green pest control

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Green and natural pest control options

April 13, 2009 in Green Cleaning, Green Your Home by Jennifer | 1 comment

With summer coming I thought it’d be nice to do a pest control series here. So far we’ve looked at Green Pest Prevention and safer pest control ideas. Today I’ve got some greener pest control ideas - options that are natural and safe. Why bother with natural pest control? Because you don’t want a home full of toxic pest control poisons.

GREEN AND NATURAL PEST CONTROL:

Keep it clean – see Green Pest Prevention for tips on prevention before the cure is needed.

Ants: Ants hate red chili powder, dry peppermint, and borax. You can crush and sprinkle peppermint near ant entryways, or sprinkle the chili or borax. Ants won’t cross over this stuff. Full strength mint tea can be used as a spot treatment; spray near ant entries.

Cockroaches: Bay leaves can be crushed and sprinkled wherever you see roaches. Garlic will also repel roaches (and other pests). You can grow a pot or two of it near your doorways or blend some cloves in the blender (mixed with water and liquid soap) and spray it near infested areas.

Flies: Use screens on your windows. Place bowls of crushed citrus skins in your rooms – flies don’t love citrus. If you’ve got fruit fly issues try this killer invention: Fill an empty liter soda bottle with water. Leave about five inches of free space at the top. Squeeze an entire banana peel (not the banana, just the peel) into the bottle. Set the bottle where the fruit flies are. This is the ugliest bug catcher you’ll ever see, but I swear it will catch all the fruit flies in your house. Fruit flies are too dumb to understand how to get out of a soda bottle once they dive in after the banana peel (something to do with the curve of the bottle). Once they go in they can’t get out and eventually drown. Can you tell that I really HATE fruit flies?

Fleas: You can find totally organic and natural flea repellents, such as flea free products. Also see these tips for naturally keeping your pets flea free.

Moths: Before packing up clothing, blankets, etc, wash them. Washing kills moth eggs. After washing pack items up tightly in a tightly sealed, moth-proof box. To repel moths in other areas (like closets), place cedar wood shavings, blocks, or cedar stuffed cloth bags in the area.

Spiders: RAID! Sorry – I am deathly terrified of spiders. This is the one and only reason I use toxic pest control EVER. IF you’re not so lame as me, you can one, allow the spiders to live with you (they’ll control the other bugs) or pick them up and set them outside. That idea gives me the heebie jeebies, but honestly it’s the most eco-friendly choice.

Safe Pest Control Ideas

April 13, 2009 in Uncategorized by Jennifer | No comments

In the previous post we looked at how to prevent pests from invading your home, and thus avoiding having to use toxic pest control products. However, no matter how diligent the home dwellers, sometimes a home will get pests anyway, and when this happens, you’ll need a way to get rid of them.

IF you go the conventional pest control route, you can lessen the impact of chemical dangers on your home by doing the following.

Try bates first. For mice and other rodents, plus some bugs, bates can often be used before sprays. Bate traps are better than sprays because while many bates still use toxic poisons, the poisons are in a controlled area vs. spreading out like a spray or powder. Also, bates can usually be hidden under cupboards where pets and kids can’t get to them.

Contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture to locate your local extension service office. What the extension office can do for you is offer other low-pesticide pest control ideas before you need to move on to poisons.

If you hire someone to eliminate pests make sure they or you locate the source of infestation before treatment. If you have a pool of water in your basement, and don’t fix it, the bugs will just come back.

IF You move on to highly chemical and toxic pest control…

  • Use as little as possible and only where needed.
  • Keep kids and pets out of the area.
  • Read the directions on the pest control item, and never make up new ways to use the product.
  • Only use fogging treatments when absolutely everything else has been tried. These fogging pest control products get everywhere in your home and linger, which means you’ve now sufficiently poisoned your entire living space. Egad.

Coming up; the last piece of our green pest control series – natural pest control options.

Green Pest Prevention

April 12, 2009 in Green Cleaning, Green Your Home by Jennifer | No comments

No one wants icky pests (think bugs, mice, and so fourth) in their home, but do we really want toxic chemical pest control in our house either? Nope, I thought not. Following are some pest prevention tips.

PREVENT PESTS FIRST:

Prevention should be your first line of defense at all times. Bugs and other pests may come into your house on a whim, or show up because the neighbors are icky, but overall, pests come because you’ve got something they want. Prevent pests by…

  • Storing food in sealed containers.
  • Use a garbage can with a tight-fitting lid and frequently remove the garbage from your home. Make sure you toss what you can in the disposal or compost it, rather than tossing it in the trash.
  • Keep up with home maintenance. Leaky plumbing or water pools (under plants, under the fridge, in the basement, etc) can inspire pests to visit. You should also make sure to fix holes. Caulk cracks in baseboards and walls. Use wire mesh to block holes near pipes.
  • Feed your pets then pick up the bowls. The EPA advises not even leaving water out for pets overnight, but I’m not sure about that one – it may control pests, but in the hot summer you may end up with a cranky pet on your hands.
  • Be tidy. Some pests like tidy better than messy (roaches for example) but plenty of pests (like mice) love to hide in clutter. By clutter I mean stacks of papers, messy kitchen cupboards, overstocked bathroom areas, and more. Be generally tidy everywhere to evade pests.

Sneaky ways to prevent pests: Read the rest of this entry »