5 Effective Ways for Getting Rid of Ant Hills in Your Yard Naturally

Large ant hills in your yard can be an eyesore. Plus they can make it tricky to mow your lawn or tend your garden—especially if those hills harbor stinging fire ants. If you’re ready to reclaim your space, here are some easy ways to eliminate ant hills using natural and organic pest control techniques. Plus get tips on ways to avoid attracting ants to your yard in the first place.

Are All Ants in Gardens Harmful?

Some species of ants can definitely be problematic. Carpenter ants, for example, can damage buildings by tunneling into wood, while fire ants are infamous for their painful stings and bites. However, most ant species have a neutral effect on plants, and some ants benefit lawns and gardens by:

• Reducing pests. Ants will swarm plants that are infested with spider mites, cabbage loopers, root maggots, beetle grubs, scale, mealybugs, ticks, or other pests that ants feed on. If you leave those ants alone, there’s a good chance they’ll gobble up some pests for you.
• Removing organic waste. Like nature’s cleanup crew, ants keep outdoor spaces tidy by feeding on old, decaying plant matter, dead bugs, and other garden debris.
• Improving soil health. Ants aerate tough soils when they build their tunnels. They also boost soil fertility by bringing organic matter like dead bugs underground, where it naturally degrades into the soil.
• Planting seeds. Ants sow many wildflower and spring ephemeral plant seeds. This plant-and-ant partnership is known as myrmecochory.
• Pollinating plants. While bees and butterflies get most of the pollinator credit, ants are secondary pollinators that pollinate plants while foraging for food.

Whether you choose to coexist with ants or remove ants and ant hills is up to you, but if those ant hills are in an out-of-the-way spot and aren’t causing problems, you may want to leave them be.

How to Prevent Ant Hills

Although ants can sometimes help plants and gardens grow better, ants and ant hills aren’t always welcome. You can avoid most ant issues before they start by switching up your garden maintenance practices and taking a few steps to make your garden less hospitable to ants.

1. Don’t skip garden maintenance.

Ants are more likely to build hills in overgrown areas with tall grass and overhanging shrubs. So, if you don’t want to deal with ant hills later on, keep your grass trimmed, prune back garden plants as needed, clean up windfallen fruit, and remove brush and log piles. You may also want to water your lawn or garden more frequently since ants are especially attracted to dry soil.

2. Till the soil regularly.

Ants often build their hills in areas that don’t see a lot of human activity, but you can make your garden less attractive to ants by working the soil regularly and tilling your garden beds at least once or twice a year. Tilling is also an effective strategy for removing established ant hills, although you may need to till a few times to knock out large hills.

3. Reduce ant food sources.

Aphids, mealybugs, and other sap-sucking pests are sometimes “farmed” by ants for their sticky honeydew. Reducing these pests can reduce the food sources attracting ants, making them less likely to stick around. Spraying plants with a strong blast of water is usually all it takes to dislodge pests. You can also control pests with companion planting or several applications of organic soap spray.

4. Plant strongly scented plants.

Strongly scented herbs planted strategically around lawns and gardens can make your property less appealing to ants. Some of the best plants for the job include strongly scented herbs like mint, basil, and bay, but you can also experiment with ornamentals like chrysanthemums.

5. Apply repellent sprays or powders.

Applying natural repellent sprays around the perimeter of your garden or yard and in areas where ants are active is another handy way to prevent ants and hill building. You might be able to purchase an organic ant-repellent spray from your local garden center, but you can also use natural products like turmeric or cinnamon powder or sprays made with peppermint oil, turmeric oil, or thyme oil. Some essential oils are as effective at deterring ants as chemical pesticides. However, even these natural products can harm pollinators and pets, so make sure to apply them carefully.

How to Get Rid of Ant Hills

Ants often build small hills in between sidewalk cracks, but you may notice larger ant hills in other areas, like an underutilized corner of your yard, patio, or garden bed. Like icebergs, the top portion of an ant hill is just the beginning, and ant hills can extend several feet beneath the soil surface. Here are a few strategies that you can use to remove ant hills without using chemical pesticides or ending up with a pricey pest control bill.

1. Flattening and Excavation

One of the best ways to eliminate existing ant hills is to level the ant hill with a rake or shovel. Small hills can usually be tackled quickly, although larger, established hills may need to be leveled several times for ants to get the message and stop rebuilding. If you want to get results even faster, dig up the entire hill below the soil’s surface and then use either the flooding or boiling water treatment method.

2. Flooding

If you prefer a more hands-off approach, you can use flooding to tackle ant hills. Place your garden hose near an existing ant hill and allow the hose to run for at least 3-5 minutes until the water starts to pool. Flooding should cause ant tunnels to collapse, but you might need to employ this technique several times on large hills with extensive tunnel networks. 

3. Boiling Water

Pouring boiling water over ant hills can be even more effective than flooding, although it works best on small hills and shouldn’t be used near plants you value. Heat several pots of water to ensure you have enough to treat the entire hill in one go. Then, slowly and carefully pour the pots of water over the hill. Repeat this treatment, if needed, at weekly intervals until the ants stop rebuilding.

4. Boric Acid

Unlike many ant baits and traps, boric acid or borax is approved for organic gardens, and it can be used to kill ant colonies and their queen. For safety, keep borax away from pets and small children, and never sprinkle borax or boric acid directly on ant hills or in garden beds.

Other Removal Methods

If you’re looking for even more organic ant-removal options, you may also want to experiment with:

• Diatomaceous earth (DE). Made from fossilized phytoplankton, DE is approved for organic gardens and can be sprinkled directly onto ant hills to kill ants. However, DE can also harm pollinators, so never apply it to flowers and always use it sparingly.
• Vinegar and baking soda. Vinegar can be poured directly onto ant hills to kill ants, but you can also combine it with baking soda to make ant tunnels cave in. Avoid using vinegar near valuable plants, as it can kill plants, too.
• Soapy water. Pour soapy water directly into ant hills or add a squirt of dish soap when treating ant hills with boiling water or flooding. This makes your treatment method of choice even more effective.
• Natural predators. Backyard chickens will happily dig up ant hills and devour ants, but you can also control ants naturally by inviting woodpeckers and other birds into your garden. Suet cakes are one of the best foods for attracting woodpeckers.