How to Get Rid of Ants on the Patio
If you have a patio, you probably enjoy spending time on it throughout the year. Unfortunately, the ants enjoy time on it too.
Ants live everywhere in Florida, and Palm Beach is no exception. You can find all different species of ants, such as ghost ants, bigheaded ants, and Argentine ants. They’re probably climbing up trees, up the walls of homes and hiding in the grass.
However, it’s a different story when a line of these ants comes across your patio.
You can develop some strategies that can get rid of ants on your patio so you can invite all your friends over and enjoy yourself! Instead of believing that the ants won control of your patio, read these tips to learn how to get rid of ants on the patio for the whole year.
Understand What Ants are on Your Patio
There are many types of ants in Palm Beach and any one of them could be infesting your patio. From invisible white ants to black ants with big heads, there are plenty of possibilities.
Types of Ants in Palm Beach
- Sugar ants
- Ghost ants
- Pavement ants
- Pharoah ants
- Acrobat ants
- Argentine ants
- White-footed ants
- Big-headed ants
- Fire ants
While sugar ants and ghost ants are the most common ants in Palm Beach, pavement ants are known to be found on the pavement (of course), concrete, sidewalks, and patios.
Some are invasive, including ghost ants, big-headed ants, white-footed ants, and Argentine ants. Big-headed ants specifically are an issue with their invasive habits - they can form colonies of over a million ants.
How to Find an Ant Nest
The first step to keeping ants off your patio is to find the ants. This can be difficult since the ants can be all over the place, but if you can find a direct source, it could help efficiently get rid of ants.
Ants often form hills in the soil to live in and take food. If an infestation is large, there may be multiple ant hills. When you find the ant hills, try not to panic. There’s no pest issue that can’t be solved.
To get rid of ant hills in grass, you can spray them with vinegar, soapy water, cinnamon oil, or salt water. You can also sprinkle chili or cayenne pepper, baby powder, baking soda, or Diatomaceous Earth. Planting mint can also repel ants.
If the ants are on the patio all the time, the nest is likely to be nearby. You can take a quick look at nearby grass as well as underneath the patio if it’s elevated.
Keep Ants Away from Food
Your patio is a great place for outdoor gatherings and dinners, but ants love to come to those dinners as well. They will be attracted to the easy food sources, and they will invite all their ant friends to come to your party as well.
To prevent ants in Palm Beach from crashing your party, keep the food covered and sealed as much as possible. When people are not serving the food, you can cover it with lids or place a mesh dome over the entire food table.
Keep your trash in a sealed container. Ants will still be drawn to the food you threw away. You will also want to empty the trash on the patio frequently.
Keep Ants Out of Water
And I’m not talking about keeping ants from swimming in the pool, those ants have drowned by now. While ants search for food in Palm Beach, they also scavenge for water sources.
Any moist areas or puddles of standing water you have on your patio will attract the ants, so one of the best ways to keep ants away is to keep the patio dry.
To get ants off your patio, remove standing water and reduce the moisture around your patio. Keep any drinks covered so ants do not crawl in. Clean your gutters so there is no standing water in them. You can move any fountains or bird baths off the patio.
You should also reduce any moist vegetation you have near your patio. Trim your bushes and plants so air can circulate and keep things dry.
Also, water your plants in the morning so the sun can dry the topsoil, and you won’t have standing water there. Finally, rake leaves and other moist debris away from your patio so ants do not gather there.
Seal Entry Points From Ants
If you have an enclosed patio, you want to keep it that way. Ants are small and resourceful, so they can easily slip through the cracks in your patio doors and windows.
To prevent an ant infestation on your patio, seal any entry points you can find. Caulking is great for sealing small cracks you may have in your patio floor and around windows and doors.
Be sure to get the door to your house as well. The last thing you want is ants deciding to come into your house from the patio!
Cayenne Pepper to Repel Ants
Did you know that cayenne pepper is an irritant for ants? They’ll avoid it as much as possible. So, you can keep ants off your deck with cayenne pepper.
Sprinkle the cayenne pepper around your patio like a barrier. The ants won’t want to cross over it. Also, place the pepper near the areas you usually see ants to dissuade them from coming back to visit.
Keep in mind that you’ll have to reapply the cayenne pepper frequently. Try to set it out right before you plan to use your patio so it is fresh.
