As a person being careful or curious about ants, thinking about whether ants eat garlic is a decent thing. If they do, you can keep feeding garlic to ants or preserve your garlic from invasive ants. So, do ants actually eat garlic?
Ants do not eat garlic since the diallyl sulfide and diallyl disulfide compounds included in garlic can cause disorientation of ants’ sensory receptors or death in any stage of their life cycle.
Today I’m not only going to tell you whether ants eat garlic or not. In fact, I’m gonna tell you can deter and kill ants from garlic and some more interesting facts. So hang in with me for some time.
Do ants like garlic?
Now let’s dive deep into the preference of ants for garlic.
Is there any reason that ants prefer garlic? In terms of their smell or nourishment can there be a possibility that ants like garlic? Let’s see.
In terms of the nutrient benefits, garlic is a highly alkaline food that also contains Zinc, phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, etc.
According to this particulate scientific research, they have found that garlic is made of 21 compounds of chemical substances. The two main substances are Dyallil disulfide and disulfane.
On the other hand, Sulfate and many Sulfar bonds are something that ants dislike. Therefore, in spite of the nutrient benefits of garlic, ants don’t like them because of the Sulfate it consists of.
Related: Do ants like watermelon?
Do ants like garlic powder?
There is a myth that the reason for ants not eat garlic is they can not take them down into biteable pieces. So some people think that garlic powder is edible for ants.
Ants do not eat garlic powder and they don’t like garlic powder since it still contains a more concentrated amount of Sulfur. Garlic powder emits a strong smell that tends ants to leave them.
Do ants eat garlic in the garden?
Still, we were talking about the household ants and do ants eat garlic in the house.
But what about if you are a gardener? Do ants eat grown garlic in the garden?
Garlic is bearing below the ground level. Hence, there won’t be any sort of aroma coming out of the garlic. Plus, ants running on the ground level won’t encounter garlic.
Ants do not have an extraordinary attraction towards garlic in the garden. So, ants won’t eat garlic in the garden.
But I have found a coincidence, that ants had built a mound in garlic-growing soil. Don’t take it too much. It is maybe the ants’ preference for that particular area.
You can visit the Quora discussion about ants eating garlic in the garden.
Does garlic deter ants?
In terms of the effectiveness of garlic as a pest deterrent, I want you to look at the statement below by Mark Wolfe, a gardening expert.
“ Traditional agricultural experts and scientists agree that garlic spray can be an effective insect killer and deterrent. “
Mark Wolfe
According to his expertise, diallyl disulfide and diallyl sulfide are the two key elements that help to deter ants from garlic. And that is also exactly the reason why ants don’t like to eat garlic.
According to lab reports the sulfur and sulfide included in garlic will interact with the ant’s sensory receptors, leading to disorientation or death in every stage of an ant’s life circle.
Wait a minute! I have done my own experiment to prove to you that garlic can deter ants.
As I said it’s not all about whether ants eat garlic or not. Here’s what exactly happened.
I went down to a troop of black ants. Then I got some garlic and chopped and pressed it well.
After that, I kept that in the middle of the ant troop and waited to see the reaction.
Initially, every ant that passed through the garlic thing has kissed it and ran away which again showcased that ants do not eat garlic.
When I kept observing, I felt that the ants were changing their initial root so they wouldn’t encounter the garlic anymore!
Hence, my experiment is perfect evidence of the fact that ants do not eat garlic and garlic does deter ants.
Does garlic kill ants?
Now you already know about the ants’ ability to eat garlic and garlic can deter ants, but can garlic kill ants?
Garlic can kill ants when it is turned into a garlic insecticide and sprayed on ants. The sulfide compounds work on weakening ants’ senses to death at any stage of their life circle.
How to make the garlic insecticide spray?
It is so simple. But I am suggesting you some more ingredients to improve the strength of this spray.
- Collect some garlic and some mint leaves. (mint leaves are optional)
- Put them all together in a blender and blend them out.
- Now take the blended garlic-mint mixture and boil it in water.
- Then strain the liquid into a jar.
- Now you can use this as a spray when it loses its heat.
Does garlic attract other bugs?
On top of the sulfide compounds, garlic does repel many bug varieties instead of attracting bugs. Garlic can repel bugs including aphids, flies, cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes, beetles, etc.
Because of the fact that garlic repels bugs, you can use the garlic incesticide spray to repel other bugs as well as ants.
Also read: Do ants eat grasshoppers?