Pest Control by Exclusionary & Organic Methods
Why? The Orkin man is NOT your friend - just a commercial from a big corporation Selling you poisons instead of natural pest control. Chemical Pesticides cause of death, disease and immune dysfunction. Chemical Spray Pesticides are absorbed through your skin and in the air you breathe. They attack your liver, nervous & endocrine systems, brain function & promote cancer growth as well as adding to your toxic load. When used outside they throw off environmental balance killing predators of the bugs, causing a bigger pest problem, The more pesticides you use, the more you think you need and the more you will get sick. Poisons also find their way into the water you drink. Unwanted bugs inside? Do a "Bug Seal" If an occasional bug follows you inside, catch it in a container and put it outside to feed birds & lizards. Its less work than cleaning up smashed bug guts on your shoe & floor.
I have not used unsafe pesticides in my home for decades and do not have a bug problem.
Scroll down for whats bugging you :)
Fleas in the Yard? Fleas are preyed upon by Lizards, Nematodes, Ants & Beetles that eat adult fleas or feed on flea larvae. A heavy rain also kills some fleas and help the beneficial nematodes. So its important to not kill the predators while trying to control your problem pests, better to using cleaning inside and controls on pet to give predators a chance to catch up eating your pests.
Build lots of Lizard Condos A lizard condo can be made from scrapped roof tiles or drainage tiles or whatever will provide lots of little shady cool dark places for lizards to live and breed in. These can make great borders anywhere they should be out of sun and protected from predators.
Diatomaceous earth kills fleas and roaches but used outside will also kill beneficial insects. I prefer to let predators eat the unwanted pests rather than wipe out predators at the same time. But this can be helpful in limited use.
Fleas in the house? Don’t use raid or the like bombs or sprays! Get rid of them by cleaning your home properly.
Vacuuming is perhaps the most important part of any non chemical flea control program. A laboratory study done at the University of California showed that vacuuming catches about 96 percent of adult fleas. In addition to capturing the adult fleas, vacuuming may help to dislodge eggs and larvae from the carpeting and bedding. It also stimulates emerging adults to leave their cocoons, so that they can be vacuumed up next time you vacuum. Vacuum often, even daily. After vacuuming, seal the vacuum bag inside a plastic trash bag to keep fleas from escaping and throw it away.
Get rid of carpets & fabrics if it cannot be washed in a washing machine to get rid of flea eggs and dirt. If you can't live without large dirty rugs then sprinkle them with salt and maybe some borax. I prefer Hard cleanable surfaces like hardwood floors, linoleum, sealed concrete or ceramic that can be cleaned with central vacuum then washed so all trace of fleas and eggs are washed fully down the drain and a spotless clean floor.
Pet beds & covers should be washed every time you bathe the pet. Using a pillow case on a pillow as a washable cover makes it easy.
THE PETS: Imagine what would be living in your hair if you dragged it close to the ground inside and outside for days at a time without washing it. A pet kept properly flea combed & cleaned has much less of a problem with fleas, ticks, itching, biting, worms and skin sores. Use a mild shampoo that won’t bother the skin or strip the hair of oil as dry skin can appear very similar to a parasite problem on you or your pet exhibited as itching. I use & highly recommend Organix Neem Oil pet shampoo Online or at health food stores or Olive oil shampoo or "Veterinarian’s Best Hypo Allergenic Shampoo" I use them for my hair as well! Don't forget to use a conditioner ( use a drop of olive oil combed in) on your dog if needed (it helps keep fleas from holding on as well) It is essential that you clean the house at the same time you wash the pets. Flea comb daily, drop fleas into jar of water but don't let em jump out. Then pour that into sink and smash each flea against sink with the backside of flea comb til they pop or they won't die.
Clipping long hair or fur off dogs can help you to see the fleas and is easier to keep clean. Wash anything that touches smashed fleas. Protozoa inside them causes worms.
You must do all of these regularly for your healthier pet & person environment.
Guineafowl & chickens love to eat ticks, fleas, roaches, ants and other bugs. They will clean your yard of pests with delight. Consider keeping a few chickens and enjoy fresh eggs daily.
If you walk your dogs in parks in fl or other high flea population areas, you need a topical to protect your dog. I like "Natural Care vets best Itch relief Hot spot spray" since the only ingredients are tea tree oil and aloe and chamomile & it works to repel fleas! I made my own as well from the essential oils mixed with a vehicle like vodka, rubbing alcohol or water with the strong aromatic oils to repel but its more work than this premade spray. Comfortis pill seems work very well but its expensive and I don't know
Ck out Pesticide.org for fleas or http://www.caninenaturalcures.co.uk/fleas.htm
Roaches & Ants are natures janitors. If you don't clean, they will. If you don't seal them out of your home, they are invited as guests to wander your home cleaning it & eating what they like as they live there. Therefore The Smartest & Safest Roach control method is what I call a "Bug Seal" the link will give you a list to check off in doing a proper bug seal. If you see bugs don't reach for can of pesticide instead do a bug seal then get rid of the clutter then use soap and water to clean them up. A little soap and water kills most bugs so also does:
Baking soda mixed with sugar will kill cockroaches leave it in small plates or such in the corners or where your seeing roaches...
Salt sprinkled where ants & roaches are will kill them and deter them from returning.
