NC » Landfill » Alternatives » Pest Control

• Bathroom Cleaners
• Floor/Furniture Cleaners
• Glass Cleaners & WIper Fluid
• Hair Products
• Laundry Products
• Oven Cleaners
• Pest Control
• Reduce & Recycling - Shopping Tips
• Metal Cleaning Products
• Household Hazardous Waste

Pest Control

Helpful predators around the home include:  frogs, spiders, ladybugs, dragonflies, and praying mantis. Keeping these beneficial creatures around can help reduce pest populations.

ANTS

• Vinegar: Wash countertops, cabinets, and floor with equal parts vinegar and water to deter ant infestations.
• Flour and Borax: Mix 1 cup flour and 2 cups borax in a quart jar.  Punch holes in the jar lid.  Sprinkle the contents around the house foundation. CAUTION:  Keep borax out of the reach of children and pets! It is toxic if eaten!
• Bonemeal, Powdered Charcoal, or Lemon: Set up barriers where ants are entering.  They generally won’t cross lines of bonemeal or powdered charcoal.  If you can find the hole where the ants are entering the house, squeeze the juice of a lemon in the whole or crack.  Then slice u the lemon and put the peeling  all around the entrance.
• Spearmint, Southernwood, and Tansy: Growing these plants around the border of your home will deter ants and aphids they carry.

FLEAS

• Vacuum: Vacuum, remove the vacuum bag, seal it, and dispose of it immediately outside your home.
• Vinegar: A ratio of 1-teaspoon vinegar to 1 quart (per 40 pounds of pet weight) in their drinking water helps keep your pets free of fleas and ticks.
• Rosemary or Fennel: Spread leaves or shavings of these plants under and around the pet’s bed.

FLIES

• Prevention: Keep kitchen garbage tightly closed.
• Borax: Sprinkle dry soap or borax into garbage cans after they’ve been washed and allowed to dry; it acts as a repellent.  CAUTION:  Keep borax out of reach of children and pets! It is toxic if eaten!
• Orange: Scratch the skin of an orange and leave it out;  the citrus acts as a repellent.
• Cloves: Hang clusters of cloves to repel flies.
• Mint or Basil: Mint planted around the home repels flies.  A pot of basil set on the windowsill or table helps to repel flies.  Keep basil well watered from the bottom so that it produces a stronger scent.  Dried ground leaves left in small bowls or hung in muslin bags are also effective.
• Fly Swatters, Traps, or Fly Paper: Use according to label directions.
• Sugar and Corn Syrup: Make your own flypaper by boiling sugar, corn syrup and water together.  Place mixture onto brown paper and hang or set out.
• Egg, Molasses, and Black Pepper: Beat the yolk of an egg with a teaspoon each of molasses and finely ground black pepper. Set it about in shallow plates.  Flies will be killed rapidly.

GARDEN

There are many strategies for controlling garden pests without unduly upsetting the local ecology of your garden.  These strategies include cultural controls (nutrition, resistant varieties, inter-planting, timed planting, crop rotation, mulch, trap crops, and cultivation), mechanical controls (handpicking, physical barriers, traps), biological controls (predatory and parasitic insects, microbes), and sprays and dusts.   Because information is too varied to makes suggestions in their limited space, we refer you to your library or your county cooperative extension for details on natural pest control.

MICE

Place instant mashed potato powder or buds in strategic places with a dish of water close by.  After eating the powder or buds, mice will need water.  This causes fatal bloating.

ROACHES

Prevention: Close off all gaps around pipes and electric lines where they enter the house by using cement or screening.  Caulk small cracks along baseboards, walls and cupboards, and around pipes, sinks, and bathtub fixtures.  Seal food tightly.  Rinse off dishes that are left overnight.  Do not leave pet food out overnight.

• Hedge Apples (Osage Orange): Cut hedge apples in half and place several in the basement, around the cabinets, or under the house to repel roaches.
• Flour, Cocoa Powder, and Borax: Mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 4 tablespoons borax, and 1-tablespoon cocoa. Set the mixture out in dishes. CAUTION:  Keep borax out of reach of children and pets!  It is toxic if eaten!
• Borax & Flour: Mix ½ cup borax and ¼ cup flour and fill a glass jar.  Punch small holes in the jar lid.  Sprinkle powder along baseboards and doorsills. CAUTION:  Keep borax out of reach of children and pets!  It is toxic if eaten!
• Oatmeal, Flour, and Plaster of Paris: Mix equal parts and set in dishes.  Keep out of reach of children and pets.
• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda and Powdered Sugar: Mix equal parts and spread around infested area.

SLUGS  and SNAILS

• Natural Predators: Garter snakes, grass snakes, ground beetles box turtles, salamanders, ducks, and larvae of lightening bugs all feed on snails.
• Clay Pots: Place overturned clay flowerpots near the shady side of a plant.  Rest one edge on a small twig or make sure that the ground is irregular enough for the slugs and snails to crawl under the rim.  They will collect there during the warmest part of the day.  Remove slugs and snails regularly and drop in a bucket of soapy water.
• Beer: Set out saucers or jars full of stale beer, placed below ground level near the garden.  The fermented liquid draws them in and they drown.
• Sand, Lime, or Ashes: Snails avoid protective borders made of these.
• Tin Can: Protect young plants by encircling them with a tin can with both ends removed.  Push the bottom end of the can into the soil.

MOLES

• Caster Oil and Liquid Detergent: Whip together 1-tablespoon caster oil and 2 tablespoons liquid detergent in a blender until the mixture is like shaving cream.  Add 6 tablespoons water and whip again.  Take a garden sprinkling can and fill with warm water.  Add 2 tablespoons of the oil mixture and stir.  Sprinkle immediately over the areas of the greatest mole infestation.  For best results, apply after a rain or thorough watering.  If moles are drawn to your lawn because of the grubs feeding in the soil, you may be able to get rid of both pests by spreading milky spore disease (a microbial-based insecticide) to kill the grubs.

Note:  Keep this mixture out of the reach of children and pets!

Information on “Milky Spore Disease”:

• http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/cespubs/hyg/html/200120b.html
• http://www.beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidefactsheets/leasttoxic/microbebasedpesticides.htm

MOSQUITOES

Prevention: Encourage natural predators such as dragonflies or praying mantises.  Eliminate pools of stagnant water. Avoid wearing perfume, bright colors, flowery prints, and bright jewelry, as these items tend to attract mosquitoes.

• Citronella: Burn citronella candles to repel insects.
• Basil: Plant these around the house to repel mosquitoes.

MOTHS

If you can see moths, these aren’t the ones to worry about!  Moths that cause damage to clothes are too small to notice.

Prevention: Store items in clean condition and with no food stains.

• Rosemary, Mint, Thyme, Cloves, and Ginseng: Some weavers use the following:  ½ lb. rosemary, ½ lb. mint, ¼ lb. thyme, ¼ lb. ginseng, and 2 tablespoons cloves.  Mix and put in cheesecloth bags and place in closets and drawers.
• Dried Lavender or Rosemary and Mint: Make sachets of dried lavender or equal portions of rosemary and mint.  Place in closets, drawers, or closed containers to mothproof garments.
• Rosemary, Sage, Mint, Dried Lemon Peel and Cinnamon: Mix handfuls of the first three ingredients.  Add a little lemon peel and a pinch of cinnamon.  Place in muslin bags.
• Molasses, Vinegar and a Yellow Container: To trap moths, mix 1 part molasses with 2 parts vinegar.  Put in a yellow container.
• Clothes Dryer: Kill moth eggs by running garment through warm dryer.