Posts Tagged ‘natural pesticide’

Dear Teresa,

Well you got any ideas about making a stronger bug spray because every time I turn around there is a new set of roaches and the old bug spray dont work as good? We’ve literally cleaned the kitchen and sprayed but they keep coming back.

(from Facebook)

Kevin J.

Columbia, SC

Dear Kevin,

Thank you for your question! There are several natural ways to remedy your home of cockroaches. I suggest  treating the outside of your home (windows, bushes close to the house and the house perimeter) first. You will need:

• a hose end sprayer
• 1 cup of liquid soap (you may substitute baby shampoo and Murphy’s oil soap)
• 1 cup of tobacco tea (made by putting a finger of chewing tobacco in a nylon stocking and soaking it in a quart of hot water until the water is dark brown)
• 1 cup of antiseptic mouthwash
• 1/4 cup of Tabasco sauce

Place this mixture in your hose end sprayer and treat the outside of your house.

Meanwhile, you need to kill any roaches that are already in the house. This is a fun one! Mix equal parts granulated sugar and baking soda. Spread the mixture in out of the way areas in your home. The roaches will be attracted to the sugar and eat the mixture. This will kill the roach because the roach has an acid based stomach and the baking soda is a base. This is even more fun because roaches eat their dead so the solution cascades through the colony!

Hope this helps!

Happy Killing!

Teresa

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Why am I revisiting the ant invasion of my kitchen from a few blogs back? Because everyone loves a good sequel! Why do we love them? Sometimes it is because they surpass the original. The Godfather Part II, for instance, with its beautiful symphony of assassinations culminating in Fredo’s death, is critically considered to overshadow the original. But a sequel that good is very unusual. More often a sequel has the challenge of relevancy since the characters and story have already been introduced. And because the sequel has to prove its relevancy, it must be over the top and action-packed – which is why we love them!

My first ant invasion solution merely kept the ants at bay as long as I was vigilant about keeping dirty dishes out of the sink. I have a new solution that, in perfect sequel fashion, has killed every last one of those mother@*%^#s! It’s the difference between Rambo destroying a small town in First Blood and destroying the Viet Cong in the oddly named Rambo II. And to reference my other personal Hero, it is the difference between knowing in our hearts that Rocky defeated Apollo Creed and Rocky actually winning the Heavy Weight Championship belt.

So here’s my sequel, which is guaranteed to kill every ant, their kids and their mamas!

• 1 tsp of boric acid
• 4 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 cup of hot water
• several cotton balls

Mix the boric acid, sugar and water. Soak the cotton balls in the mixture and place them near the entrance the ants are using. As I mentioned in the first blog, my ants are coming from a corner in my kitchen with my coffee pot. So, I put my cotton balls behind the coffee pot and behind a dusty bottle of Scotch that sits near the coffee pot. While boric acid is way safer than any pesticide, you would not want it mingling with your food. This way, it is contained to the cotton ball and in an out of the way spot. The ants are drawn to the sugar, then they carry the liquid back to their unsuspecting families.

This REALLY, REALLY works! You will not see any more ants. This sequel will not turn Epic on you with Mr. T and the Bride of Chucky showing up. This series is now complete. Promise. <insert Jason Voorhees popping up out of Crystal Lake here>

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