Safely Ridding Your Home and Garden of Pests
Carolyn Patterson, NGC Pesticide Chairman, 2005-2007
In the House
EARWIGS - These nocturnal, reddish-brown pests grow about 1/2 inch long and have pincers coming from their tail ends. They love any paper product and inhabit attics as well as invading your garden. To safely rid them from your home, the following method is recommended:
Use a plastic bowl that has a lid, such as a cottage cheese or whipped topping bowl. Put an inch of soy sauce in the bottom and top it with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Punch three or four nail holes in the lid and put the top on. Set it in the middle of some newspaper and check weekly.
COCKROACHES - These often come into your home with the groceries, since they love food. They also tend to be nocturnal and are hard to kill. The best method I have found that is easy and long lasting is the following roach medicine handed down from my mother:
Combine 16 ounces boric acid (you can get this from the drug store), 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup lard or other animal fat, a small chopped onion, and enough water to make a soft dough. Fill small lids, such as those from milk jugs, and place in the back of kitchen drawers and cabinets. These can be left there indefinitely.
ANTS - Often spring rains cause ants to move indoors. Try the following: Mix equal amounts of boric acid and confectioner’s sugar with some water to make a syrup. Put this in a jar lid and place where you have seen ants crawling. Since ants clean up their own dead, you will eventually wipe out the whole infestation. To keep ants out of your home, spray vinegar around where they enter.
SILVERFISH - These pests also like paper and can do a lot of damage to your books and papers. Use the same method as for earwigs. Another method is to put your papers in a closed plastic bag and freeze them for a week.
MOTHS - Use rosemary, lavender, mint or cedar chips put into a net bag or old pantyhose leg to repel these pests.
MICE - If you can't bear to use mousetraps and want to capture the mouse alive, try the
following:
Rub vegetable oil all over the sides of a deep bowl and place some peanut butter in the
bottom as bait. Build steps out of books so that the mouse can get into the bowl. The
slippery sides will keep it from getting out. Just release it a good distance away from your
home!!!!
SPIDERS - To keep spiders out of your home, spray around windowsills and doors with rubbing alcohol.
FRUIT FLIES - To control these in your home, set out a paper cup partly full of cola and put a lid on it with a straw extended down near the surface of the cola. The straw must not go in the cola. The flies will be attracted to the cola and will be unable to get out.
On House Plants:
MEALYBUGS- These tiny insects leave cottony sacs on the under sides of leaves and stems. They excrete a sugary fluid called honeydew, which coats the leaves and whatever is under the plant, so your furniture can be damaged also. The key to prevention and removal is to clean your plants and keep them clean by spraying with a mixture of 2 tablespoons liquid dish detergent dissolved in a half-gallon lukewarm water. Rinse with clean lukewarm water, followed by a mist of weak tea. Repeat twice a month. This same solution can be used to keep your other houseplants clean.
SPIDER MITES-These tiny reddish insects are usually noticed when the plant owner sees tiny webs in their foliage. Combine 2 cups wheat flour, 1/4 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with a little vinegar added), and 10 quarts water to spray on your plants.
SCALES - These little bumps of waxy-shelled insects also can leave a honeydew residue on your plants. They tend to grow in groups on the stems or leaves and will cause the leaves to turn yellow and drop off. On houseplants, the best method of removal is to use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. If you have a lot of infestation, you can also spray with a mixture of 1 cup rubbing alcohol and 1/2 teaspoon horticultural oil, which can be purchased at a garden center. This needs to be done every 3 days over a 2-week period. I have also sprayed with a mixture of 1/4 cup ammonia, 1 quart lukewarm water, and 1tablespoon dish detergent after I removed the majority with a cotton swab.
WHITE ELIES - These fly from your plants when you shake the leaves. Insecticidal soap may be used on your plant but a simple method is to coat a yellow meat tray with petroleum jelly or mineral oil and place near the plant. The flies will be attracted to the yellow and will get stuck.
In the Garden
DEER - These beautiful creatures can ruin your landscaping - especially in the winter. 1 have tried human hair, dried blood, and fencing. The easiest method that 1 have found that works is to put some milk in a spray bottle and spray it on your plantings. This even works on young tulip foliage. The deer do not like the milk smell. You must reapply it after a rain. Another method is to mix some hot pepper sauce (or grind up some hot peppers) with water and spray on your plants.
RABBITS - Bunnies love to eat the bark off of new trees in the winter if there is snow covering the ground. I recommend wrapping newly planted trunks with a trunk wrap that you can purchase from a nursery or mail order catalogue. This protects the trunk from sunscald as well as critters.
CATERPILLARS - The larval stage of many moths and butterflies can defoliate your trees and shrubs. To contain tent caterpillar infestations, take a long pole and the twist the web out of the tree and step on it. For caterpillars that don't make a tent or web, spray with a mixture of boric acid, liquid dish detergent, and water. Another method is to blend 3 garlic heads with 6 tablespoons mineral oil and let it sit for a few days before combining with a pint of hot water and a squirt of dish detergent. Refrigerate until ready to use. Mix a couple of tablespoons with a half-gallon water and spray on your plantings. An old time remedy is to mix Artemesia (wormwood) leaves with water, simmer for a half hour, strain, add liquid soap and spray on the plants.
INSECTS - To destroy any insect egg masses on the trees, apply dormant oil spray on a warm, sunny, windless day in the late fall or early spring.
