I killed 50 ants today in 10 minutes.
Turns out that spilled sugar and a sticky molasses jar attract ants like…well, like spilled sugar and a sticky puddle of molasses!
The microwave cabinet where I keep my sweeteners (since I don’t use a microwave anymore) was taken over by ants, the little kind that don’t even feel gross when you smash them with a fingertip.
That was my first line of defense: kill any visible intruders on sight. My poor kids had to wait 10 minutes for their breakfast because I was a focused maniac: “Paul, go by the sliding glass door and see if there are any more ants coming in the house. You see one? Kill it! Get him with your hands! It’s okay, we’ll wash hands before breakfast…”
Even the 2-year-old got in on the fiesta and has a kill shot to her name.
Before we could eat, I also sprayed down the entire unit and all along the baseboards of the kitchen, especially in front of the slider (where I know the ants get in the house) with my homemade natural insecticidal spray.
Homemade Natural Method to Kill Ants in the House
I’m a big fan of natural remedies and am even learning to make my own herbal treatments for the medicine cabinet.
I’m not going to put out poison in my kitchen (unless the ants and earwigs take over completely). My mom copied this recipe down out of something she was reading once at my house, and I am sure glad I was able to find it last week when the ants first came marching in. Imagine my glee when not only ants but earwigs, too, my most hated nemesis that hide in every washcloth and towel in our house, died within 60 seconds of being squirted.
Added bonus: this home remedy is so simple to mix up, my husband could do it:
1 tsp. dishwashing soap (not detergent)
1 tsp. cooking oil (we used virgin olive)
1 qt. waterMix in a spray bottle. Spray on any soft-bodied insect that invades your house or garden: ants, earwigs, aphids, whiteflies, mealy bugs, etc.
Also spray a barricade line where ants might be entering your house. The only drawback is that it doesn’t work once it’s dried, so if you really want prevention, you have to spray often throughout the day or use other strategies below. This is a good first wave of terror on the bug world, though.
Other Natural Home Pest Control Methods
A few years ago I was visiting a friend and we decided to wage war on the ants in her house, naturally. A quick Google search netted us many home remedy options for natural pest control for the ants:
- Make a line ants can’t cross with:
- cinnamon
- chili powder
salt(use your yucky white stuff, not the real salt) UPDATE 2012: I have watched tiny ants crawl right over my thick salt line. Don’t bother with this one – but they will NOT go near the cinnamon, so even if your daughter says, “Mom, you’re wasting food!” just do it. Make a cinnamon line so they can’t get on your counter.
- cayenne pepper
- chalk (reader in the comments says this doesn’t work)
- cornmeal
- baby powder
- black pepper
- UPDATE 2012: try food grade diatomaceous earth, found on Amazon, sprinkled around the exterior of the house or even inside as a line ants can’t cross.
- Squirt the ants with undiluted vinegar.
- TO REALLY GET RID OF THEM AND NOT JUST KEEP THEM OUT: Make a homemade ant poison trap with corn syrup (or any sticky sweetener) and borax (one major reason I won’t use a homemade dishwasher detergent made of borax). Put a dollop on an index card where you know they’ll find it.
With my friend, we attacked those we could see with straight vinegar with mixed results, and we decided to cordon off the pantry with a thick line of cinnamon. When the kids got up in the morning and discovered the strange line of brown powder in the kitchen, they and their active imaginations decided there were ghosts in the house. If you try it, make sure to leave a note for others!
For me, the homemade insecticidal soap is the most effective thing I’ve ever seen to kill ants on contact.
The Bee Story
In summer 2012, we had a bee’s nest the size of a softball in the corner of our garage door (outside). My husband was ready to turn to Raid, but the store was closed…I begged him to try dishsoap in a hose-end sprayer. I figured the dishsoap would kill the buggers and the hose would give him some distance. He still wore long sleeves and a hoodie in 90-degree heat, but he also said it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.
He strongly emphasizes that the power of the water gave him an advantage over the bees, who were stunned and then died before they could chase him. If you try it, use maybe 1/4-1/2 cup dishwashing liquid in a hose-end sprayer and blast with water as soon as the suds begin. Good luck!
