10 Natural Insect Repellents For Your Home
Insects belong outside of your home, not in it! Tampa Bay’s year-long warm and wet climate provides the perfect conditions for bugs of all kinds to thrive. So, how do you prevent their entry? First, take a look at your kitchen. Make sure all of your food is sealed up tight and put away properly. Leaving food out for a few days is an outright invitation for ants and other insects to move in and make themselves right at home. The best thing you can do is take a proactive approach to keep your home insect-free. Check out our tips for 10 do-it-yourself natural insect repellent solutions below!
1. Citronella Oil for Mosquitoes
In case you don’t already know, citronella is a naturally occurring oil that comes from crushed citronella grass. It’s the same thing that’s in citronella candles - as if that wasn’t obvious. You can keep mosquitoes at bay and avoid bites in the summer by using this oil on your arms and legs.
2. Chalk for Ants and Slugs
This one is super interesting: try sprinkling chalk around entry points to your home. Both ants and slugs dislike the calcium carbonate inside chalk, which is ground up shells from sea creatures. It’s been said that if you have chalk outlining the perimeter of your home, they won’t actually cross over into it.
3. Beer for Slugs
Sounds appealing, right? Who knew slugs loved beer! Bury a container up to its neck in the dirt outside your home and fill halfway with beer. Those pesky slugs will dive right in to get to the beer and drown themselves in the process. Sounds sort of tragic for them, don’t you think?
4. DIY Spider Repellent Spray
There are fewer things more creepier than spiders. Having them in your house? No thank you! Mix up your own home spider repellent and spray at entry points around your home. Mix lemon oil (spiders hate it!), liquid soap, and water, and then go to town spraying around your house!
5. Cinnamon, Paprika or Garlic to Keep Out Ants
So, ants not only hate chalk, but they also hate spices -- what picky little creatures they are. Luckily for us, we can sprinkle spices such as cinnamon, paprika, and garlic around doors and windows in our homes to block their paths. Repeat sprinkling weekly for effective treatment!
6. Diatomaceous Earth for Most Insects
You’re probably saying, “Diatomaceous what?” Well, if you don’t know, Diatomaceous earth is a rock powder that is made up of prehistoric algae and kills pretty much all types of household pests. Think fleas, ticks, cockroaches and more! All you have to do is sprinkle lightly where you find pests inside or outside of your home and this substance will help keep them at bay.
7. Essential Oils for Ticks
If you’re a pet owner, you’re probably all too aware of how common it is for dogs to transport ticks and fleas from outdoors to inside your home. And the thing about ticks and fleas is once they’re in, they can be extremely hard to get rid of - especially fleas. To take a more proactive approach, apply a few drops of essential oil onto your dog’s necks weekly to repel them. Ticks hate it!
8. Garlic Solution on Strips of Cloth
So this is probably one of the most random of tips, but certain bugs join Dracula with their common disdain for garlic. A cool trick is to mix garlic juice with water and dip small cloths in the solution. Hang these cloths around the outside of your home to repel mosquitoes and other bugs from entering.
9. Basil Plants – Inside and Out
Flies and other pests hate basil -- their loss! What you can do is keep basil plants near your doors and even inside to repel insects naturally. Don’t have a green thumb? Hang small bags of dried basil instead.
10. Vinegar and Water for Ants
Combine equal parts of vinegar and water to wipe down your counters if you’ve already spotted ants inside your home. This easy combination destroys the trails that these pests use to get around and can help clear up an infestation faster.
All-natural treatments can help protect your home and family from bugs to a certain extent, but the truth is when an infestation is severe you might need more than just a DIY treatment. If you’ve tried these all-natural tips but the bugs just won’t budge, call in the professionals at Your Green Team and get long-lasting relief. The best part? Our perimeter pest control treatment in Tampa requires no applications inside of your home, so your loved ones and pets are never exposed to our already approved, safe products.