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From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
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Control Carpenter Ants — Without Spreading Poison
Boric acid is the non-toxic alternative for this voracious pest
In renovating a vacation cabin, I discovered carpenter ants working their way through the walls. Is there any way to responsibly get rid of the pests without using noxious chemicals that could potentially harm my family?
–Curran Clark, Lummi Island, Wash.
Carpenter ants may be small and look harmless, but they can do serious damage to anything wooden in your home, from furniture to the framing and walls that hold up the house. If you are seeing a lot of ants or small piles of sawdust-like material in random spots in or around your home, you are likely suffering from a carpenter-ant infestation.
Ants are very social beings and form large colonies before spreading out to find additional nest sites. They thrive by hollowing out wood, especially in moist or rotten spots, to build their nests and then use their new home in your walls and chairs as a base camp from which to forage for food and water in nearby surroundings. Indeed, their very presence is a good indication of moisture or rot problems in the wood, so homeowners may have more work on their hands than simply exterminating carpenter ants.
In the northern latitudes of the continental U.S. and in much of Canada, carpenter ants are the most common insect wood destroyer, surpassing even the mighty termite.
Many commercially available chemical pesticides will rid a structure of carpenter ants, but even against bugs many of us are steering away from such toxins proven to impact the human nervous, respiratory and reproductive systems.
Perhaps the most economical and effective way to get rid of carpenter ants is by applying boric acid (also known as borax) to their nest sites and surroundings. This natural non-toxic element, mined from below the Mojave Desert in southern California, has a long history of use in exterminating brazen populations of cockroaches, palmetto bugs, waterbugs, silverfish, termites and, you guessed it, carpenter ants.
Al Abruzzese, owner of the website Al’s Home Improvement Center, swears by boric acid to get rid of wood-boring pests.
“This simple, inexpensive household chemical is deadly to all insects,” he says. “It has been shown to attack their nervous systems, as well as being a drying agent to their bodies.”
Beyond just being effective as an all-natural insecticide, boric acid is non-toxic to humans. Abruzzese says it is safe enough to use around children — it has been used in ointments and salves for diaper rash on babies in the past — and can be an important part of eyewash solutions as well, albeit in very diluted form (don’t try it at home). One common brand name to look for is Nisus Bora-Care, but any pesticide with boric acid or borax listed as an active ingredient will do just fine.
For those not into do-it-yourself pest control, calling in an exterminator that uses all-natural products is a good option. Oregon’s All Natural Pest Elimination, for instance, services the entire four-state region of the Pacific Northwest with products from Natureline — crafted from safe botanical extracts and essential oils, not synthetic chemicals — on all of its extermination jobs. When seeking exterminators in your area, check first to make sure they stay away from noxious chemicals.
For more information:
• Al’s Home Improvement Center: www.alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement.
• Nisus Bora-Care: www.nisuscorp.com.
• All Natural Pest Elimination: www.nobuggy.com.
Got an environmental question? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek: or e-mail [email protected]. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
