Fifteen non-toxic ways to rid your home of pests

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• Ants really hate cucumber peel, of all things - just spread some where the ants are gaining entry to your home. 
• You can also use plants as a deterrent - ants generally don't like spearmint, peppermint and pennyroyal - and these will make your home smell nice, too. 
• Draw a line with chalk around the perimeter of the room or area where you have ants, and they won't cross the line.
• Pour a line of baking soda around the perimeter (same as chalk).
• Squeeze fresh lemon juice on the areas where the ants are invading - the openings or holes they come through, windowsills, thresholds, etc.  
• Put out small dishes or cups with a little cider vinegar (or white wine), with a few drops of dish soap added.  They will be attracted to the smell, and get stuck in the soap.  
• Put a nice juicy piece of fragrant fruit (mango, peach) in a cup and cover the cup with plastic wrap.  Secure it tightly with a rubber band.   Poke small holes in the plastic wrap.  The fruit flies can find their way in to get to the fruit, but can't find their way out.

• Mint and basil  plants deter flies - and these will make your home smell nice, too. 
• A natural fly catcher related to wine is to put something sickly sweet like mango peels in the bottom of narrow-necked wine bottles. The flies can fly in, but can't fly out.
• Do It Yourself fly paper: Boil water, sugar and corn syrup together. Spread the extra-sticky mixture on brown paper grocery bags and voila, you have your own fly paper which will trap flies.
• A very effective fly dispenser at doorways: A clear sandwich bag filled 3/4 with water is tied at the top and hung above each side of the doorway. (Some people recommend you add a penny to the bag.) Houseflies, being highly edible and defenseless, are nervous types, and don't like to sit still when they see something moving nearby, because it could be a predator. The water bag acts like a lens in which the movements of people in the area are reflected. Even if the fly is too far from the action to see it directly, it can see a shifting of light and dark in the water bag, which it interprets as nearby movement, and it will fly away from the bag.

• Cloves are a natural deterrent against winged pests.
• Create a water trap by filling a small basin with water and leaving a night light suspended over it. Moths will be attracted to the light and will end up crashing and burning and falling into the water. Add a little dish soap to break the surface tension of the water.

• Grind rosemary leaves into a fine dust and sprinkle it onto your pet or its bedding to ward off fleas.

• The best defense is to avoid having ticks in the area where people and/or pets walk.  Keep the perimeter of your yard clear of low brush and tall grasses (ticks like to hold onto the tall fronds and grab onto people and animals when they walk too close.)  One friend of ours has built a three foot strip of wood chips around the entire edge of his yard, and his dogs rarely bring a tick into the house any more.
• Use a DEET-free repellent such as Tick Guard, made with natural botanical ingredients - citric acid, peppermint oil, lemongrass oil, rosemary oil - and potassium sorbate.  Can be used on children, pets, and adults. 

DEET, used in most insect repellents, is a toxic compound, partially absorbed into the bloodstream, and associated with dermal and neurological reactions.  To avoid DEET, you can mix your own repellent:  2 ½ teaspoons of any mixture of the following essential oils: basil, catnip, cedarwood, citronella, juniper, lemon, lemongrass, myrrh, palmarosa, pine, rose geranium or rosemary; ½ cup of 190-proof grain alcohol (such as high quality vodka); ½ cup distilled, filtered or spring water.  Put this mixture in a small spray bottle, shake it up and you're set.

If you don't want to mix your own, you can buy a DEET-free repellent such as Mosquito Guard, made with natural ingredients - Peppermint Oil, Citrus Acid, Geraniol, Lecithin, Water and Potassium Sorbate.  Safe to use on children, pets, and adults. 

 

Dianne Martz is co-founder of Sustainable Life Solutions, and is passionate about reducing the toxins her family of two kids, two cats, and one dog are exposed to.  Dianne is looking forward to working in her organic (and only slightly buggy) garden this spring.