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You can drive ants off your lawn without harsh chemicals. Do you have a problem with ants in your lawn? If you do, getting rid of them with coffee is inexpensive, simple and environmentally friendly.
Using coffee to get rid of the ants on your property is a great choice because it’s natural. Coffee won’t pollute the water supply and it won’t damage your grass. Unlike when you’re using pesticides, you don’t have to worry about having a serious negative effect on the environment. Coffee is also something that most people use on a daily basis, or you know someone who does, so it’s easy to get and doesn’t cost as much as harmful pesticide products.
The first step to getting rid of ants in your lawn with coffee is to locate and mark the mounds. It’s easiest to do this after your lawn has been mowed. You can get a package of bamboo skewers at your local grocery store for about $2, and these are perfect for marking the mounds. Just stab a skewer down into the center of each ant mound you find. Take a good look around your entire property and try to mark every mound you can see.
If your family drinks coffee, just hold on to an empty coffee can and empty your coffee filters into it instead of throwing them in the trash. Try to save at least half a can full before you start using it. Keep it tightly sealed to prevent molding. If you don’t drink coffee, you might be able to ask a friend or family member to save up their used coffee grounds for you.
Once you have a substantial amount of coffee grounds saved up, you can begin using them. Just add enough water to the can to make a thick soup out of the grounds. If you want to give it some extra oomph (which is a good idea if you have fire ants) you can add 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder for every 3 cups of grounds, then add water and stir.
Now you can put the coffee ground slurry onto the ant mounds. You’ll want to do this right after dark when the ants are less active. That’s why you need to mark the mounds, so you can find them easily. Pour about 1 cup of the mix into the top of each ant mound. If they are rather large mounds, you might want to use more.
The most effective method is to begin in the center of your property and spiral out toward the outer limits of your yard. This will drive the ants off the property rather than back toward your home. You should see results quite quickly after using the coffee to get rid of the ants. We have been doing it in our yard and noticed fewer ants within a couple of days. The more mounds we locate and treat, the fewer ants we find.
Depending on how hearty the ants in your area are, you may have to treat the mounds more than once, or use a larger amount of mix. You can also make the coffee slurry more effective by adding the grounds to a pot of boiling water and pouring the hot mixture onto the mounds. The hot water will collapse the ant tunnels and force them to move. Some people suggest adding salt to the mix, but be forewarned, adding salt will kill your grass or plants. Only add salt if you are treating an area such as a walkway where you would not want grass or weeds anyway.
