Instant kill homemade biodegradable ant killer

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Summary: dilute soapy solution kill ants instantly.  There are even organic liquid soaps on the market if you want.  Soapy solution will kill or immobilize crawling insects.  Alcohol will kill flying insects like flies almost instantly.  First-aid alcohol is good but Vodka spray is safe around food, pets and people (for non-alcoholics).  Ants don't live in wet places like regular watered lawns.  Must fill cracks so ants don't live.  Protect fruit trees with soapy water trench on the ground or up the trunk.

I'm consolidating the number of chemicals used in our house. Basically several types of cleaners contain similar chemicals. Even if they are optimized for different uses, you save a lot of hassle keeping so many, with so many labels to read. Basically a strong organic acid (biodegradable) is all you need for degreasing, lime scales, bathroom, toilet, sinks, stinks, to tires and wheels. (Some surface are not acid safe, but that's stupid.)

It dawned on me to try spraying ants with strong acid cleaners. My CLR biodegradable is an instant kill, better than the insect and ant killer that I'm using that is safe for lawns. As CLR is about the most expensive bottle of household cleaner, I tried

Nature's Choice,
general purpose cleaning agent
ingredients - mostly biodegradable natural plant extracts, probably organic acid

It's instant kill. I diluted to half and then quarter strength, it is still instant kill. I just search the net and am surprised to see that people mentioned soapy solution, but not in a big way so as to put ant killers out of business.

You may find you best and cheapest soapy solution and see how diluted it can be. But mine is good enough. It biodegradable, multi-surface cleaner. It already comes with a spray bottle in case you are in a hurry. That's the reason I tried it in the first place. There are no resides and you don't need to rinse it after surface cleaning. Basically I'm cleaning while killing ants at the same time!

Also I doubt if a diluted plant extract cleaner will do any harm to plants. I do spot spraying only so I rarely need to spray on plants and lawns. You do not need to spray on lawns because ants do not live in wet soil.

I used to use an instant kill ant killer. They took it off the market, perhaps because of safety concerns. I remembered somebody said that some chemicals use kills like nerve gas, and it works on ants as well as humans, which is much bigger.

To consolidate chemicals, I only use an outdoor spray, safe for lawns. Otherwise I need three.

Basically if you live near to some open space, and you have ant problems, you need to live with it. Ants just need some shady dry place to make a home, and accessible to water and food, which is plenty.

Ants don' t eat that much plants so there's not much reason to get rid of all ants outdoors. Ants like fruit. You better harvest before they come, or share with them. Experienced gardeners will cut off the palm tree fruits before they ripe.

Keep everything outdoors watered and ants will not live near you.

To keep ants out of your landscaping, the same method applies regarding the house.

Most importantly, you have to stop ants invading your house. Ants invade your house for many reasons - to find food and water, and to find dry shelter. Whatever they lack outside they will try to find inside.

I have seen enough insect terminators fail for ants. The latest terminator offered to spray once every month instead of three, compensated with safe chemicals they claim. This is the wrong approach as there is an unlimited supply of ants.

The only way is to block all access into your house for ants. If you live in a single family / detached house, that's easy. When a lot of ants invade your home, from the outside find ant trails. Follow the ants and you know how they get into the house, even the hole is tiny.

Fill the hole with you favorite. Transparent caulk adhesive. Specking material. Or just repair the outside surface properly. My favorite is of lime, sand and water mix - the cheapest and safe (don't breath the dust). The main advantage is that it does not dry easily. The paste will stop ants instantly, and it will dry completely in a couple of hours. Paintable too. But the unused paste will takes weeks to dry up if you put a sealing cover on. It's completely safe so you can rinse your tool in the sink. It's not waterproof though. You can mix in a little cement for that, but it drys fast.

When one hole is blocked, they may find the next best one. That's why I don't kill them. They help me to find all the holes fast. When they have no where to go they just disappear, looking for other houses perhaps.

Ants come from the ground so its rare that they invade inside via air ducts and window seam drain holes, which are high up. They don't get through window insect screens either.

If ants invade your apartment, it's a bit tricky. It's hard to trace where they enter your apartment. But as long as you can move around your furniture, you have a good idea.

Here's how soapy solutions work, I think.

Soapy solutions have something called surfactants, I think, which prevent oils from sticking to surfaces. Ants can survive in water for a long time. These surfactants changed the game. They mess up the water surface tension, so this become a powerful force to destroy the ants. Firstly the ants cannot move in an instant, as in prison. I think they look like drowned, if not the chemicals in the cleaners kill them in seconds. I think their "nose" and "mouth" are messed up the same as their limbs. They can't move and can't stop water and chemicals coming in. And perhaps water blocks their air passage. So the look dead instantly and stay that way. For my cleaner, when it drys the dead ant will fall from the wall, needing no more action from me. (It's a no reside no rinse formula.)

Ant killing chemicals claim that they have residue to control ants for months. Obviously it wont' work for outdoors, and even if true you don't want it indoors.

Imagine that, I lived so may years and nobody told me that. And it's not just me. It's so vague on the web. And our neighbors all hired insect controls for ants. I bet they still do.