Important note: if you have HONEYbees, which are small and grey (Google for a photo), please call a beekeeper. There is a honeybee crisis right now and we need all the bees we can get or we won’t have any food left!
Fruit Flies, Too?
Aren’t I lucky? Along with our friends the little black ants and the terrifyingly pervasive earwigs, we also have been bombarded with fruit flies in the past 24 hours. I absolutely understand how primitive (and not so primitive) peoples in history assumed the fruits like melons were actually full of fruit flies. It’s incredible how quickly they appeared en masse after I cut a cantaloupe!
If you’re as lucky as me, you might want to read last year’s post on How to Naturally Get Rid of Fruit Flies in your House.
Don’t miss the organic gardening series, including How to Naturally Control Bugs in the Garden.
And if you need a snack after all that insect fighting, check out the 30+ recipes in Healthy Snacks to Go.
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Check out Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family and Kitchen Tip Tuesday at Tammy’s Recipes for more fun tips.
Photo from dbgg1979
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Herbal Nurturing and will earn commission if you purchase – so thank you!
I wish my apartment had the tiny ants, instead we got carpenter ants (with that gross feeling when you squish them too)! I’m going to try the vinegar or the soap/EVOO/water mixture and see if that helps.
.-= Jessica´s last blog ..Trip To DC =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Shirley Reply:
March 13th, 2013 at 1:33 am
Borax and water will work on carpenter ants and all ants except fire ants. Mix just about a teaspoon of both together. I put it in a flat plastic milk cap or a metal beer bottle cap. I have actually put it directly on the counter. It won’t hurt but if it dries out to much it can take some work to get off. Anyway mix up new if it dries out. At first you will think you have done the wrong thing because there will be a lot more ants than you thought possible. But after two to three days all of them will be gone. They take it back to their next and feed it to all the family including the queen.
You can use this outside also but if you put it in a rain protected area be sure and put it in the cap. Otherwise it dries to concrete hardness and really takes some scrubbing to get off.
[Reply to this comment]
Shirley Reply:
March 13th, 2013 at 1:36 am
I messed up. I did not mean Borax and water I meant Borax and any kind of liquid sweetener such as corn syrup, maple syrup or cane syrup.
[Reply to this comment]
yay! when I saw the title of this post I was wondering if it works for earwigs. Lucky me! Although I did notice some ants last night
.-= Wendy´s last blog ..Don’t Ask When I’m Having Kids =-.
[Reply to this comment]
What a timely post! Our kitchen has been taken over by fruit flies and our patio by ants. I can’t wait to get home and try your home-made insect spray!
.-= Hollie´s last blog .. =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Another thing that you might try is putting out a tray of baking soda mixed with icing sugar along the pathway they are using to enter and exit your home. The icing sugar attracts the ants, but because ants have formic acid in their bodies (which they use as a defense mechanism) the baking soda combines with the the acid and they die. They also seem to then write off our home as a danger site and I don’t have ants following the same path in again.
[Reply to this comment]
Verla Reply:
December 20th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
your method of ridding of sugar ants makes sense
[Reply to this comment]
We had horrible ants in California and found a mix of peppermint oil (the pure essential oil) and water worked wonders. We killed them with it, then sprayed it to remove their scent trail. Best thing I did, though, was to find where they were coming in at and caulk the opening closed. After a year, we had that apt tight…now our new place, it’s working here too.
The other thing that works more long term…Diatomaceous earth. I put that stuff down in my house where the ants were coming in and they are just gone and stay gone. I do that after I clean up with the peppermint. It’s natural, safe for my pets and me and really lasts. It works really well on hardwood floors too – just put it down, use a broom to push it into the grooves and then sweep up the excess. Works on most of these soft bodied pests I find.
[Reply to this comment]
Susan Reply:
June 24th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
I’ve used peppermint oil too.
[Reply to this comment]
This is a big wine making area, and in the fall when there are piles of pressed grapes the fruit flies are thick!
[Reply to this comment]
Will this work on pests in the garden too? Will is harm plants?
