Last August and September, we posted
a couple blogs about summertime insects and household pests. These blogs mainly dealt with ways
to prevent them from coming in your home, but this blog is going to deal with
some natural remedies if these insects get into your home! Read on for tips and
you’ll see a lot of common themes so combine your remedies for your best
insect-free home!
Flies
First
up is flies. Flies happen to hate the smell of basil, so plant some of this
delicious and aromatic herb outside in your garden or have a few pots on your
windowsill. You can also put dried basil in a satchel and hang it, but give the
pouch a rub once in awhile to keep the scent strong. You can also place a piece
of cloth or sponge that have certain oils dropped on them and place in a small
tin for outdoors. Uncover the tin when needed. Some oils that work are:
lavender, citronella (dilute with water first), eucalyptus
(dilute with water
first), pennyroyal (dilute with water first), peppermint
(dilute with water first,
works well against horseflies), and lemongrass (dilute with water first).
Mosquitoes
Everyone knows about citronella, but
in my experience, its success has been murky at best. And carbon dioxide is an
attractant to mosquitoes, so go inside after your evening run and put out that
fire and candle! If mosquitoes are bugging you, at your next barbecue, have
some cat nip plants around! Even if you don’t have a Fluffy to call your own,
cat nip has been shown to repel mosquitoes more strongly than DEET. Grow it
yourself or put undiluted cat nip oil on your skin for up to two hours of
protection. Other oils that can be deterrents are lemon eucalyptus, cinnamon, castor, rosemary, lemongrass, cedar,
peppermint, clove, and geranium.
Spiders
If you’re like me and spiders are in
your Top 2 Things That Scare You, then you’ll want to pay attention to the next
tip. Spiders can’t stand the smell of citrus. In your garden and yard, spread
citrus peels (lime, lemon, or orange) around. Inside your house, mix water and
unsweetened lemon or lime juice in a spray bottle and spray down counters,
windowsills and doorways. Get rid of any unnecessary cardboard since it is a
wood product and spiders love wood. Spiders also dislike eucalyptus, so don’t
be afraid to hang some in your closet!
Ants
Using a 50/50 solution of white
vinegar and water, wipe down your counters. Repeat a few times a day, as this
destroys the natural scent trails that ants follow to get home. Bonus, this is
a great cleaning solution that works on all kinds of surfaces in the home and
can be made for pennies on the dollar. Cinnamon sticks or garlic cloves can
also be a deterrent for ants. Put some where you’ve seen ants entering the
home. Replace every couple of days until you no longer see ants. You can
sprinkle black pepper where you see ants and they will scatter. If you watch
where the leave from, you can sprinkle the pepper there as well. Other strong
herbs can work as well, such as basil, chili peppers, eucalyptus, lavender,
peppermint, rosemary and thyme (I will not
make a Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
joke…).
Mice
Now, this one might invite a
different kind of problem, but a family of Barn Owls can kill up to 3,000 mice
in a season. You can attract the
owls to your property with an owl box, if you don’t have an actual barn. If
they find that they get a lot of mice consistently, you may see the same owls
return each year. The smell of kitty litter and snake feces (seriously) is a
deterrent as well. Peppermint oil is also a nasty scent to rodents, so this
will turn them away. Place a drop or two on a cotton ball and put the balls
where mice may enter your home. Sticking steel wool in their mouse holes will
keep them away as the wool is too tough for them to chew through.
Wasps
Getting
stung is one of the worst parts of summer. Many types of wasps are territorial
so hanging up what looks like a wasps’ nest can keep wasps away. Since hornets
(a far more painful sting) prey on wasps, try to find or make one that looks
like a hornet nest. You can also make a trap for
wasps.
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