Organic Ant Control

Part of Your Organic Garden Pest Control Program

Use organic ant control for your garden. Organic garden pest control techniques are necessary in an organic garden. Your organic gardening pest control program needs to include organic insecticide.

If you have an abundance of ants or other pests in your garden (that are moving in to your home), then you may be looking for an organic ant control, or organic insecticide.

Going green isn't always easy and nature doesn't always cooperate with your plans.

Ants and other garden pests are usually not a significant problem; in fact they are often a necessary part of your garden's life cycle.

However, there are times when an over-abundance of ants and other pests need to be managed or contained. If you're committed to having a healthy, organic garden, then you need to find alternatives to pesticides.

Believe it or not, you have organic gardening products right around your own home. Organic ant control, for example, can begin with baking soda. This product poisons ants but does no harm to your garden or the soil. What other household products can you use?

• Flour: ants have trouble climbing over it, so it's an effective barrier;
• Blend black pepper with coffee ground, cinnamon and hot chili pepper powder. Pour these either around your plants or directly on an anthill. Note that coffee grounds are great for your soil too!
• Vinegar & Water: a one to one proportion sprayed on your plants acts as organic ant control.
• Instant rice fed directly to the anthill. When ants eat this followed by water, they’ll explode.
• Tomato tincture (made from the leaf of the plant) seems to be fairly effective organic gardening pest control - many bugs just don’t like the aroma (add garlic or fennel to it for increased effectiveness).

Organic garden pest control is only one part of a bigger picture for truly green gardening. Ant hills flourish in less 'healthy' areas. Organic ant control needs to include an organic gardening pest control program for the whole yard.

For example, learning companion planting not only helps deter unwanted bugs, but attracts GOOD bugs and nourishes the soil.

As you use companion plants, always choose items native to your region. If you can grow garlic, onions and chrysanthemums, these are three highly recommended pest deterrents (and for vegetarians reading this - chrysanthemums are edible!).

Companion planting also helps diversify your garden, so your soil doesn’t leach all its nutrients. Change where you grow things every year - healthy soil doesn’t support as many pests. Also, remember to sow as soon as it's possible for your weather; some pests don’t appear until later in the growing season.

Organic ant control can represent quite a learning curve especially for newer gardeners. So it’s good to begin a journal in which you log various information including:

• the type of plants you have in your garden and where;
• what pests appear (include when, and where);
• what treatment you tried, including any organic pesticide;
• weather/growing season notes (remember pests are affected by weather too!).

Over time you’ll find that this journal will become a very useful helpmate, especially being able to review those successes.

While it might seem that organic pest control takes some time and effort as part of a vegetable, fruit or herb garden; it's a very important element. You do not want to put pesticides into your soil or the food you eat.

These chemicals contaminate water tables and generally upset the natural order. So, as you learn to rid your garden of pests naturally, you’re helping the environment and contributing to your family's overall health and well-being.

For pet owners, you also won't have to worry about your animals rooting around in chemicals accidentally either. And experts tell us that organic soil that's naturally nourished is far more resistant to pests anyway; so it’s a win-win scenario.

There are a lot of items in and around the average home that work perfectly well for organic ant control.

The key is to find what works best in your environment.

It may take a little trial and error to find the best blend and timing, but it's well worth it to have a healthier home, and healthier soil, that is free from chemical pesticides.

Remember that a number of garden pests are necessary for the ecosystem in your garden; the problem of controlling the pest population arises when your ecosystem is out of balance, which in turn creates an over-abundance of bugs.

First, try to re-balance the environment naturally - that will often control the problem. If that doesn't work, visit your local organic garden supply store and get some advice on what organic garden pest control methods to use to control your problem.

Additional Reading

• Organic Vegetable Gardening

• Building Raised Garden Beds

• Goji Berry Plants

• Grow Organic Vegetables

• Organic Heirloom Seeds

• Organic Strawberry Facts

• Organic Strawberry Nutrition Facts

• Organic Strawberry Pots

• Organic Termite Control

• Organic Weed Killer

• Raised Bed Organic Gardening

• Square Foot Gardening

• Return from Organic Ant Control to Organic Food for Everyone Home Page.