, but want to put a stop to the creepy crawlies in your home, then you’ll need to listen up.
Chris Hutton, a storage expert and owner of Adams Selfstore, has shared three hacks to humanely remove the pests from homes – and not only will you potentially have the secrets in your cupboard already, but one tip will cost you as little as 35p.
According to Chris, vinegar is a great cleaning solution and whilst it can be used for removing limescale and cleaning windows, it can also be used for deterring pests including ants.
Chris explained how to use white vinegar to deter ants, as he said: “Spray a solution of equal parts vinegar and water around entry points, ant trails, and known infestation areas.
“This disrupts their scent trails and deters ants from returning.”
If you’re strapped for cash, you can nab white vinegar from Tesco for as little as 35p.
As well as white vinegar, certain essential oils, including peppermint, tea tree and citrus oils, are “natural ant repellents”, according to Chris.
But instead of using the essential oils neat, the expert suggested mixing them with water.
To say goodbye to ants in your home, simply mix a few drops of essential oils with water and spray the solution around your home.
Focus on using the solution around door frames, windows and air vents where ants are most likely to enter from.
If you don’t have any essential oils at home already, you can buy them from Amazon for just £2.49.
Common pests in the garden don’t need to be a cause for alarm. If you can identify them, you can work on getting rid of them and preventing them from returning.
Aphids (Greenfly, Blackfly)
Aphids are extremely common and can impact plant growth. They have tiny soft pear-shaped bodies, and are usually green or black. You may spot them clustered on the stem of soft shoots – look under leaves in particular – or may find a sticky substance on your plants that gives away aphids have been there sucking at the sap.
Whitefly
These small white-winged insects are related to aphids, at just 1 or 2 mm in length, and look very much like white moths as adults. They can be found on the underside of leaves, preferring younger, fresher leaves. They fly in clusters when you disturb them. Their lifecycle is only three weeks long, which means an infestation can occur very rapidly.
Slugs
An unmissable, squashy-looking body plus small sensory tentacles on its head. Slugs move along on one muscular foot. They range in scale from surprisingly small to terrifyingly large; limax cinereoniger species can grow comfortably beyond 20 cm in length.
Cabbage Moth Caterpillar
Cabbage moth caterpillars happily make their way into the heart of the vegetables, The caterpillars are distinguished in shades of yellow or browny green with no hair.
Mealy Bug
Mealybugs are tiny oval-shaped insects that have a white, powdery wax coating. There are several different species, many of which have what looks like legs coming from their sides and back end. In their earliest stage of life, it’s entirely possible to mistake them for fungus and not recognise them as insects at all.
Finally, whilst many of us use cinnamon for baking and cooking, it turns out that it can also be used to deter pests.
Sprinkling ground cinnamon on or around ant trails can disrupt their scent trails which can stop them from entering homes.
It’s a safe, non-toxic method and will cost you just £1.
Cinnamon can be bought from a variety of supermarkets on the cheap, with it on shelves for just £1 in Tesco and Asda.
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