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
July 1st, 2010 at 3:08 am
RoseAnne,
Katie
Insecticidal soap should be a perfect squirt for the leaves of plants. I have another post coming in the next week or so with a recipe for an outdoor whole garden spray similar to this one.
[Reply to this comment]
I’m not sure why insects make me all squirmy, but I am glad I stumbled upon this post! Thanks!
.-= Robin´s last blog ..Food for Thought =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Thanks for the good info! I can’t enjoy bugs as much as some. “Tis the season.
[Reply to this comment]
This is one time I usually just buy. Terro brand ant poison is the syrup & borax stuff, you can buy it ready-made in a bottle or already in little bait containers, and it works WELL. And it’s easy to find.
[Reply to this comment]
I’ve use the syrup and borax combo with success on sugar ants. It takes a few days to work b/c first the ants have a feeding frenzy, but they take the borax back to the nest which is poisonous so it’s a more thorough extermination than just killing indoors.
[Reply to this comment]
Great info! My mom always told me that they would avoid cream of tartar…
.-= Jennifer Bruining Parenting in Blue Jeans´s last blog ..Giveaway- Powder Pouch =-.
[Reply to this comment]
My husband has gotten some bites on his legs and noticed spiders in his shoes and in our towels. Could it be the earwigs. If they are spiders, what natural way can we get rid of them?
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
July 1st, 2010 at 3:09 am
Christy,
Katie
I wish I knew the answer to that one!
[Reply to this comment]
I tried the chalk line and it didn’t for my ant. Maybe they are the type that cross the line? My husband suggested that we draw little chalk outlines around the ones we squished as a warning to the others
Other than an environmentally friendly ant killer that uses wintergreen, I stuffed a piece of steel wool under my baseboard near an outside door where I expected they were coming in the house. It’s been a week and so far no ants. *crosses fingers*
.-= Condo Blues´s last blog ..Please Make Lisa Nelsen-Woods the First Salada Green Tea Spokesperson- =-.
[Reply to this comment]
I had read, years ago, that Windex & the like killed ants.
When i changed to natural products, i found my water/vinegar (& sometimes Thieves’ Oil cleaner) will kill them every bit as quickly as ammonia-based products.
We tried the ant trap with sweet/borax (inside something where our cats couldn’t get to it) with mixed results. What worked best last year was a line of Diatomaceous earth (DE) all around the house. DE is not harmful for pets or people (it is used in gardening) but it is crystalline & cuts up the ants. I’ve a feeling we didn’t put a thick enough line around the house this year because they are getting in, but this is one thing for which they can’t develop an immunity.
I’ll be trying some of your other suggestions, too.
The little ants aren’t gross to kill with your fingers, but i find that they have a weird, nasty smell to them.
.-= Kathryn´s last blog ..Brief =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Great tips! Do you have any for getting rid of house flies? We are experiencing an invasion the likes of which I’ve never seen. My husband is killing 10-15 flies every day, and it doesn’t matter how clean the kitchen is. They ignore the fly strips and only a few have landed in the trap outside. The only thing we’ve found is to squirt them with water THEN smack them with the fly swatter- the water makes it harder for them to fly.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
July 1st, 2010 at 3:10 am
Stacy,
Katie
I’m hoping someone else chimes in on this one, because I have no ideas for you.
[Reply to this comment]
Monica Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I use apple cider vinegar in jar with a narrow neck. Actually it’s a ceramic vase that originally held those scented reeds. The scent was just too strong and perfumy, so I got rid of it and now use the vase. It captures them easily and they can’t get out. I rinse and refill weekly.
[Reply to this comment]
Katy Reply:
June 24th, 2011 at 10:32 pm
I do essentially the same thing with a squirt of dish soap. I had a terrible ex-roommate who somehow infested our kitchen with houseflies after only a month, and this worked worlds better than fly paper or chasing them with a swatter!
[Reply to this comment]
Bev Stone Reply:
January 10th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
YES, finally I can help!!!! lol My neighbor man told me this tip. Use a spray bottle, add a squirt or pump of liquid dish detergent (I think liquid hand soap works too). Fill the rest of the way with water. The soap blocks their body ‘openings or breathing areas’. Just spray them, even in the air and they nearly drop on the spot!! This works for wasps, bees, most bugs, ants….I use it for everything and if they don’t drop dead on the spot, it will only take mins.
