Have an ant invasion? Try these ant bait recipes by Ed Lawrence (retired chief horticulturalist at Rideau Hall (Residence - Governer General of Canada ) Mr. Lawrence is heard every Monday on CBC Radio’s Ontario Today phone in (12p.m. to 1p.m. – the phone in begins at 12:30p.m.)

Recipe for a small portion of ant bait:

2 cups boiling water
6 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp boric acid

Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water. Add the boric acid and stir until dissolved.

Take any pint-sized plastic container and cut small holes into the sides at the bottom to allow ants access to crawl inside. Dip cotton balls into the solution, and place inside the container. Seal the container with the lid, and place the container on a pathway that the ants are using.

The ants will eat the solution, and take it back to the other ants in the nest, where it will “build up” and eventually destroy the nest. The solution can be refrigerated and stored for a couple of weeks if it is carefully labelled.

Keep using as long as ants continue to appear.

Recipe for a large portion of ant bait:

1 quart water
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp boric acid

Mix, then soak cotton balls and place in plastic container with holes at the bottom side edge (this is important) so ants can come and go freely. Put lid on plastic container to avoid evaporation! Store leftover liquid in fridge and re-moisten cotton balls as needed.

Downloadable version (PDF) Ant Bait