Our quaint (real estate lingo for “small”) Upper West Side, New York apartment has a lovely terrace that provides us with glimmering sunset views, breathing room in the big city, a place to entertain our friends and, unfortunately, ants. The little critters have been making themselves known as the weather has warmed up, creating a little creepy crawly trail all the way from the terrace door to the kitchen.
I immediately huffed it over to my corner drugstore, on a mission to find a non-toxic ant killer, but trying not to get my hopes up – this particular New York drugstore chain is not known for their extensive selection. To my surprise, I found a non-toxic ant and roach killer called EcoSmart. (I did some research and found a post about it on altCon from 2007; you can read it here.) I can testify that EcoSmart seems to be working, as the number of ants lurking about has decreased dramatically since I first sprayed. The smell is strong, but not offensive. I would definitely recommend this product to households with pets and/or children, or anyone like me who prefers to play it safe and stay far away from chemical-laden pesticides. Another plus is that, because it’s made with plant oils, the formula is biodegradable, and apparently will not harm fish or wildlife. But at least it seems to work on my (very) unwelcome house guests.
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The best way to keep ants out in my experience is by using something you most likely have in your pantry – cinnamon. The ants hate the smell. It’s cruelty free since they just avoid it. Just put some cinnamon near around where the ants are and watch them disappear. It’s fantastic and kind to the ants.
Thanks, Livin’ Veg. I will have to try that.
Cinnamon is actually one of the ingredients in EcoSmart, I can definitely smell it. I sprayed it for the first time this evening, though I don’t have an over abundance of bugs yet. Mostly I get ants, silver fish and those rolly-polly potato bugs.
Another you might want to try, which is next on my list if EcoSmart doesn’t work out, is a citrus based repellent. Apparently bugs don’t like the acidity of citrus. The one I found is called “Citrus Home Pest Spray by Concern” http://www.flowerdepotstore.com/cihopespbyco.html
I live in north central Arizona and we have these insects commonly called “Wind Scorpions” or “Sun Spiders.” They are technically “solifugae” and are in the Arachnida order.
EcoSmart doesn’t seem to kill them but it does mess them up. They’re fast little critters this stuff seems to disorient them for a bit which makes it easier to deal with them with a flyswatter.
Thus far I’ve used it on one spider and it did kill him.
It doesn’t seem to kill quite as quick as, for instance, Raid … but I’d much rather use something that’s not toxic to me if I can.
EcoSmart is totally worthless. I covered five flies directly and only one of them showed any sign of distress. After five minutes, they were all still flying around my glass window which was now a mess from the EcoSmart spray.
Thanks for your comment, Dan. I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work on the flies. I think the most eco-way to get rid of those buggers is probably a good, old-fashioned flyswatter!
Thanks for the feedback Carrie. The outside of the can has “Flying insect killer” in very large letters along with a picture of a fly. I purchased the product under the assumption that it would kill flies.
I found your blog on Google. I’ve bookmarked it and will watch out for your next blog post.