All purpose repellant spray - Combine 2 Tablespoons of liquid peppermint castle soap with one gallon of water to make an effective pest deterrents. Spray around baseboards, under sinks, even carefully around counter tops to create barriers against flies, ants, fleas, and mice. (make sure you do bug seal first & keep away from food)
Ant Traps- mix one cup boric acid with one cup of sugar water put i small jars with loose wads of toilet paper, punch a few holes in lids and place them where ants congregate.
An open half can of beer attracts roaches and they drown in can. Drink the first half or Pour in a saucer and you will have drunken drowned roaches to sweep up. These really work well, not joking.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes can only thrive where there is sitting water. It only takes only a teaspoon of water and a few days. Make it a fun habit to go on a Mosquito Hunt to root out the cause of sitting water in every where high and low on your property, then help your neighbors do it.
Examples are: Flush your bird baths clean twice a week. Gutters need to be clean and free flowing. Used Tires can hold a lot of water and look trashy so get rid of them.
Plastic trash in bushes can hold water.
Bromileads are also a source of sitting water thus mosquitoes. I call them mosquito machines because they can really harbor a lot of mosquitoes. The best way to deal with these plants is to pull them like weeds and compost them. That is what I will do if I find them on my property. Eliminate these and any other nearby source of sitting water you will find mosquitoes will disappear.
If you can't find the source of sitting water - we may be able to help, your contractor, mosquito control or your city. Also going inside during peak mosquito hours is a good idea. Understanding life cycles of natural pests can help a lot. Essential Oil Repellents can be helpful during rainy season as mosquitoes are plentiful then. These must be reapplied regularly. Here is a link for some ideas on how to use essential oils as repellent. http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/mosquitoes/mosquitorepellents.html
You can make your own essential oil sprays cheap and they smell great by mixing in a spray bottle fill it with water, vodka and drops of the oils you find work best for you like LEMON GRASS, citronella, eucalyptus, rose and other highly aromatic oils. Don't use full strength oils they can be toxic. Spray this on your pant legs for flea repel and where ever you need it. keep out of eyes and mouth of course.
Citronella torches do not work well and are more hazardous than they are worth. The candles are nice but also pretty ineffective.
Yard spray pesticides are toxic and do not work for more than a few minutes (just long enough for you to breathe in the poison) They are also against lease terms @ BryanTree as they just toxic spray poison that make new problems for all of us. Please let me know if this helps or if you have other ideas to add to this site Contact Us
Please don't poison the Bees, they are good for us and we need them to survive. Without bees we would lose most of the crops grown here. Leave them alone & they will leave you alone. Bee colony's are collapsing and dieing because of pesticide use. If you must get rid of them: Use a strong Vacuum with hose like from a shop vac and just vacuum them up. Soapy water in a spray bottle also knocks them down & disables them for you to just clean up. Try first to learn to live with them as I do. If they come inside I set a glass jar slowly over them then slide a piece of paper over hole in jar and walk it outside setting it down for it to fly away.
Termites need water to thrive. Make sure your roof is keeping the house very dry. Also make sure your home is well sealed and screened. Borax sprinkled into cracks and soaked into wood where termites can live will prevent & kill termites. Heat tenting wood structures is very interesting and works well for removing moisture from building as well as killing all pests in building. Its hard to find anyone doing this method but if you have interest in doing it let me know. I will be your first customer. I did it with an old roach infested refrigerator and it worked very well. Timbor is the best I found so far for termite control when used in a "termite hunt" you have to feel wood where they are living then vacuum them out and inject solution into cavities. Protects for decades unlike tenting with poison gas which only kills them while tent is on.
Flies
Burn Sage to repel the flies to outside or use the smoke to calm them down to floor then clean them up.
Make your own fly paper: cut a brown paper bag into 2" wide strips. Mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1/2 cup corn syrup and spread the mixture onto the strips. Hang them up and watch the flies swarm toward the sweet stuff. - from Utne Reader & Cara Binder.
Google for more info on all of the pests but don’t just buy products. Learn about their living habits and then you will know how to control them in harmony.
Bug Seal is first so they cannot enter houses. If you are intent on killing them instead of letting them live outside to feed the birds and snakes here are 2 safe ways without poisonfor the humans.
1. Crush an over the counter Vitamin D pill & mix with cheese or peanut butter. The vitamin D lethally disrupts rodents calcium metabolism.
2. Mix plaster of paris with oatmeal and leave in container in safe spot in attic. they eat it and dry up dead after drinking water and plaster hardens in stomach, happy now, killer - just trap em and put em outside if you don't need the meat.
Lice
You don't need pesticides to kill lice either. Try Licemd brand lice killer or use mayonnaise. http://www.lacetoleather.com/ridlice.html is a good site for details.
Ticks
Neem Oil works well to repel ticks and fleas but its not just about buying products, your yard must be balanced so its not missing predators of pests.
The parasitic Ichneumon waspIxodiphagus hookeri has long been investigated for its potential to control tick populations. It lays its eggs into ticks; the hatching wasps kill its host. Other wasps also control ticks & aphids so don't kill them just because they are wasps.
Guineafowl & chickens love to eat ticks, fleas, roaches, ants and other bugs. They will clean your yard of pests with delight. Consider keeping a few chickens and enjoy fresh eggs daily.
Let me know if this helps or if you other ideas that work. Donate by PayPal