Many people use herbaceous plants, like peppermint, basil, lavender, rosemary, etc., to control the growing population of ants. These herbs have a powerful odor; their extracts can also kill these insects by clogging their spiracles. In the same way, lemongrass is also known for its strong odor that can also be helpful to keep insects at a distance.
Does Lemongrass Repel Ants? Lemongrass can repel ants due to citrus or acidic smell interfering with their pheromone trails by masking the odor of chemical secretions. You can prepare a spraying solution from lemongrass essential oil or boil the leaves in water. Use scented candles, burn incense, or wipe the entry points with essential oil spray.
It has a citrus odor that can disturb an ant colony by disrupting their communication. It causes disorientation in their actively moving trails and leads to quick dispersal. Moreover, it can help deal with thousands of species of ants by irritating their olfactory receptors. So, there is no need to use harmful insecticidal sprays; use this natural method to deal with ants.
Why do ants hate lemongrass?
Lemongrass is a tropical herb or grass known for its lemon-like scent and health benefits. It has a citrus or acidic odor that is powerful enough to leave a strong aroma in the air.
This odor can be refreshing for you but irritates some insect species. Ants prefer to stay away if they detect such a strong aroma in their surrounding because it interferes with communication.
They rely on odor detection produced by their chemical secretions and follow each other. It results in the formation of long trails, but interruption occurs when a strong odor prevails in the surroundings.
Moreover, it becomes difficult to detect the pheromone secretions because the lemongrass odor has a pungent smell. This odor dominates the odor of pheromone secretions and confuses them.
Accordingly, they prefer to stay away from this tropical grass to avoid the risk of losing their path. This odor causes discomfort when they move away from their trails and get lost.
This dispersion of ants leads to death because they cannot live alone due to their social nature. The lost members keep walking until they find their colonies or die.
How do you use lemongrass to repel ants?
You can use lemongrass to deter ants. It is a natural method to control their population and protect your property from damage.
Use lemongrass essential oil spray
Lemongrass essential oil is a rich source of citral, citronellol, citronellal, or other substances.
You can use this oil to prepare a spraying solution to cover the surface area adequately. Take a spray bottle and fill it with water that can be almost half a cup.
Add 10 to 12 drops of this extract into the bottle and shake it well. To boost its performance, add other essential oils, like peppermint, garlic, and oregano oil.
The quantity of these additional essential oils can be 5 to 8 drops. You can change the total quantity of solution according to the infestation and area of exposure.
Spray the solution directly on their trails or drown them completely. Sometimes, this oily solution can lead to the death of ants by blocking their breathing pores when it is in concentrated form.
Spread lemongrass leaves
It seems easy to pick a few leaves from the garden and cut them into smaller sections. Put each section at entry points, providing an entrance route to ants.
Placing lemongrass leaves on the entry spots helps deter these tiny creatures. Most of their species do not try to cross the barrier after detecting a strong aroma of this herb.
Boil leaves in water
You can also prepare a spraying solution without using the extracted oil of lemongrass. Boil a bunch of leaves in water after cutting them into smaller pieces to extract their juice.
Boil the leaves until the color of the water slightly changes to yellow, which indicates that the water has absorbed the maximum ingredients. Remove the mixture from the flame at that time.
Let it cool down for a few minutes and pass through a strainer. It helps remove leaves from the solution and provides an ant-repelling solution.
I used this method to prepare a spraying solution that was highly effective when I sprayed it on the countertop of the kitchen to get rid of the sugary ants.
Put cotton balls in entry spots
You can dip cotton balls in the lemongrass essential oil or leave a few drops on each of these cotton balls. These cotton balls retain the odor for long hours and maintain a constant repelling force.
Put each cotton ball on the entry points to deter these nuisance insects. They do not sneak through tiny holes, crevices, and broken window seals if you put a few cotton balls there.
One of my friends used this method to deter the argentine ants indoors and got satisfactory results. It has one drawback as you have to replace the cotton balls on alternative days.
Use scented candles or burn incense
Many floral and fruity scented candles are available in the stores that can be used as an ant-repellent when you get a lemongrass scented candle at home.
Burn the candle at the ants’ infested spot and leave it there for a few minutes to an hour. The burning candles produce an aroma that irritates ants and forces them to leave the spot.
In the same way, you can also burn lemongrass incense to repel them, but it is better to leave it on the table and keep it burning for a few hours. It also helps remove annoying ants from the room.
Grow lemongrass plant
It is better to grow a lemongrass plant in the garden if ants frequently visit plants and trees. Their frequent visits can make your house and garden prone to attack.
They visit plants for food and shelter, so growing this plant close to the infested place can help protect it.
You can use its leaves to prepare an insect-repellent spray for controlling the indoor species of ants.
Wipe the entry points
I came to know about this method from my neighbor a few weeks before when she told me that lemongrass spray prepared with essential oils and water can repel ants.
Spray the solution on the countertop and wipe it with a clean cloth after a few seconds. This wiping helps avoid the stickiness, and its oil leaves its odor behind.
You have to wipe the surfaces every day or even 2 times a day so that you do not have to see these crawling creatures moving around the food.
How long does lemongrass repel ants?
It is an effective insect-repellent due to the presence of citronella and citral. However, the length of time lemongrass can keep ants away depends on external factors and methods.
The application method matters a lot because wiping the surfaces with a solution needs more frequent re-application. However, cotton balls retain the odor and repel them for 1 to 2 days.
In the same way, the odor of incense and candles remains in the air for a few hours until it burns completely for more than a day. Spreading fresh leaves or crushed ones works for a few days.
It depends on the concentration of repelling chemicals because concentrated forms of the oil deter ants for a long. Diluting essential oil in water reduces the odor, while fresh leaves have a strong odor.
Furthermore, candles and incense fill the room with the aroma of lemongrass that keeps repelling ants if the windows and doors remain closed.
So, it repels species of ants present inside the house for longer than those present in the garden because the odor molecules disperse in the air quickly.
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