Dish Soap to Repel Ants
Ants leave pheromones as trail markers so other ants can follow those scents and find food sources.
If you don’t want your one ant to bring more friends later, wash down any surfaces the ant may have crawled across with dish soap. This will mask the pheromone smell so more ants aren’t drawn to your patio.
For easy cleaning, put some liquid dish soap in a glass cleaner and spray the mixture on your patio surfaces. While this is not the strongest measure to prevent ants, it is an easy way to reduce the number of ants on your deck.
Essential Oils to Repel Ants
Another natural ant control remedy is to diffuse essential oils on your patio. The ants are repelled by many essential oils, including peppermint, clove, and citrus. These oils also erase the pheromones that ants leave behind telling their friends to follow.
Choose an essential oil that you like and add a few drops of it to some water. Diffuse this mixture whenever you decide to hang out on your patio. Place the diffuser so that the wind will blow the mist across your patio, maximizing its ant-prevention abilities.
Ant Bait for Ant Control
If these natural and pet friendly remedies don’t work, you can always try ant baits and traps to prevent ants from invading your patio.
But before you buy ant bait, you need to know what type of ant you have in Palm Beach because some types of bait will only work for certain species of ants.
And as I said earlier, it’s good to know what type of ants you have in general so you can figure out the perfect treatment plan for your home.
For example, several stores sell ant bait that is made to specifically target fire ants. You’ll know if you have fire ants though. They’re usually red and will bite and sting if they think their mound is being threatened.
Don’t bother purchasing ant bait if you have carpenter ants, which are small with a black abdomen and a rust-colored thorax.
These ants eat a highly varied diet, so they are not attracted to one particular bait. Some of the carpenter ants will eat the bait and die, but the whole colony will remain intact.
Go After Pests that Attract Ants
If ants are on your patio, it’s likely that you have insects in your yard that are attracting ants. These insects can include whiteflies, scale, mealybugs, and aphids.
These insects produce honeydew, which is a sticky, sugary substance that ants love. Ants love honeydew so much that once they find it, they won’t leave and they’ll even protect the insects.
To get rid of ants for good, a pest control company like Native Pest Management can provide excellent lawn pest services to eliminate the whiteflies, scale, mealybugs and scale insects, and ants at the same time.
And good news for your plants, removing honeydew-producing insects can protect your landscape. Honeydew can produce sooty mold, a substance that can make your plants a little less green.
The insects will also eat away at your plants until they’re gone, so getting rid of them will help your plants grow back greener and healthier.
Ant Control Near Me In Palm Beach
When it comes to ant infestations, professional pest control is the most comprehensive and long-lasting solution.
These tips will help get rid of ants on your patio, but it can be difficult to eliminate entire ant colonies. Using the tips in this article will most likely lead to short-term results.
If you want lasting results for your specific location, home foundation, and even personal lifestyle habits, professional pest control is the best solution. Our experts can quickly get rid of ants and make sure that they stay away.
Are you looking for ‘the most reliable ant control services near me?’ Consider our ant control, which is included in our general home pest control services.
Our home pest control includes ants, cockroaches, millipedes, spiders, pantry pests, and earwigs. With our expert technicians, Native Pest Management can get rid of the ants and other pests for good.
Once you contact us, we can send over a trained technician to inspect your patio, the exterior of your house, and the interior space. They’ll look in every nook and cranny to identify the pest problem you reported and find any other infestations that may be hiding.
Next, they will choose a treatment plan that specifically targets your ant problem. These treatments are all eco-friendly and pet friendly, so you don’t have to worry about dangerous chemicals harming your furry friends.
Our best treatment plan is our quarterly service plan. We start with our initial service where we use long-lasting bait in your attic and borate dust behind electrical outlets.
Our treatments are guaranteed to remove your ant infestation and if they don’t, we will perform follow-up treatments between our visits for free!
Here at Native Pest Management, our biggest concern is keeping your house (and your patio) free from any pests so you can enjoy time in your home.
We service all over Palm Beach and its surrounding areas, and in Palm Beach, Broward, Martin, Miami-Dade, Indian River, St. Lucie, and Leon counties.
If you’re sure we provide our services in your area, you can call us and ask or look at our website’s service area page.
So, take back your patio now and receive your free quote today!