[Reply to this comment]
Shirley Reply:
March 13th, 2013 at 1:59 am
Take a soda bottle and remove the lid. Cut the bottle in two, with the top part slightly shorter than the bottom part. Pour about a teaspoon of yeast in and then add a sweet liquid such as fruit juice in the bottom part to a depth of about an inch or two. Add one drop of liquid detergent to break the surface tension of the liquid. (I read orange or red Kool Aid w/sugar really attracts more which I am going to try). Then, invert the top of the bottle into the bottom, forming a funnel leading into the bottle. Flies and other flying things such as yellow jackets will be attracted and they will drown or get trapped. It lasts about a week and it will catch a lot.
I understand meat works better for flies but this worked very well for them and for mosquitoes.
I have used these both indoors and out with very good success. Also it works with a two liter bottle and the smaller single serving and one liter size.
Good luck. I need to get mine made soon as the yellow jackets will appear soon.
[Reply to this comment]
Wow! It was great to see this post. I had an invasion of ants yesterday in my kitchen. We have had problems with them off and on. I’ve tried some of those other remedies. They just don’t work for us. I will try this one next. I get the feeling our house is sitting on a giant anthill.
[Reply to this comment]
We used to have a HUUUUGE problem with ants. My parents did something last year… some guy came and it probably had to do with chemicals and so they never came back. This year they came back early, then went away and now we do not have many… very weird as no one came to stop them!
If we get a lot of ants again then I will have to try out your methods! When you have several they can get super annoying! And, we got the carpenter ants!
We have fruit flies too… not too much of a problem though for me.
But, we have a massive problem with what my sister calls “toilet flies”… do you know what I am talking about? Do you know how to get rid of these things? Anyone? The little bugs that love the bathroom and stay in one spot forever without moving…
.-= Primal Toad´s last blog ..Primal-Paleo Smoothie Recipes =-.
[Reply to this comment]
It was with ants that we taught our two year old not to go in the street. He killed so many of them, that he understood, that if he went in the street, he would get squished like an ant.
I found that just cleaning my floors constantly with vinegar really helped with keeping the ants away. Even kept my husband out of the kitchen (sadly) for a little while.
.-= Kris´s last blog ..Chilled Avocado-Tomatillo Soup pp 25-26- A Diptych =-.
[Reply to this comment]
A much needed post right now in our house. Thanks for this!
.-= Melodie´s last blog ..We Interrupt This Breastfeeding Post… =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Hi Katie!
I posted my tips and ideas for dealing with ants and fruit flies in the kitchen. Hope your house is staying insect free these days!
Just linked to this post today on my blog.
http://www.liverenewed.com/2010/08/natural-insect-control-in-the-kitchen.html
[Reply to this comment]
I’ve been known, when in a panic, to use masking tape to catch/kill ants or pick up the dead ones!
[Reply to this comment]
Hi! I am a fan on facebook and this is my first time on your site – I love this post! I try to keep toxins out of our house, too – and these are all such great ideas. Thank you!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
June 28th, 2011 at 3:17 am
Welcome, Michelle! I feel like I recognize your Avatar from Twitter…good to see you over here!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
My first choice when finding them in the house is to kill them with home made cleaner. Vinegar even diluted 50/50 with water will do it. I also use Thieves’ Oil by Young Living with the vinegar, that does it too.
To prevent them from coming in the house, we put a line of diatomaceous earth (food grade, you can get it at a feed store, not pool grade) around the house in spring. Works wonders and i notice fewer spiders too. It is safe for people and pets to eat, you don’t want to breathe it. However, we don’t get a lot of rain here. Still, if you know where they are coming in, this does an awesome, safe job of killing little critters.
[Reply to this comment]
I’ve heard splenda works like a charm, they actually stumbled on splenda while they were trying to make an insecticide.
[Reply to this comment]
also put vaseline on the cracks or where ever they are coming in.
