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Keep Out Carpenter Ants With an Organic Ant Pesticide

As children, many of us learned the popular nursery rhyme entitled, “The Ants Go Marching.” Some of us can still recall the song’s catchy first line, “The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.” But as we mature and start to face pest problems, we realize ants marching into your home is nothing to “hurrah” about.

There are all types of ants, but carpenter ants are a common problem for many homeowners. This season, keep them off your property with an organic ant pesticide.

Read on to learn:

• What Attracts Carpenter Ants & the Damage They Cause
• How to Prevent Them
• How to Deal With An Infestation

What Attracts Carpenter Ants & the Damage They Cause

Carpenter ants do more than just steal snacks at a picnic. These ants can be particularly devastating to your yard and the structure of your home.

To protect your home, it’s important to know what carpenter ants are looking for.

Carpenter ants create nests in both dry and moist wood. But they especially prefer moist wood for their homes.

Look for moist wood near water leaks. Particularly check wood around:

• Sinks
• Bathtubs
• Window seals
• Door frames
• Roof leaks
• Chimneys

Carpenter ants love to make their nests in moist, hollow areas. Check behind your dishwasher or hollow columns outside for these nests.

If your home has any of these ideal carpenter ant dwellings, be on the look out for signs of an infestation.

Signs of Carpenter Ant Damage

Once carpenter ants locate these ideal, moist areas, they begin hollowing it out for nesting. Wood damaged by carpenter ants will have a smooth appearance. The ants remove sawdust through cracks in the galleries which they bore. Often you may not see this dust right away.

This is how carpenter ants trick you, their damage may not always be externally visible

Ways to Seek Out Carpenter Ants

• Place small pieces of sweet food near areas where you’ve seen ants to detect nests
• Prod the wood with a screwdriver to reveal hollow galleries
• Tap along baseboards with blunt object to hear hollow sounds
• Listen for a rustling sound in the walls

You do not want carpenter ants eating away at your home. Before you need to turn to an organic ant pesticide to stop them, try some preventative methods to stop an infestation before it starts.

How to Prevent Them

While natural ant killers are effective, nothing is better for solving an ant problem than keeping it from starting.

Some preventative measures include:

• Fix any areas of the house with moisture problems, such as leaking roofs or poorly sealed windows
• Replace water-damaged wood
• Keep a 50-foot perimeter around the house free of stumps and dead trees
• Store firewood away from the house, never in the garage
• Bring firewood into the house only when it’s about to be burned
• Trim any low hanging branches from trees near the home

If you have taken all these precautions and STILL find carpenter ants, time for an organic ant pesticide.

How to Deal With An Infestation

If you do find the source of your carpenter ant problem, try an organic ant pesticide. Use EcoSMART’s organic ant killer on any carpenter ants and their nests to stop your problems. You can spray the ants directly or any areas where you think they may enter your home.

Carpenter ants are a pest, but they’re not impossible to deal with. So after you’ve treated your home, feel free to give cheer when ants no longer go marching through your walls. Hurrah, hurrah.