The chemicals used in insecticides (bug sprays) are toxic to humans and pets, have unpleasant smells, and can be adapted to by insects relatively quickly. Rather than purchasing another can of bug spray with even more powerful poisons, try driving pests out of your house without the use of chemicals that can harm you, your children and your pets. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Boric Acid
1. Purchase Boric acid. It was discovered in the 18th century and was used for its antiseptic (germ-killing) properties, but also has another application--killing insects such as cockroaches, fleas, ants and silverfish. The insects walk across the powder, eat it and die within a few hours.
2. Plaace the boric acid anywhere insects can hide or congregate. Cockroaches love electrical outlets and telephone jacks, so spreading the powder near these areas will maximize the chance of the bugs coming into contact with it. For ants, follow the line of ants to their point of entry and sprinkle it along their path for a few inches. Also place along baseboards, cracks or wherever insects may invade your home.
3. Safeguard your house. Boric acid can be toxic in large quantities to humans and pets. In insects, it acts as a poison in their stomachs and as an irritant for their exoskeleton (chitin). If you have a pet tarantula, keep the pet inside its case for the entire time you are applying the powder and do not let it walk near the areas the insects have been. Also, as with any pest repellent or insecticide, keep it out of the reach of children and do not let them apply it.
4. Take your time. Be patient when using boric acid. It may take several weeks to kill off all of the insects, so do not be fooled by a sudden disappearance of the pests. The acid may have killed off the adults, but the eggs haven't hatched yet.
5. Reapply it if necessary. For example, if your carpets need vacuuming while treating for fleas, reapply the boric acid immediately after vacuuming and continue the treatment as normal. If spills, leaks or other water problems affect the areas being treated, clean up using paper towels and re-treat the dry area as soon as possible.
Cedar
6. Purchase cedar. An aromatic wood with a fragrance pleasant to humans, cedar has excellent pest-repelling properties. Cedar can be purchased in planks, chips and as furniture--either as a lining or as the sole wood used.
7. Repel moths. Most cloth, but most particularly wool, is susceptible to the predations of certain types of moths. Cedar's smell repels these moths, preventing them from laying their eggs that hatch into the larvae which feed on your clothing. Placing cedar in your closet or chest of drawers will fill the enclosed space with the smell, which will become more concentrated over time.
8. Apply the cedar. Cedar planks should be sanded smooth to maximize their odor. The planks should be placed so that air can reach at least two of the surfaces to maximize odor output. Cedar chips' large overall surface area is excellent for distributing the smell but should be placed in a sachet--a small bag made of mesh cloth tied closed--in order to keep the chips from spilling all over the drawer or on the floor of the closet.
9. Purchase cedar furniture. Cedar-lined and all-cedar furniture are equally good at repelling insects. All-cedar furniture, however, can be very expensive but is very durable as it is resistant to rot, mold and water. Cedar-lined furniture is slightly cheaper, a good alternative for those with budgetary restrictions or for aesthetic reasons.
10. Maintain the cedar. Cedar planks should be sanded every 6 months or so, and cedar chips should be changed out about every 4 months to maximize their repellent properties. If an air-tight enclosure doesn't smell of cedar--or smells only faintly of cedar--it is time to re-sand or replace your cedar. This should not be a problem in all-cedar or cedar-lined furniture, as the amount of cedar involved will repel insects for years.
Hedge Apples and Cinnamon
11. Purchase ground cinnamon. Cinnamon repels most ants in North America. There are a few theories as to why; it could be the oils from the cinnamon or the smell of the powder irritating the ants. Either way, cinnamon sprinkled along the baseboards of a room (or house) can repel ants.
12. Experiment with cinnamon. Some ants are not repelled by cinnamon, and the only way to find out is to sprinkle a line of it across the trail of ants. If they continue to walk over it even hours later, you have a variety that is immune to cinnamon's effects.
13. Purchase hedge apples. Hedge apples, also called Osage Orages, are the green, lumpy "fruit" of the Osage tree. This fruit has been used to repel most insects, including spiders and cockroaches. Hedge apples can be found in the wild in Midwest states, Texas and Arkansas. Hedge apples are also called "green brains," "horse apples" and "monkey brains."
14. Prepare the hedge apple. Cutting the hedge apple in half and placing it in a room is often the most effective way of repelling spiders, cockroaches and crickets quickly. Some people prefer to keep the fruit whole, as it is more aesthetically pleasing in this form. It is still effective if whole but may not be as strong. Either way, place the hedge apple into a container. It will rot as the months go by and even fresh, green ones are sticky.
15. Replace your hedge apple. Hedge apples are only good for a couple of months if kept in a cool room (warmer rooms make the fruit rot faster), so they should be replaced when there is no more green left on the fruit. Sliced fruits should be replaced sooner, as they are prone to rot faster.
Tags: hedge apple, planks should, along baseboards, also called, apples also