[Reply to this comment]
More On Control Ants In Kitchen // Feb 21, 2012 at 7:32 pm
[...] of AntsGet Rid of AntsWhy Do Ants Enter Our HouseAnts Control4 Tips To Keep Ants Out Of Your HouseHow to Naturally Get Rid of Ants in your HouseHow to get rid of ants in the kitchenHow To Get Rid Of Ants In HouseHow To Get Rid Of Ants In The [...]
LOL, I’ve had to search my own for things, too LOL
[Reply to this comment]
I’ve been using lavendar sachets all over my house and haven’t seen any ants in the 2 years I’ve been using. We also sprayed diatimacious earth under our house the other year after we had a bad summer of ants. I use DE when I need ant control in my gardens. Here in N FL we have all sorts of ants including fire ants.
[Reply to this comment]
I just found out that I can kill cockroaches with a spray bottle filled with heavily diluted soap. Any soap at all.
[Reply to this comment]
Once my dad was googling how to sell a home by owner. I told him if he just went over to my blog he could learn all about it. Geeze, doesn’t he pay attention?
[Reply to this comment]
janine Reply:
June 9th, 2012 at 8:18 pm
my dad asked me about blind corner cabinets. i’d done an entire blog on kitchen storage and organization. his response? “I can’t find it.” LOL. And thanks, Dad.
[Reply to this comment]
Boiling water over the anthills outside (if you can find them) works like a charm. Sugar, water and borax also works for inside.
[Reply to this comment]
Perfect timing!
[Reply to this comment]
Love this I am going to try it tonight. I have ants bombard my home yearly. Never thought about using the soap water before.
[Reply to this comment]
For earwigs and ants just use the soap and water. Works wonders. I am fighting them off in my veggie garden and I think after a week of this I am finally killing off most of the earwigs. I am
having some problems with the ant bait tho, its not mixing well and the Horace is just clumping on the bottom. I made a large batch ( I have a lot of carpenter ants) and the syrup seems to separate. I think I am feeding them and not killing them. What am I doing wrong?
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
June 15th, 2012 at 7:44 am
Jamie,
Katie
I’ve never made a huge batch with the corn syrup and borax, so I guess I’m not sure. If it’s not working, change it up! I felt like I was feeding the ants last time I made it, too, so I added more borax, and then they stopped eating entirely but kept coming into the house. Lots of spraying with vinegar water and cinnamon lines finally made them go away…I think.
[Reply to this comment]
My Green Cheats: A Dozen Ways I Don’t Help the Earth | Green Your Way // Jun 14, 2012 at 5:30 pm
[...] the time to pick bugs and weeds off our garden vegetables by hand, and we probably take longer to kill ants naturally (and other insect intruders) rather than just spraying chemicals all over our [...]
Thanks for the tips about the ants; we have a huge problem right now.
But please, please, call a beekeeper next time you have a bee problem! The bee population is dwindling and it would be better to try and save them if you can. A beekeeper can safely remove them and place them in their own hives. They will usually do this for free since they benefit from having another hive.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
August 4th, 2012 at 12:57 am
Christina,
Oh, the guilt! You’re totally right, and I never once even thought of “bees, honey” only “bees, STING!” when this was an issue. Shucks. I’m totally writing a post on it sometime and reminding readers this important message!
Thank you!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
BE Careful -Borax and Boric acid are toxic to dogs..also is D. Earth
[Reply to this comment]
Pest Control Reply:
February 6th, 2013 at 12:28 am
No, it is not. Borax is not very toxic. People use it inside their house and it is widely used. Almost every house pests can be treated using boric acid.
[Reply to this comment]
The Borax and Corn Syrup works for all ants except fire ants. At first you think you have done the wrong thing because they come in hordes to get it but in three days all are gone. It works well outside around animal bowls. Put a dab in a cap like a beer bottle cap. It can dry on concrete that does not get rain and be very hard to remove so the cap trick works. It is NOT a poison per se. It is a salt and has high alkalinity. It is only toxic at very, very high levels. (Like salt, baking soda, and even water is.)
