I read the info on using mint to repel ants. I am looking to place something around the perimeter of my house to keep them from entering the house from the ground up. Growing mint is not practical in my situation. A liquid would also be impractical as it would disappear after a rainfall. I want to avoid using the granules typically available at the garden centers (Triacizid). Any thoughts?
Considering the rain factor, that would be really hard. I've heard that Capsicum will keep ants away. You can get it powdered (cayenne pepper). Seems as it would “sink into” the ground it would still have an effect … but who wants to do something w/o knowing for sure! :-)
We've used Borax (Mule Team in the green box in the laundry aisle) with some fairly good results. We have dogs, one of them being extremely mischievious so we were also concerned, but the Borax doesn't seem to interest her too much. It's worked on waterbugs and scorpions also found in our area. Maybe this might help out.