(Long) Pest Repellent Ideas & INfo

[Melissa Burnell]

Home Remedies, Holistic Approach, Repellent Plants
HYG-2145-96
William F. Lyon

There is a growing concern for the use of alternate methods (holistic
approach) to pest control by reducing the use of pesticides. Many are
interested in “home remedies” handed down from generation to generation
long before many of our present modern pesticides became available.
However, many such remedies and folklore lack sufficient scientific
research to determine the efficacy of such practices. Nevertheless, it
is believed worthwhile to assemble such a list for one’s interest and
historical value.

Following is such a list of “home remedies” often
learned from our parents and grandparents. (No endorsement is intended
nor liability assumed since most of these home remedies are not labeled
commercially as pest control recommendations.)

1. Drill holes in the centers of small bars of soap (such as those found
in hotels), hang four to five in each tree on “S” hooks of wire to repel
deer.

2. Place Dial soap in a drawstring tobacco pouch and hang in fruit trees
and Christmas trees to deter deer.

3. Hang human hair in a sack for deer repellent (one ounce of bagged
human hair hung in each orchard tree or in perimeter trees will repel
deer).

4. Keep ants from crawling up a picnic table by standing each leg in a
small pan of water.

5. To kill ants, use a paste of equal parts of borax and confectioner
sugar.

6. Mix peanut butter (six parts), brown sugar (one part), one-half
teaspoon salt with boric acid (one part) for Pharaoh Ant control.

7. Mix mint apple jelly and boric acid for Pharaoh Ant control (two
tablespoons boric acid powder per 10 ounces of mint apple jelly).

8. Mix three cups water, one cup sugar and four teaspoons boric acid
powder for ant control. (Pour a over a cotton wad in a small dish or
bottle cap.)

9. Apply slices of Osage oranges (hedge apples, horse apples or Bois
d’arc apples) of Maclura pomifera to repel cockroaches.

10. Sliced or crushed cucumbers to keep cockroaches away from food.

11. Mix equal parts of boric acid powder, powdered sugar, and cornmeal
as a poison bait for cockroaches.

12. Mix equal parts of plaster of Paris and powdered sugar as a poison
bait for cockroaches.

13. A nail spike beside a tomato plant repels cutworms.

14. Place a milk carton over young tomato plants to keep out cutworms.
(Set vertical carton collars at least two inches above and two inches
into soil.)

15. Place cornmeal around tomato plants for cutworm control.

16. Wrap tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants with a four inch by
four inch aluminum foil strip to prevent cutworm damage and soilborne
blight organisms (wrap stem area between roots and leaves; place two
inches of foil wrapped stem below soil and two inches above soil.)

17. Walk through a room wearing white socks to detect fleas. Dark fleas
jumping on the white background are easily seen.

18. Use fleabane daisy to repel fleas.

19. Use banana peels to repel fleas.

20. Feed yeast to dogs to repel fleas.

21. Suspend a light bulb over a pan of oil or soapy water to attract and
drown fleas during the night.

22. Rub jewel weed on mosquito bites and poison ivy to control itch.

23. Use Avon’s Skin-So-Soft as an insect repellent for people and pets
(good mosquito repellent). It helps relieve itching caused by insect
bites and dry skin.

Also, mix five parts water, one part Skin-So-Soft
and mist on show animals. Brush in to make their coats gleam and keep
insects off so your animal won’t fidget.

24. Use hedge apples for control of crickets and spiders.

25. For grass and weeds growing between stones or bricks on walks or
terraces, sprinkle 20 Mule Team borax powder and sweep into cracks (one
application every other year).

26. Apply tobacco and snuff juice for wasp stings and bites.

27. Apply Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer in a poultice, baking soda, ammonia
or ice for bee stings.

28. Spray insect stings with “Fantastik.”

29. Erect a chicken fence to keep rabbits out of home vegetable gardens.

30. Apply finely ground cayenne peppers sprinkled on moistened vegetable
leaves to repel rabbits.

31. Use plastic or heavy cardboard tree wrap around tree trunks to
prevent rabbit feeding damage.

32. Use wood ash for slug control.

33. Use beer or yeast dissolved in water in pit fall traps (cups sunk
into the ground) to attract and drown snails and slugs.

34. Use Juicy Fruit gum in mole runs for control.

35. Use chocolate flavored Ex-lax to control chipmunks, moles, etc.

36. Apply paradichlorobenzene (PDB) crystals to the soil in autumn in a
band surrounding the peach tree trunk to control borers.

37. Install an electric fence to keep raccoons out of the sweet corn
patch.

38. Use alcohol on a cotton ball with a toothpick or commercial “Q” swab
stick for mealybug control.

39. Spray aphids with garlic.

40. Spread tin foil spread around the base of plants to repel aphids.

41. Spray Ivory soapy water for plant scale, aphid and spider mite
control.

42. Put bay leaves put into stored beans, peas and flour meal to repel
pantry pests.

43. Plant marigolds around other plants throughout the garden to repel
nematodes. (The African Marigold, Tagetes erecta is effective.)

44. Place pans of apple cider vinegar on the periphery of the picnic
area the night before to attract and drown picnic beetles. Place an
upright bottle in the middle of the pan to assist beetles falling into
the vinegar.

45. Tick and Fly Spray–two cups white vinegar, one cup Avon
Skin-So-Soft bath oil, one cup water, one tablespoon eucalyptus oil
(available at drugstores and health food stores).

46. Keep pests away naturally, add a sprig of basil to a fruit bowl to
deter fruit flies, rub a drop of vanilla extract into skin to control
gnats.

47. Pour hot boiling water and a strong cleaning detergent down the
drain to eliminate nuisance gnats and flies.

Successful control of occasional invaders (earwigs, centipedes,
millipedes, pillbugs and sowbugs) requires a “holistic approach” to this
pest problem. Pest management specialists with experience in this area
recommend:

a) Caulking cracks and cervices around the exterior of buildings,
including all window casings.
b) Placing exterior lighting as far from structures as possible.
c) Keeping garbage cans tightly covered and up off the ground.
d) Weather-stripping all windows and doors.
e) Maintaining a vegetation-free zone around building perimeters.
f) Thinning or removing dense vegetation anywhere on the property.
g) Stacking firewood up off the ground and away from buildings.
h) Sealing all entry points into the structure, including those around
plumbing, electrical wiring, etc.
i) Making sure all soffits and wall vents are properly screened.
j) Eliminating all access points to crawl spaces.
k) Removing all refuse around structures, including stones, grass
clippings, boxes, leaves and mulch.
l) Making sure all ground level doors seal properly.

[FreebieQueen]

:Bump: This is an excellent thread that offers tons of great ideas for getting rid of pests without costing a fortune!

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