[Reply to this comment]
What an interesting story. You husband is a brave man with the Bee’s. I would have run. Another thing green dishwashing liquid is good for is to get rid of stubborn stains. But only green (not other colors) dishwashing liquid works for some reason.
The best way to get rid of blacks is 1% Ceylon Cinnamon Oil mixed with 99% Water, mixed in a spray bottle. Spray and wipe your kitchen counter tops or any surface full of ants. They will be gone in minutes. You can even spray your fruit bowl and even the fruit with this. It’s safe, nontoxic, child safe and pet friendly. Or yeah you can use it outside too. The best part is Cinnamon Oil smells great, works for weeks at a time and is one of the most powerful natural disinfects you can find. The only thing you must not use more than 1% Cinnamon Oil. Anything more and it might become a skin irritant. All you need is 1% which saves you money anyway.
[Reply to this comment]
Lightly sprinkle unflavored instant grits around the ant colony, or at least along where you see them crawling if you cannot find their home. The ants will flock to the grits, bring them home and indulge. Eating the grits will cause them to implode and destroy the colony.
http://www.survivetheapocalypse.net/2013/04/24/ant-killer/
[Reply to this comment]
I HATE ants more than cockroaches! They are horrible. The only thing I fight with more is the raccoons who try to get our chickens and the gophers who eat my plants.
[Reply to this comment]
My bathroom counter has been covered in cinnamon for a whole week. As soon as I clean it up, the ants are back.
[Reply to this comment]
Such awesome ideas….does anyone know about wasp nest and to get rid of it?
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
May 1st, 2013 at 8:13 pm
Anna,
Katie
I would hope the dishsoap in the hose-end sprayer would work, too, but be ready to run just in case!
[Reply to this comment]
I still swear by just using 1:1 vinegar water to wipe up the “ant trail”. Since I started cleaning with vinegar, I haven’t had another ant in my house (even 5 or so years later!) No special traps or lines….just wipe counters/walls/etc with the solution and they’ll pack their bags and head home. It also deters other bugs and spiders too. I guess they taste with their feet (even after it’s dry), and vinegar is not a pleasant taste for them!
[Reply to this comment]
Another thing to try (and I have seen this work in insane speed) is pyrethrin. It’s completely non-toxic to humans and animals, and kills in seconds (it’s made from chrysanthemums.) We had a yellow-jacket nest that was growing exponentially in the light shade above our kitchen door, and my husband went out there (in hoodie and bandana over his face) and sprayed and they literally “dropped like flies” – on contact. I haven’t had to use them on earwigs, thankfully – I used my vaccuum the first year we were infested (oh my word, it was so horribly horribly bad – we live in a basement apartment and they were *EVERYWHERE*) because I didn’t know about it, and they haven’t really come back. But you can use this to spray anywhere ants come, though I wouldn’t use it around food surfaces.
[Reply to this comment]
Buttafly Reply:
April 30th, 2013 at 11:19 pm
FYI I learned about pyrethrin from watching Billy the Exterminator on Netflix.
They use it all the time.
[Reply to this comment]
I posted this in the blog comments, but thought I’d say it here too – pyrethrin. Made from chrysanthemums, kills pretty much on contact, non-toxic to people and pets. AWEsome stuff. (Saw it on Billy the Exterminator – he uses it on nasty wasps and other scary stinging things.)
My husband used it to kill off a yellow-jacket nest that was outside our kitchen door (two years in a row) and we’ve sprayed it all along the inside of our baseboards and door jambs to keep the ants and other creepy crawlies away. ~Tif
[Reply to this comment]
We use 1:1 vinegar to clean with, but they still come back. The borax sugar water cocktail works for a while, but they usually come back eventually. It’s a constant battle since I seem to be living on a giant ant hill. They come into every corner of the house and everywhere in between (literally). But I can rarely find where they are coming in at!
[Reply to this comment]
my sister has a huge horrible ant problem. she finally called in the exterminator a few weeks ago who told her the worst thing you can do is kill an ant as all that does is call more in. …..she still has ants.
[Reply to this comment]
Prefect timing for this article!!
[Reply to this comment]