Skip to Content

Does Eucalyptus Oil Repel Ants? (Explained)

If you are infested with ants and looking for the best ant-repellent, this article is for you. I face such a problem, and it bothers me a lot. Therefore, I was searching for the best ant-repellent home ingredients that can naturally repel all ants from my garden & home.

Guess what? I find such things that you can regularly safely use on ant homes or holes to deter them for a long time. I also include the step-by-step guideline on how you can use that to repel ants.

Eucalyptus oil repel ants

The eucalyptus oil repels ants from the ground and all the other places. Eucalyptus mainly has a strong smell that works against all the pests and ants. When you want to terminate ants from your garden, you must make a spray of eucalyptus oil and water. 

Using eucalyptus oil, you need to know some tips for making the spray terminate or repel the ants. This oil mainly contains solid chemicals and smells that ants cannot bear to smell. Whenever they smell eucalyptus oil, they leave that area very soon. 

It’s the biggest advantage of using eucalyptus oil regularly in your garden. It doesn’t damage other plants’ growth or harm your pet’s health. So, it is safe to use everywhere or in any garden corner. You can directly use this oil on ant homes and deter them from the ground.

When you spray the oil on ant oil and surrounding, they will either leave that area if possible, or they will fail to survive and be terminated permanently. So, be sure whether you want to terminate them or repel them. 

If you want to repel them, you should spray the mixture around their homes.

If you want to terminate the max, you should spray the oil in their home. It will spread a gas in their home that will terminate them and not allow them to survive a few hours. Eucalyptus oil would be a great advantage in repelling ants and other pests.

Carpenter ants: 

The eucalyptus oil can repel the carpenter ants thoroughly. If you can make a mixture of vinegar and Eucalyptus oil, it will be an excellent ant-repellent that you can regularly use to deter carpenter ants from your garden and home. 

Sugar ants: 

The eucalyptus oil will repel or deter the sugar ants easily. You can wipe through the sugar ants with eucalyptus oil, and they will be terminated. The sugar ants will fail to survive near the eucalyptus oil mixture if you can apply it correctly. 

Fire ants: 

Since eucalyptus oil has a strong smell and bitter taste, this oil can repel fire ants too. You don’t need extra effort to deter your fire ants from the garden. Mix one cup of vinegar or water with eucalyptus oil and spray around the fire ants. 

They will leave that area soon and will not come to that area.

Flying ants: 

You can also deter the flying ants by using eucalyptus oil because this oil contains a strong chemical that works against the ants and will repel them in a short time. 

If you make a mixture of eucalyptus oil and water, it will keep away the flying ants and can terminate those ants.

Does eucalyptus oil terminate ants?

Eucalyptus oil is mostly ant repellent, but it will terminate if mixed with other objects like hot water or liquid dishwashing soap. Ants create inconvenience in our household life. Generally used natural methods consist of the use of eucalyptus oil. 

Eucalyptus oil at its base form is repellent in nature. Normal eucalyptus oils smell and taste bitter, so that causes the ant to flee away. This will not terminate the ants.

People apply it by placing soaked cotton balls or wiping the entry point. So the ants are not consuming it, more like the smell is making them run away.

The eucalyptus oil can only terminate ants if mixed with other stuff. If you mix some rubbing alcohol, liquid dishwashing soap or boil in hot water with eucalyptus oil, this mixture will terminate many ants. Base eucalyptus oil is not terminative in nature.

Reasons eucalyptus repels ants

Generally, Eucalyptus repels ants because of its strong odor. But you will find other reasons Eucalyptus repels ants and clears them from the ground. You will mostly find two reasons behind it. 

Powerful Scent:

Eucalyptus oil is well known for its powerful aroma. When used, it blocks the scent trails that explorer ants leave behind, and the other ants follow. Ants wander about in quest of food by nature. 

Some of the pack members go in search of food. 

Pheromones are released to identify sources when they are discovered. These scents attract other ants, who then follow them to the food. Ants would struggle to discover a food source without these scent trails.

Destroy Nest:

The eucalyptus plant is well known to yield eucalyptus oil. Another way you can use Eucalyptus is by dealing with its leaves in place of the oil here. 

Collect some eucalyptus plant leaves, and then boil the leaves in water for not more than a couple of minutes. 

When ant nests have been identified, this strategy works well. Now you can use this boiled water by showering it all over the net without letting it cool. Add up to a tablespoon of eucalyptus oil to this mixture to make it more potent.

What does eucalyptus oil do to ants?

Eucalyptus oil repels ants. Eucalyptus is an exceptionally potent essential oil that can prevent ants from approaching the area where it is scented because of its potent combination of chemical constituents.

Ants may become overpowered by eucalyptus’ potent aroma and run away in alarm. 

This oil not only has a smell that ants dislike but also hides the scent trail that these ants leave behind.

This is why ants are scattered in all directions or driven away when eucalyptus oil is applied. Therefore, you must spray your insect repellents on the ants you want to target.

One benefit of using eucalyptus oil as an ant repellent is that you can use it in many forms like oil, leaves or mixing with other ant repellents. Luckily, every form of eucalyptus oil will work against the ants and repel them from everywhere. 

So, you can use it in any form or create any mixture to use eucalyptus oil.

How do you use eucalyptus oil for ants?

You can use eucalyptus oil in different ways for ants to repel them. I found four different ways to use eucalyptus oil to deter different ants. You can choose these ways and terminate the ants and other garden pests. It will be a one-time solution for all.

Water & Eucalyptus Mixture:

The easiest way to use eucalyptus oil is to make a mixture of water and eucalyptus oil. You may take a cup of water and mix half of the eucalyptus oil properly. Shake well, and it will become the best use of eucalyptus oil to repel ants.

Once you make such a mixture of water and eucalyptus oil, you need to shake it before applying because the oil will be separated from the water. So, you must shake and apply around the ant house to terminate them. 

Otherwise, you can spray around their living area and let them leave it. 

Vinegar & Eucalyptus Oil Mixture:

The vinegar mixture is another best way to use eucalyptus ore. White vinegar has a strong smell and bitter taste that ant avoids and dislikes most. 

Therefore, you can also make a mixture or sprayer of vinegar and eucalyptus oil. Keep the proportion of vinegar and oil the same.

Then, spray the eucalyptus mixture around your garden to repel the ants from the entire garden. It will not take too long to deter all the ants from your surroundings. So, it’s better you wipe or terminate the ants to get rid of them entirely.

Use Direct Eucalyptus Oil:

If budget is not a concern, you can use eucalyptus oil without mixing water or vinegar. It will be the best idea to terminate the ants from your garden. 

Especially when you have a carpenter or flying ants, and you don’t have any best idea to repel and terminate the ants, you should use natural eucalyptus oil.

It will save some effort and allow you to use the oil on top of the ant’s houses. The smell and the strong chemical will terminate the ants from the surrounding area. You cannot expect to find any further ants in the surrounding area. 

So, it’s better to always use eucalyptus oil if you have no issues.

Final Thoughts

Eucalyptus oil can repel and terminate the ants. It has a strong smell, bitter taste, and chemicals to deter the ants from the surroundings. If you have too many ants in your garden, you can directly use some eucalyptus oil without adding water and vinegar. It will deter ants.