Saturday, July 16, 2011

Natural Pest Control

Here at Maple Hill we are all about organic gardening.  We aim to keep the balance outside with natural methods including beneficial insects.  What to do when those pesky critters start invading the inside of your home?  The intention is always keeping in mind that we don't want to add anything toxic to our environment, inside or out.

Since the recent rains (yay!), we've noticed an increase in the amount of ants and gnat-like creatures invading our space.  Ironically, they mostly congregate in the master bathroom, near the shower and bath tub.  If they're trying to avoid the moisture outside, why do they choose the room with the most moisture?
Who knows.

Here are two recipes recently found in the June 2011 issue of
Whole Living Magazine:

            Ants                                                              Roaches
1/4 C powdered sugar                                        2 t tea tree oil
1 T borax                                                                2 C water
Sprinkle in kitchens/baths.              Spray in kitchen/baths.

There were also recipes for dealing with bedbugs, mice and flies.  All ingredients are easy to find, in fact you may already have them in your pantry or medicine cabinet.  Let me know if you try either of these recipes. 

Something else we've been working on is
a natural way to rid our lawn of chinch bugs.
More on that to come...

2 comments:

  1. I've read that borax works for the ants. A little odd adding sugar, though. I'd think that would ATTRACT them??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sue-I guess that's the idea. Attract 'em, then they eat the borax.

    ReplyDelete

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